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Stacey (Ray Barrett) goes to a separatist political rally, looking for the missing girl, Cathy McCredie (Janet Scrivener). He listens to Sir Ted Godfrey (Robert 'Tex’ Morton), the state MP, make a rousing speech about why the Gold Coast should become a new state. One of Cathy’s old boyfriends sets off an explosion.
Curator’s notes
Godfrey’s speech is full of the clichés of Queensland politics of the time, about dole bludgers and lazy bureaucrats down south spending all the north’s hard-earned tax dollars, but the tone is deeply satirical. The rally is a joke about parochialism, with painted girls dancing in front of cutout palm trees and the crowd waving huge model bananas. The fact that this quickly turns violent is not so funny, although still satirical (the second shooter, played by Paul Chubb, is an ex-cop who has been threatening Stacey). The rally descends into farce, as Stacey rescues Cathy.
