Joh Bjelke-Petersen

The Honourable Sir Johannes Bjelke-Petersen, KCMG (13 January, 1911 - 23 April 2005) was an Australian politician who was Premier of the state of Queensland from 1968 to 1987, the state's longest serving Premier. His populist and authoritarian style made an indelible impact both within Queensland and elsewhere within Australia.

Rise to power

In 1957, following a split in the Labor Party, the Country Party came to power, with the Liberal Party as a junior coalition partner. In the same year, Bjelke-Petersen married Florence Gilmour, who would later be known as "Lady Flo" and a political figure in her own right in controversial circumstances. Bjelke-Petersen became a minister under Nicklin in 1963 and held office through until 1968, when he was a surprise victor in the election for leadership of the Country Party. He became Premier (on 8 August 1968).

Related Topics:
1957 - Liberal Party - Florence Gilmour - 1963 - 1968 - 8 August

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Bjelke-Petersen's government was kept in power by an electoral malapportionment heavily favouring votes in country areas. This was known as the "Bjelke-mander" but it in fact was a more democratic refinement of a system that was introduced by the Labor Party in 1949. The lack of a state upper house (since its abolition in 1922) allowed executive decisions to be swiftly implemented. With Labor weak and chronically divided in Queensland throughout the 1960s and '70s, Bjelke-Petersen won a series of election victories, at the expense of his Liberal coalition partners as much as Labor. Typically the Country Party would gain fewer votes than either Labor or Liberal, but those votes would be spread out across the many rural electorates, giving the Country Party more seats than the Liberals and thus making them the senior coalition partner. Together they had more seats in Parliament than Labor, allowing Bjelke-Petersen to govern as Premier of a State in which he had received only 20% of the votes (using the figures for the 1972 election).

Related Topics:
Electoral malapportionment - "Bjelke-mander" - 1922

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