Cartoon by Geoff Pryor, published in the Canberra Times on 6 June 1979.

The octopus has its limbs tattooed as “Narc[otics] Bureau”, “Police”, “Politicians”, “Traffickers”, and “Pushers”. The only players not part of the octopus (or complicit) are the dealer(?) and buyer.

Relates to the Australian Federal Police Act of 1979. This later (October 1979) resulted in the formation of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) by merging the Commonwealth police, Narcotics Bureau and the ACT police (1). The Narcotics Bureau was disbanded with duties relating to drugs and terrorism split between the newly formed AFP and Customs (2).

Footnotes:

(1) “Australian Federal Police”, Wikipedia (Accessed: 6th June 2010)

(2) McKenna, M. ‘AFP to tackle drugs, terrorism’, The Australian, Jan 1st, 2010.

Claude Marquet, ‘Fighting the Octopus’, Worker (Sydney), 12 November 1904. Reprinted p6.32 in ‘All the world over’, Dyrenfurth, Nick; Quartly, Marian, Drawing the Line 2009 1:1, 6.1-6.47

Octopus represents American Tobacco trusts with hat called ‘Greed’. It grasps a North American ‘Factory Hand’, ‘Consumer’, and ‘Retailer’ and South American ‘Planter’, and is reaching towards Australia. Sword held by Australian (farmer?) is labelled ‘Nationalisation’

The Federal Octopus, 1933

Update: no one is to tell Mr. Rabbit - the mad monk - about the federal octopus of waste.

“What the Socialist Prime Minister aims at by his Referenda scheme.”
Brisbane Courier, Friday May 23rd 1913 p4.

Octopus with the head of Andrew Fisher. Cartoon was published about a week prior to the general election on May 31 in which the newly renamed Labor party lost by one seat. 

The “Referenda scheme” refers to the 1913 Referendum also held on May 31. It covered: Trade and Commerce, Corporations, Industrial Matters, Trusts, Nationalisation of Monopolies and Railway Disputes.

Labels read:

• ‘£54 per week with “exes” and “perks”’
• Car: “Made by France”
• “Farmer”
• “Railways”
• “Industry” and “Industrialism”
• “Commerce”
• “Trader”
• Unable to decipher last one.

John T. McCrutcheon “Mr. La Follette’s Strongest Card”, Chicago Daily Tribune on December 29, 1911

La Follette served as Governor of Wisconsin (1901-1906) and senator (1906-1925), and championed railroad reforms.

(Also, I have seen photos, that is an accurate representation of his wonderful hair.)