murder an crimes against women, page-85

then there was the time when Jo-bjelke was asked what he understood was
from the legal texts;


In 1989 at the Fitzgerald Enquiry into corruption in Queensland, Jo Bjelke-Petersen - then Premier of Queensland for 19 years - was asked to define the doctrine of the separation of powers in the Westminster system. He could not answer the question. The Queensland Premier certainly understood 'power', but his ignorance of what is usually regarded as one of the most fundamental tenets of liberal democracy demonstrated not only that he was no student of the theory of government, but that the democratic process in Queensland had become precarious.

In fact, the doctrine is not exemplified in the constitutions of the Australian states. However, the practice is usually evident, and if the object of separation of powers is to develop mechanisms to prevent power being overly concentrated in one arm of government, then state processes do eventually have that effect.