Andrew Bartlett (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to speak to this motion as well. It is perhaps apt, as I spoke in this place in May 2005 on the condolence motion for Flo Bjelke-Petersen's husband, Joh—a motion, I should note, that was not moved by the government at the time but by an individual senator.

Lady Flo died last month in December 2017, which also marked the 30th anniversary of the end of the Bjelke-Petersen premiership in Queensland. I would like to note the positive comments people have made in regard to Flo Bjelke-Petersen's time as a senator in this chamber. I certainly, in a condolence motion, would join in sending best wishes to Flo Bjelke-Petersen's family in what is always a difficult period. No matter how old somebody lives to, and 98 is a good innings, it is still always hard when a parent or a family member passes away.

Flo Bjelke-Petersen's time in this chamber coincided a little bit with my time as a staffer for Democrats senator Cheryl Kernot and Democrats senator John Woodley, who spent a lot of time around rural Queensland. It is certainly fair to say that Flo Bjelke-Petersen's work as a senator in this place, on behalf of her constituents and the party she represented, was such that people had a lot of positive things to say about her, which are consistent with the sorts of comments that have already been made.

As has been clear from the comments that have also already been made, her work as a senator can't be disconnected from her role as one half of the Bjelke-Petersen couple that ruled over Queensland for so long and had such a massive impact on Queensland for so long. Some people, understandably, in the context of this debate, want to point to the positives of that partnership. I feel it is very important to put on the record, as politely as I can in the context of a condolence debate, the very deep and destructive negatives of their role in Queensland. I speak as a lifelong Queenslander. I was three or four years old when Joh Bjelke-Petersen became Premier and was about 23 when he finally was kicked out by his own party under a massive cloud.

Regarding the Bjelke-Petersen partnership, it is worth noting that in her final interview to the media before her passing Flo Bjelke-Petersen wanted to emphasise again her desire to restore the reputation of her husband. I can understand that. That's good to see such loyalty. But I think it is important for the many, many people whose lives were destroyed—deliberately—by her husband that his legacy is not whitewashed. I think it is important to correct the record in regards to the statements of the Prime Minister, who put out a tweet at the time of Flo Bjelke-Petersen's passing. Again, of course, one should express acknowledgement for the contribution people make and express condolences for their family, but to go on and then say that Queensland's 'success and dynamism owes so much to their vision and leadership' is an attempt to whitewash history. If people are going to use somebody's passing to whitewash history, a legacy of corruption and the deliberate destroying of people's lives, then it is necessary to correct the record. Otherwise, there is a great risk of the enormous injustices of that era being revisited. Of course, good was done but a lot of harm was done.

We've had some positive comments with regard to actions regarding Aboriginal people but we have many examples, which I will not detail here, of quite destructive actions towards many Aboriginal people. To use just one example of the stockman, Johnny Koowarta, whose own land in Cape York—