As the national leader of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association (the “shoppos” or “shoppies” union) from 1970 to 1995, Jim Maher was one of the most significant Australian unionists in the past 50 years. He created a powerful force, the country’s largest union, with an influential presence within the Australian Labor Party.
The two unlikely heroes in Simon Benson’s Betrayal are former NSW premier Morris Iemma and former NSW treasurer Michael Costa.
Written to former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and sent by email, 29 June 2010.
Mark Aarons’s book The Family Files is a red confession with a twist. He tells his story and that of three generations of the Aarons family’s activity at the highest levels of the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) with the aid of a unique documentary source: the 209 files, wire-tap transcripts and reports of the Australian security services in the National Archives. Aarons has written an interesting, honest assessment.
The Hon. Jeff Shaw (1949-2010) QC, former union official, solicitor, barrister, politician, NSW Attorney General, Supreme Court Judge, probably feared his death would only engender reminders of his fall from grace and further shame for his family. Instead, there was an incredible outpouring of sympathy, support and respect, and a fresh, public assessment of the man and his life.