Rae Wear's political biography of the former Premier of Queensland, Sir Johannes Bjelke-Petersen is admirably restrained. There are few political scientists in public universities who have much time for the anti-intellectualism of Joh, or for that matter, the anti-intellectualism of his constituency.
The biography develops three themes, each with the purpose of discovering why Joh was the Premier he was, a pro-development populist authoritarian. The first theme was Joh as a Lutheran, raised by a strong-willed if not quite an authoritarian father. The second theme was Joh as a poorly educated farmer with a strong sense of self-reliance. And the third theme, was Joh as a reluctant politician, hiding his true ambitions.
Wear gives sufficient weight to those factors already in evidence under previous Queensland Labor administrations. Namely, the pre-dominance of rural industries and experience, poor educational infrastructure and levels of achievement, a less than enthusiastic acceptance of the welfare state, and a winner-take-all attitude among the state political parties. The scene is set for a deterministic account of the rise of Joh. It appears, by and large, that the Premier's origins and the political climate of Queensland account for his behaviour.
As the biography progresses however, the themes develop but also in some ways begin to peel off, one replacing the other. The lessons of Lutheranism that most applied to Joh are discussed, but their impact fades. The rural origins and experiences seem to account for his earlier Parliamentary and Ministerial behaviour. The discussion about his claimed political reluctance as a mask to his real ambitions is not entirely successful. Masking ambition is, in my experience, a common strategic ploy of the vast majority of politicians.
Nevertheless, the book is less deterministic than it first appears, because Joh is in fact an emerging personality, someone who learns on the job. The competing themes as to the greatest influence on Joh's personality, and his slowly revealed ambitions give way to his growing stature and dominance. Then the story switches to Joh versus democracy. "After 1983, with Treasury as well as the premiership in his grasp, Bjelke-Petersen reached the pinnacle of his authority. If neither cabinet nor coalition could contain him, it was unlikely that a parliament, dominated by the executive, would represent a serious impediment to the exercise of power".
The difficulty is that the organisation of the book mitigates against the development of Joh as an emerging and dominant persona. Each chapter, "The Premier and the Party, ... The Coalition, ... The Parliament, ... The Cabinet and so forth tends to divide the material in such a way that does not allow full discussion. There is, as a consequence, a degree of repetition and a tendency to choke off, rather than develop the character.
Some new material arises from good searches of early church records on Joh's family and their religious and social background, but it is relatively late in the book that the author introduces some new material that offers insight into his behaviour and abilities, in particular interviews with key participants from Joh's cabinet and senior public servants. My favourite is from Leo Heilscher. It reflects on Joh's accessibility to the public, but also his ability, or inability, to take a brief; "on one occasion during discussions with the Under Treasurer, the Premier spent three minutes -- the length of time he usually gave to policy -- chatting to a caller who had dialled the wrong number!"
Another from Bill Gunn, his Education Minister, and later Deputy and instigator of the Fitzgerald Inquiry into corruption in Queensland. In 1982 Joh wanted to sack fifty teachers involved in an industrial dispute. Gunn refused, but was only able to defuse the situation between he and the Premier, with a call to Lady Floh. Gunn, "I rang Florence ... 'Hey listen where's Joh?' Floh, 'He's down the paddock, you can talk up'. Gunn, 'Look he'll make a martyr out of all those. You can't sack 50 teachers ...' Floh, 'No way, whose been advising him on that?' " Floh smoothed it over.
It would have been useful to more fully explore the ideas of development, populism, anti-intellectualism and authority. Indeed, accepting Joh's background and the social, political and institutional climate, it would have been useful to analyse whether the Bjelke-Petersen period was a good one, or a bad one, for Queensland. He may now seem an anachronism, but he may have delivered some benefits that, at the time, were right for Queensland.
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