Peter Garrett On Trial
November 10th 2007 09:50
Howdy disco citizens,
Everyone in 2004 seemed like they wanted Peter Garrett to upsize his eco-warrior status and position of totemic political angst in Midnight Oil, to fully functioning Federal Labor gun for hire. "Garrett For PM" has been uttered more than once by more than a few, and it seemed like such a good idea at the time didn't it, signing up to join the ranks of Latham's Labor for a tilt at the dark perimeter of Howard's morally anaemic Australia. Someone, somewhere had to take a stand, this time, in the Federal seat of Kingsford Smith, Garrett stepped up. It was exciting to watch and it is still a matter of watching a man in transition.
Some of us have been jack of Howard's regime since 1996 and there's probably no doubt that Garrett was one of them, but upon joining Team Latham people voiced their disappointment, that he could have stood for a Senate seat, probably with the Greens, that he'd turned his back on the Midnight Oil party faithful and that he was starting to read off someone else's script, rather than riff and tear through the issues with his usual eloquence and passion. People suddenly claimed ownership of Peter Garrett. People who maybe shouldn't.
With recent faux pas' gaining attention and an ever-increasing profile, the spotlight on Garrett has magnified, due largely to his position as Shadow Minister for Climate Change, the Environment, Heritage and the Arts. In the heat of an election campaign too, where he is on the cusp of being a Government front-bencher, there still lies the sense that he put a foot wrong and a hint of a feeling of betrayal. Liberal swine like Alexander Downer have scoffed at his temerity to dare take them on, welcoming him to their lair like the toothless jackals they are. They see Garrett as a bit of sport, others as a traitor.
As Paul Toohey's by-line states in his curious analysis of Garrett in The Bulletin, 30 October 2007, titled The Green Ghost Of Garrett: "Garrett has traded his idealism for the real clout a government minister can wield ... but it's his credibility that he's lost and that's too high a price". There's been only one real hatchet job on Garrett that has ever served to do real damage to his reputation, a spineless piece in Penthouse of all places, but Toohey's is studied criticism, even if it is an inch away from outright condemnation. Both articles were sparked by the denial of access for interviews.
Comparing his past to his present, Toohey goes to great lengths to insinuate that there are now two Peters Garrett. One, the front man of incendiary rock group Midnight Oil, people's poet and activist, mounting peaceful guerrilla warfare in forests and such like, high on the crusade and the pursuit of justice and two, Labor Party stooge. The Liberal Party see him as a handy liability for Labor, someone too unpredictable for comfort, but some of us see him as a Trojan Horse and he got inside the gates three years ago.
Garrett's too smart and too savvy to be any one of these things and having interviewed him twelve years ago and being a staunch Oils fan for over 20 years, it's always important to be careful to not second guess a man that's a straight shoot. What no one seems to say is that he's conforming to Labor Party policy that's bigger than him, bigger than any one person and something he fell into line with when he joined the fight to remove Howard from the Lodge. That in itself, is admirable, there was no 'I' in team, but there has been no fatal compromise, not yet.
Bob Brown, Green's leader and it would be safe to say friend, (maybe ally is a better word), of Garrett was quoted in Toohey's piece as saying: "He's an asset to Labor, not the other way around". Hmmm, he's got a point, but Garrett is getting ever closer to the real prize, where he REALLY wants to be, where Brown will NEVER be, in Federal Cabinet, where the real power he seeks, but not craves, awaits him. He couldn't get there in Midnight Oil, on the board of Greenpeace or running the Australian Conservation Foundation, he had to use the Labor Party. Think of it as a weapon of choice.
A great facet of the article was Toohey seeking the opinion of Midnight Oil's Rob Hirst, no less a political animal himself, a man who delivered a State of the Nation Address as the Oils' acceptance speech for being inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame and a man who was at the very core of Midnight Oil for over two decades. If anyone knows what makes him tick, it's probably Hirst. Hirst is adamant, in what amounts to his defence of Garrett, that regardless of his stated position on, say, the Tamar Valley pulp mill, "it's never too late". Garrett in the end, knows what he is doing.
Red Symonds, once of Skyhooks and a fan of Garrett's, pinpointed the hub of the argument following a friendly chat with some Greens supporters outside of his local supermarket, he noted that "... we feel compassion for his dilemma, which is now that he's part of a larger and ultimately more successful organisation, in which he has to subsume his own views". To think that Garrett was naive about this is laughable, in the mean time it should be about giving him a chance. It seems that a lot of people just don't want to.
It's yet to be seen what Peter Garrett, politician, is really about. Some of us are still waiting for him to blossom, but that's not going to happen until he's on the other side of the shouting in Question Time. For people who once adored Garrett to still love and admire him is going to take a big proof-test in the cauldron of Federal Government, there, fully armed, we'll see his true colours emerge. He's not desperate either, it is more than likely that he's just patient. Watch this space.
