Bjelke-Petersen, Joh(annes) 1911- .
Australian right-wing politician, leader of
the Queensland National Party (QNP) and
premier of Queensland 1968-87.
Bjelke-Petersen, the son of a Danish Lutheran
pastor, took a consistently right-wing
political stance throughout his long career,
which was not without blemish: he was accused
more than once of electoral gerrymandering.
In 1987 he broke the coalition of the QNP
with the Australian Liberal Party to run for
prime minister, but his action, by splitting
the opposition, merely strengthened the hand
of the Labor prime minister Bob Hawke. He was
voted out of office in 1987.