Tuesday, October 21, 2014

One day a tall stranger appeared in the land


6 comments:

  1. Lovely. We don't hear about people like him here.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, there is Vincent Lingiari. And there is Whitlam too.

    Just looking at what Whitlam achieved for me personally - universal health care, Family Law Act and welfare for sole parents. End of conscription (my Dad). Australia Council. I was too late for the free university education because it was scrapped just as I left high school ... but a lot of people running the country have benefited from that.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Or from the canonical point of view of the Liberal Party (some of whom also enjoyed a free university education), he put the country on the road to ruin with unsustainable spending.

    Whitlam, not Lingiari.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Tears all day, our greatest ever leader gone.
    In another time he would have been a king, tsar, emperor.
    He ruled as an Emperor the first fortnight, taking all 27 Ministerial portfolios for himself and and his deputy Barnard.
    He issued decree after decree and in two weeks changed the face of Australia, following23 years of conservative torpor.
    I met him once, by a swimming pool in a national park. When he was deputy opposition leader. He'd driven 60km to talk with a handful of students for a couple of hours. Standing by the pool, him and me, cup of tea and biscuit in hand, I didn't know what to say, I was in awe of him.
    He asked me what I was studying at Uni.
    "majoring in economics"
    "that's good work comrade"
    I felt blessed ... anointed a Comrade.
    Now he's gone, leaving only stumps of politicians behind him

    ReplyDelete