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Break-up of the coalition
In 1975, facing the declining population of its rural base, the Country Party
changed its name to the National Country Party (later the National Party) and
began contesting metropolitan seats against its coalition partner, the Liberals.
In August 1983 Terry White, a Liberal minister, joined backbench colleagues
crossing the floor to vote against the government in Parliament. The Liberal
leader, Dr Llew Edwards, asked White to resign as a Minister but instead White
successfully challenged him for leadership of the Liberal Party. Bjelke-Petersen
refused to work with White as Deputy Premier and as a result the coalition
agreement was broken off. At the 1983 state election, the intensely divided
Liberals suffered a heavy loss of seats and after the defection of two Liberals,
Don Lane and Brian Austin, the Nationals gained a majority in their own right.
In 1984, on the recommedation of his own government, Bjelke-Petersen was created
a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George, for "services to
parliamentary democracy". He was then generally known as "Sir Joh" (rather than
"Sir Johannnes"), and his wife generally (if incorrectly) known as "Lady Flo."
In 1985 a protracted industrial dispute with state-employed (SEQEB) electricity
workers over superannuation entitlements resulted in a strike and the
government's introduction of severe anti-striking legislation, justified by
Bjelke-Petersen on the basis of the need to secure continued power supplies. The
strike was eventually defeated, causing a great deal of bitterness among
unionists.
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