Ah yes, the Premier noted for alleged interference with his Police Commissioner, for aggressive use of defamation law to silence dissent, for routinely labelling opponents 'communists', for his unsubstantiated allegations during the Loans Affair, for presiding over abuses of civil liberties, for his prosecution for perjury ...

David Flint would provide an elegant apology for the Fueher. No corruption was proved. He developed highways but received no credit. He reformed the tax system. He was tough on industrial anarchy ... he believed he was there to govern. Ordinary citizens had a degree of security in their homes and streets that today most can now only dream about. These were unusual times. His last years were not his best. The Redevelopment of the USSR was unwise and damaging to his coalition partners.

I'm more impressed by Ross Fitzgerald ("Beattie more than anybody should know what a vicious and corrupt regime that Bjelke-Petersen ran") and journalist Quentin Dempster (Sir Joh was "a walking breach of ministerial propriety" and his government "deeply corrupt")