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Joh Bjelke-Peterson

The Honourable
Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen
KCMG
JBPetersen.jpg
31st Premier of Queensland
In office
8 August 1968 – 1 December 1987
Preceded by Gordon Chalk
Succeeded by Mike Ahern
Constituency Barambah
38th Treasurer of Queensland
In office
19 August 1983 – 1 December 1987
Preceded by Llew Edwards
Succeeded by Mike Ahern
Constituency Barambah
Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly
for Nanango
In office
3 May 1947 – 29 April 1950
Preceded by James Edwards
Succeeded by Seat abolished
Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly
for Barambah
In office
29 April 1950 – 1 December 1987
Preceded by New seat
Succeeded by Trevor Perrett
Personal details
Born Johannes Bjelke-Petersen
(1911-01-13)13 January 1911
Dannevirke, New Zealand
Died 23 April 2005(2005-04-23) (aged 94)
Kingaroy, Queensland, Australia
Resting place Kingaroy, Queensland, Australia
Nationality Australia
Political party Country/National Party of Australia
Spouse(s) Florence Gilmour
Children 4
Occupation Company director, Farmer, Contract harvesting, Earthmoving contractor

Sir Johannes Bjelke-Petersen, KCMG (/ˈbɛlk ˈptərsən/, 13 January 1911 – 23 April 2005) was an Australian politician. He was the longest-serving and longest-lived Premier of Queensland, holding office from 1968 to 1987, during which time the state enjoyed considerable economic development. His uncompromising conservatism (including his role in the downfall of the Whitlam federal government), his political longevity, and his leadership of a government that, in its later years, was revealed to be institutionally corrupt, made him one of the best-known and most controversial political figures of 20th century Australia.

Bjelke-Petersen's Country (later National) Party controlled Queensland despite consistently receiving the smallest number of votes out of the state's leading three parties, achieving the result through a notorious system of electoral malapportionment that resulted in rural votes having a greater value than those cast in city electorates. The effect earned Bjelke-Petersen the nickname of "the Hillbilly Dictator". Yet he was a highly popular figure among conservative voters and over the course of his 19 years as premier he tripled the number of people who voted for his party and doubled the party's percentage vote, reducing his Liberal coalition partners to a mere six seats in the 1983 election. In 1985 Bjelke-Petersen launched a campaign to move into federal politics to become prime minister, though the campaign was eventually aborted.


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