Lib who told Joh where to go supports merger
24.03.2009

THE former Queensland Liberal leader who tore up his party's coalition agreement with Joh Bjelke-Petersen before the 1983 state election, yesterday backed the merger of the coalition parties in Queensland.
Pharmacist and company director Terry White was the Liberal Party leader who was regularly at loggerheads with the Nationals premier in the lead-up to the 1983 poll.
But Mr White, who is a principal of the nationwide pharmacy chain Terry White Chemists, said yesterday it was inevitable the merged Liberal National Party would ``eventually morph into the Liberal Party''.
``I believe the merger has a future,'' he said.
``For one thing, not having the dispute over who will be the premier if they win has been put aside -- and that is an issue which has affected the election chances of the conservative coalition in Queensland for the past four elections.
``Saturday's poll result was disappointing, but it has positioned the LNP for government in the future.''
Mr White said the party's poor showing in Brisbane, where it won only four out of 34 seats, had to be addressed.
``You cannot win government in Queensland without winning a significant number of Brisbane seats -- it's simple mathematics,'' he said.
``So it follows that the party, and particularly the leader, has to connect with Brisbane voters.
``The LNP is a stage name before it eventually becomes the Liberal Party. There is an inevitability about that.''
Mr White said the perception that the merger was a takeover by the Nationals and not a genuine union of the two parties was unfortunate.
``I mean no disrespect at all to Lawrence Springborg, who did a sterling job, but a lot of what we might call `Beattie Liberals' who used to vote for Peter Beattie in state elections stayed with Labor because they were turned off by images of the National Party of old,'' he said.
``It was a great mistake when the LNP was formed that no accommodation was made for (former Howard government minister) Mal Brough, either in the parliament or in the merged organisation. He is the type of leader who is needed -- young, smart, experienced -- and he connects equally well with the top end of town and the person in the street.''
Mr White was leader of the Liberals in 1983, but Bjelke-Petersen refused to accept him as deputy premier because he had previously crossed the floor of parliament and supported the introduction of a public accounts committee that had been proposed to oversee excesses and corruption in government.
Mr White famously tore up the press release issued by Bjelke-Petersen rejecting him as deputy premier, and announced that his action symbolised the tearing up of the coalition agreement.
At the 1983 poll, the Nationals fell one seat short of governing in their own right, but Liberals Don Lane and Brian Austin changed parties and gave Bjelke-Petersen the slimmest of majorities.