One of the surprises of Australian political history is that a government derided, traduced, and trounced in a smashing electoral defeat has over the passage of time come to be regarded as more substantial and worthy. A just account of the Whitlam government (1972-1975), however, requires acknowledgement of both certain grandeur and certain incompetence.
Michael Maher was greatly admired across the political spectrum as a diligent, local MP who saw the vocation of politics as serving the people.
Ross, Lloyd Maxwell (1901-1987), labour intellectual, WEA tutor union official and writer, was born on February 28, 1901 in Brisbane, son of Robert (Bob) Samuel and Ethel (nee Slaughter) Ross. Another son, Edgar was born in 1903.
The main political parties in Australia are in flux. Membership is low and it is harder to recruit and retain members. Branch meetings are boring; members are of an older demographic. In recent Labor Party elections in NSW, for the first time in 50 years many polling booths went unstaffed. In certain country electorates there is barely any Labor Party presence at all.
He finally got a real biography. His autobiography, Carpenter to Cabinet, was a tired, plodding yawn. Senator Sir George Foster Pearce (1870-1952), carpenter, union leader, founder of the Labor Party in Western Australia, ‘Labor rat’ during the conscription split of 1917, conservative Minister and statesman, defence advocate, Minister and lobbyist for defence interests – deserved to be seriously noticed. He did play an important part in the defence preparations and strategy of a new nation.
NSW Labor, once the cream of Australian Labor, is now contaminated curds and whey. Not in 100 years did party members turn up, as they did at the March 2011 NSW election, expecting and believing a trouncing was deserved. Not since 1932 has Labor been entirely wiped out in the bush – a mere rump in Parliament.
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.