Cheers
Michael.
Everyone in 2004 seemed like they wanted Peter Garrett to upsize his eco-warrior status and position of totemic political angst in Midnight Oil, to fully functioning Federal Labor gun for hire. "Garrett For PM" has been uttered more than once by more than a few, and it seemed like such a good idea at the time didn't it, signing up to join the ranks of Latham's Labor for a tilt at the dark perimeter of Howard's morally anaemic Australia. Someone, somewhere had to take a stand, this time, in the Federal seat of Kingsford Smith, Garrett stepped up. It was exciting to watch and it is still a matter of watching a man in transition.
Some of us have been jack of Howard's regime since 1996 and there's probably no doubt that Garrett was one of them, but upon joining Team Latham people voiced their disappointment, that he could have stood for a Senate seat, probably with the Greens, that he'd turned his back on the Midnight Oil party faithful and that he was starting to read off someone else's script, rather than riff and tear through the issues with his usual eloquence and passion. People suddenly claimed ownership of Peter Garrett. People who maybe shouldn't.
With recent faux pas' gaining attention and an ever-increasing profile, the spotlight on Garrett has magnified, due largely to his position as Shadow Minister for Climate Change, the Environment, Heritage and the Arts. In the heat of an election campaign too, where he is on the cusp of being a Government front-bencher, there still lies the sense that he put a foot wrong and a hint of a feeling of betrayal. Liberal swine like Alexander Downer have scoffed at his temerity to dare take them on, welcoming him to their lair like the toothless jackals they are. They see Garrett as a bit of sport, others as a traitor.
As Paul Toohey's by-line states in his curious analysis of Garrett in The Bulletin, 30 October 2007, titled The Green Ghost Of Garrett: "Garrett has traded his idealism for the real clout a government minister can wield ... but it's his credibility that he's lost and that's too high a price". There's been only one real hatchet job on Garrett that has ever served to do real damage to his reputation, a spineless piece in Penthouse of all places, but Toohey's is studied criticism, even if it is an inch away from outright condemnation. Both articles were sparked by the denial of access for interviews.
Comparing his past to his present, Toohey goes to great lengths to insinuate that there are now two Peters Garrett. One, the front man of incendiary rock group Midnight Oil, people's poet and activist, mounting peaceful guerrilla warfare in forests and such like, high on the crusade and the pursuit of justice and two, Labor Party stooge. The Liberal Party see him as a handy liability for Labor, someone too unpredictable for comfort, but some of us see him as a Trojan Horse and he got inside the gates three years ago.
Garrett's too smart and too savvy to be any one of these things and having interviewed him twelve years ago and being a staunch Oils fan for over 20 years, it's always important to be careful to not second guess a man that's a straight shoot. What no one seems to say is that he's conforming to Labor Party policy that's bigger than him, bigger than any one person and something he fell into line with when he joined the fight to remove Howard from the Lodge. That in itself, is admirable, there was no 'I' in team, but there has been no fatal compromise, not yet.
Bob Brown, Green's leader and it would be safe to say friend, (maybe ally is a better word), of Garrett was quoted in Toohey's piece as saying: "He's an asset to Labor, not the other way around". Hmmm, he's got a point, but Garrett is getting ever closer to the real prize, where he REALLY wants to be, where Brown will NEVER be, in Federal Cabinet, where the real power he seeks, but not craves, awaits him. He couldn't get there in Midnight Oil, on the board of Greenpeace or running the Australian Conservation Foundation, he had to use the Labor Party. Think of it as a weapon of choice.
A great facet of the article was Toohey seeking the opinion of Midnight Oil's Rob Hirst, no less a political animal himself, a man who delivered a State of the Nation Address as the Oils' acceptance speech for being inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame and a man who was at the very core of Midnight Oil for over two decades. If anyone knows what makes him tick, it's probably Hirst. Hirst is adamant, in what amounts to his defence of Garrett, that regardless of his stated position on, say, the Tamar Valley pulp mill, "it's never too late". Garrett in the end, knows what he is doing.
Red Symonds, once of Skyhooks and a fan of Garrett's, pinpointed the hub of the argument following a friendly chat with some Greens supporters outside of his local supermarket, he noted that "... we feel compassion for his dilemma, which is now that he's part of a larger and ultimately more successful organisation, in which he has to subsume his own views". To think that Garrett was naive about this is laughable, in the mean time it should be about giving him a chance. It seems that a lot of people just don't want to.
It's yet to be seen what Peter Garrett, politician, is really about. Some of us are still waiting for him to blossom, but that's not going to happen until he's on the other side of the shouting in Question Time. For people who once adored Garrett to still love and admire him is going to take a big proof-test in the cauldron of Federal Government, there, fully armed, we'll see his true colours emerge. He's not desperate either, it is more than likely that he's just patient. Watch this space.
Cheers
Michael.
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