His cabinet was reportedly low on well-educated members, which might explain a lot.

We had a very uncomfortable aftertaste of the Joh era during the recent and thankfully brief reign of ‘Can-do’ Campbell Newman as premier. One of the first acts of the Newman LNP government was to abolish the Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards.

While not denying that we have our fair share of rednecks I think this reputation is decidedly undeserved.

Prior to the Joh era Queensland was a socially advanced, progressive and innovative state. Many of Australia’s famous literary and artistic sons and daughters were, and still are, Queenslanders.

As a late blossoming University of Queensland student at the height of the Joh era in the 1970s I was gratified to notice the fierce resistance he generated. By his actions, and ironically, he ensured the growth of a strong anti-conservative movement in Queensland. And it was the people of conscience who finally toppled him.

Apart from physical proximity Papua New Guinea has strong connections with Queensland. Many Papua New Guineans live in Queensland. They also invest their money in the state, whether honestly or dishonestly obtained.

After independence in 1975 many returning Australian expatriates unable to hack the southern winters settled in Queensland. Even the bi-annual kiap re-union is held in Queensland.

In the ongoing relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea Queensland looms large and it is a position that I think is worth cultivating further.

The Bligh government was making encouraging noises about this connection before it was ousted by Campbell Newman but even he, perhaps in a more mercenary sense, kept making similar noises.

So far there doesn’t seem to be any advance on the positive noise making front however. This is a shame but I’m hoping that the new Queensland government might see fit to take it up again.

My interest in such a development is relatively broad but I am especially interested in the opportunities such a relationship might have for cultural and literary causes.

We shouldn’t forget that the Ulli Beier-led literary flowering of the 1970s was made possible in large part by Brian Clouston and his Brisbane based Jacaranda Press.

Brian published the first novel by a Papua New Guinean writer, Vincent Eri’s The Crocodile in 1970, after which the current national literary competition is named.

As co-founders of the Crocodile Prize, Keith Jackson and I have now seen the light and are Queensland-based too, although no doubt we are still regarded as Mexican ring-ins by old banana benders.

The Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, is also the Minister for Arts. One of the first things she did upon gaining government was to reinstate the Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards.

If we think about the future of literature in Papua New Guinea maybe we should be looking towards Queensland for advice and assistance rather than the rest of Australia.

Queensland has, after all, a rightful claim to being there when literature first bloomed in Papua New Guinea.

Crocodile Organisation president and PNG Man of Honour, Jimmy Drekore, will be attending the Brisbane Writers Festival in September. Perhaps something positive and constructive for PNG literature may emerge from that encounter.