The Wire

As the Queensland state government got preparations underway to give former premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen a state funeral, a group of activists met today in Brisbane to discuss the possibility of protests outside the state service in the Queensland town of Kingaroy. Under the Bjelke-Petersen government, the so called “gerrymander” voting system was introduced, which allowed the National Party to stay in power with far less than 50% of the vote. Sir Joh’s Government also banned all street marches and protests and made the controversial decision to invoke a state of emergency to allow the all-white south african rugby team to play in Queensland without protests. Some involved in the social justice movement during Bjelke-Petersen’s time in office have claimed that while the period was repressive, there were some unintended benefits to Sir Joh era. Liz Willis worked at community radio station 4 ZZZ during the 1980s – she feels that the policies of Sir Joh had the effect of galvanizing the left into a united front.