The 'Joh Years' - Lest we forget

History will remember the midnight raids on the Belleview and Cloudland, by demolitionists acting on secret orders delivered under the cover of darkness. And the entirely egocentric “Joh for PM” campaign, which scuttled any hope of Howard defeating Hawke in 87. Remember the criminal trial aborted when a loyal National failed to admit to fellow jurors his loyalty to Joh and the Nationals?

Queenslanders should mourn the institutionalised corruption, which is there on the record in findings from tribunals and Commissions of enquiry. David Flint says nothing was ever proven about Bjelke-Petersen but that is to ignore commission findings that he was systematically paid hundreds of thousands of dollars every time Sir Leslie Theiss wrapped up another enterprise.

Then too, Bjelke-Petersen often boasted that he was not one to rip off the public by being part of the lucrative State Parliamentary superannuation scheme, conveniently forgetting the - at least -three occasions, according to State Treasurer of the time, Gordon Chalk, that Bjelke-Petersen had attempt to break into the scheme as a beneficiary without having contributed to it at all. It was one issue even his fellow Nationals refused to concede, backing Chalk on each occasion to prevent this fiasco.

The final insult was the knighthood, citing services to the Westminster system, the tenets of which this Premier abused, denied, opposed and denigrated throughout his life.

Those who know Bjelke-Petersen and his times well, would support one of the jokes of the time which was “Joh was a self-made man who worshipped his maker”. At a National Conference on Civil Liberties in the mid 1970’s I used another phrase, which the media took up when I said “Surely the Queensland public must eventually grow tired of a man who talks like Jesus and acts like Lloyd George”. He believed that he was the embodiment of his party and that his party being the Government had the right to do what it pleased, which meant, what he pleased.

It is a mistake to believe that left to its own devices, Government or even society, will protect that fragile thing we call liberty. When we honour gallant Australians who gave their lives to guarantee our freedom we must never forget how easily freedoms slipped away during the era of a man who truly believed, like Louis XIV before him, that he was the state. Lest we forget.