in case you think I was being harsh

In case you think I was being a little harsh, here's a few more quotes about the gone-and-won't-be-missed corrupt Joh:

Wayne Goss:

Wayne Goss, the first Labor premier after the Bjelke-Petersen era, would not be drawn on Sir Joh's passing.

However, in an ABC interview to be aired on May 6, Mr Goss says: "No, I don't have a grudging respect for Sir Joh."

From the same piece:

But the president of the Australian Civil Liberties Council, Terry O'Gorman, said Sir Joh was "the most appalling premier Queensland has ever had in terms of civil liberties and human rights" because of his stance on street marches, his partisan police appointments and the furore surrounding the 1971 Springbok tour - Sir Joh called a state of emergency because of the protests against racism.

Prominent Queensland Aboriginal activist Sam Watson said: "Aboriginal people will always remember him as a racist, a thug and a dictator."

Ross Fitzgerald:

... it's very important not to forget that apart from being Queensland's longest-serving premier, he ran a corrupt and vicious regime that blighted the lives of tens of thousands of people, not just Aborigines and Islanders, not just civil libertarians, not just trade unionists - many of whom lost their jobs and superannuation in the SEQEB dispute for example - but ordinary citizens who had the temerity to oppose his regime.

Quentin Dempster:

Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen was a corrupt populist who exploited the superficiality of much of the media and, for many years, the incompetence of his political opponents.

Queensland is stronger for having endured and survived him.

Phil Dickie (who won a Gold Walkley for his reporting on the corruption of Joh's state):

The hypocrisy continued to the end and in the end became something pitiful. Bjelke-Petersen – who trampled civil liberties almost as a political reflex, resorted to the tort of defamation with a rare vindictiveness and abused his office to damage or destroy any number of political, police and public service careers – effectively spent his last decade bleating about the harm done to his reputation and finances by the state.

No doubt we'll see lots of attempts to rewrite history and attempt to claim he was a great man, a great leader, and all that. He wasn't. He was a brutal, corrupt, hypocritical animal, and anyone who attempts to tell you otherwise should be thoroughly scorned and mocked. And yes, that includes the current Queensland PM Peter Beattie. What the hell is he thinking? Is it really that important to gain the respect of people who long for the days of a evil authoritarian monster? Seriously - if the state's going to give the old mongrel a funeral, it should involve his head being buried at a crossroads, and the ashes of the corpse scattered over a wide area.

Plenty of friends I know suffered with me through the Kennett era of Victorian politics, and (along with myself) bear an almost endless amount of ill-will towards him - but the difference between the two was vast. Kennett believed that his policies were doing the best thing for the state - Joh had no such illusions, for him, power was all. (It's also probably only fair to note the difference in their post-political lives - Kennett has moved onto doing good work with beyondblue, while Joh spent his remaining years pissing and moaning and attempting to extort more cash from the people of Queensland)