‘I can see that’: Joh Bjelke-Petersen’s son links dad’s style to Donald Trump

Hailed by many as Queensland’s greatest ever building Premier, Joh Bjelke-Petersen’s son believes his father would’ve sorted the 2032 Olympics disaster by now, leading with a style similar to Donald Trump.

Joh Bjelke-Petersen pictured in 1985-1986, led Queensland for 19 years amid economic growth but also corruption and police brutality. Picture: Supplied

The son of Joh Bjelke-Petersen said the quickest way to upset his father was to cast doubt on his abilities, as he acknowledged the similar political styles between US president Donald Trump and the controversial former Queensland premier.

John Bjelke-Petersen, 69, said his father, who led Queensland for 19 years amid economic growth but also corruption and police brutality, would have seized on Brisbane Olympics 2032 economic potential.

“Yeah I believe so, he would have had half of it done already,” Mr Bjelke-Petersen said.

“He had a vision, he was a builder, and he didn’t take too kindly to people who said ‘you can’t do that’.

“’Where there’s a will, there’s a way,’ he’d say.”

The precedence for this belief was the 1982 Commonwealth Games and the World Expo 88, moulding the South Bank precinct into what it had become today.

John Bjelke-Petersen believes Sir Joh would have sorted the Olympics quicker than anyone. Picture: Tara Croser.

But Mr Bjelke-Petersen Jnr accused successive governments of squandering Queensland’s economic potential by reacting to challenges rather than planning for them, saying the secret to his father’s success had been building long-term infrastructure 20 years before it would truly be needed.

Joh had been proud of the building of Wivenhoe and Burdekin dams, the electrification of the Queensland Rail network, and the Gateway Bridge.

But it was his push to abolish death duties that lured southern based retirees to the sunshine state and to establish themselves in communities such as the Gold Coast.

“I think it was 20 years after Dad had left office that the next dam was built in the state,” Mr Bjelke-Petersen said, referring to the faulty Paradise Dam which had led to a commission of inquiry over its construction.

“And then they couldn’t even build that, maybe they’d forgotten how to build dams or whatever.”

After politics Joh lived at his property Bethany in Kingaroy for almost 20 years after resigning from politics, before his death in 2005.

Asked if in that time Joh ever expressed regret in his decisions, seen often as divisive and authoritarian, his son said, “I can’t recall him ever.

“If there was something, maybe he was too trusting in certain people over the years.

“I don’t know that he had regrets or would do things differently, but he looked back at those years, particularly during his time in government, with pride as far as what he was able to achieve.”

Joh congratulates son John Bjelke-Petersen on his National Party preselection at Bethany, at their property near Kingaroy in 1995. Picture: Supplied

Joh was the subject of a recently released Stan documentary Joh: Last King of Queensland, portrayed by Richard Roxburgh and including interviews with John Howard, former MP David Byrne, and investigative reporter and author Matthew Condon.

The documentary made a link between Joh and Mr Trump, with both being political outsiders with combative media relationships.

And while Mr Trump appealed to Americans who felt forgotten, Joh was seen to be standing up for regional Queenslanders, often seen by political commentators as to the detriment of anyone with contrary opinions.

“As far as development and that side of things around the world, there are similarities there, I can see that,” Mr Bjelke-Petersen said.

“My father was a business orientated leader who was about trying to make life better for the people that were in our state.

“And obviously with tariffs, was completely different to what my father was doing, my father was about low taxation.”

He disputed the documentary title, believing his father never saw himself as royalty, but as a public servant accountable to his neighbours.

“My father was earning more money in one week than what he was earning in a full year as a politician back then with his contracting businesses, it wasn’t the money that he went there for.”

Originally published as ‘I can see that’: Joh Bjelke-Petersen’s son links dad’s style to Donald Trump