A classic book about Brisbane music and politics has turned 20, and its author says he didn’t realise how prescient it would be.
Former St Lucia resident Andrew Stafford is speaking at his new home in Maleny in the Sunshine Coast hinterland. It’s a sunny Friday morning, 20 years since he penned the definitive book about Brisbane’s music scene from the ’70s to the ’90s.has been continuously in print since it first appeared, and UQP has just published a 20th-anniversary edition.
“There were many reasons why I wrote the book, but one of them was that I did want younger people to have a sense of what it was like to grow up in Brisbane in the ’70s and ’80s. And I wanted there to be a lesson about how quickly a liberal democracy can crumble, even in a place like Australia.” “When I’m asked to describe Bjelke-Petersen for those people who may have only heard of him from their parents, I routinely say, ‘If you can imagine Donald Trump roaming the swamps and jungles of Queensland, you’re getting pretty close.’ He just didn’t have the nuclear codes or a Twitter account.”states its thesis in 14 words: “Music in Brisbane was overwhelmingly a reaction to the repression of the Bjelke-Petersen era.
Under the Westminster system, the government wields power, the executive puts the law into operation, the judiciary interprets the law, and no single entity can exercise complete authority. “In Queensland, the police force was deployed as an enforcement arm of the state government.“It’s quite clear that Donald Trump either doesn’t know what the separation of powers is, or he doesn’t care.”
followed. “And then, of course, the Fitzgerald Inquiry , and very shortly after, the toppling of Bjelke-Petersen as premier.”The Saints’ Ed Kuepper and Chris Bailey perform during the band’s early days. The Go-Betweens circa 1988 John Willsteed, Grant McLennan, Lindy Morrison, Robert Forster and Amanda Brown.
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