Wednesday 11th May will be a significant day for Margaret Krause. It is the day she will appear in front of what she and others refer to as the “Star Chamber” – the Queensland Liberal Party’s Discplinary Committee.
The committee has had a revamp since it interviewed Marion Feros, […] Continue Reading…
May 04, 2005 | Graham
Quinn and Krause on the rack
May 03, 2005 | Graham
We need Joh to have a state funeral
Joh Bjelke-Petersen will have a state funeral today. Many say he shouldn’t including Nigel Powell and Wayne Sanderson. They’re both wrong. We owe it to ourselves to give him one. Deny him a state funeral, and we are one with him. Give him one, and […] Continue Reading…
May 02, 2005 | Graham
Work till you drop John
For a man who thinks we should all be working past the current retirement age of 65, Peter Costello seems to have a penchant for wanting to move the old and the wise on. Stories are that before her preselection he told 64 year old Victorian Senator Judith […] Continue Reading…
May 01, 2005 | Graham
Howard calls opponent liar
Anyone remember seeing this in the Australian election? No, and neither did I. So why is alleged political mastermind Lynton Crosby allowing the other Howard, Tories’ leader Michael Howard, to use the line in the UK election? Look at the poster in this article.
Perhaps Crosby doesn’t have […] Continue Reading…
April 29, 2005 | Graham
Life before politics
In an earlier post I drew attention to the fact that all the commentary about Joh Bjelke-Petersen, favourable and unfavourable, concentrated on his contribution to politics, and not on his pre-political career in farming.
Off the top of my head I knew about his contribution to brigalow scrub clearing, but […] Continue Reading…
April 28, 2005 | Graham
Would Joh be impressed with Beattie’s health inquiries?
Many Queenslanders, particularly ALP voters, think that Peter Beattie has a lot in common with Joh Bjelke-Petersen, according to some of our yet to be published research work. Not a view I share. But I think Joh would approve of Beattie’s masterful move to appoint two committees to inquire […] Continue Reading…
April 28, 2005 | Graham
Joh would want the demonstrators there.
I see that Brian Laver, Dan O’Neil, Garry McLennan, and Sam Watson are planning to picket Joh Bjelke-Petersen’s funeral in Kingaroy next week. Joh would have approved.
There are two men that I learnt more from about political campaigning than any others – Wayne Swan and Joh Bjelke-Petersen. […] Continue Reading…
April 27, 2005 | Graham
Inside the Queensland Ming Dynasty
This letter from Ryan MHR Michael Johnson, demonstrates the secret of his success – being completely up-front and unconventional, not to mention monomaniacal. I can think of no other MP who could have written this letter.
Essentially it is Johnson distributing his how-to-vote ticket for the coming Ryan Federal […] Continue Reading…
April 26, 2005 | Graham
Joh Bjelke-Petersen’s most significant contribution to agriculture
Curiously, in all the tributes to Joh Bjelke-Petersen, no-one has mentioned his significant contribution to Queensland agriculture.
Press releases have lauded his long reign. They have credited him with starting Queensland’s coal industry. He is given the credit for the state’s tourism industry, and significantly raising the mean […] Continue Reading…
April 26, 2005 | Jeff Wall
Johannes Bjelke-Petersen…an unhealthy contempt for the role of the opposition in a democracy
I worked for a senior Liberal Minister in the early years of the Bjelke-Petersen Government so I knew him relatively well. He was ever courteous to me – but that was before the Liberals became as much as the enemy as Labor always was.
The current debate about his record […] Continue Reading…