Well the lefties of Australia will be outraged to hear about a few matters which apparently slipped through the gaps in the man of steel’s extensive vetting of the new governor general (let’s just call him “Junior Queen”).

In addition to his much publicised and since retracted statements about the “assimilation” of aboriginals (the text of that speech apparently also referred to “full” and “part” blood aboriginals, but Junior decided not to use those terms on the day), Junior Queen:

1. supports controversial boot camps for juveniles and young offenders
2. called for de facto relationships not to be recognised without counselling
3. criticised the televising of the Sydney gay and lesbian mardi gras
4. whilst governor blamed the state Labor party for the whole WA Inc debacle, straying perilously far into politics for a governor

But all of these sins must be swept aside when it is revealed that he was the one that got on side with Gina Rinehart, ganged up against Rose Porteous to prevent her getting away with anything and lobbied the WA attorney general to hold another inquest into the death of Lang Hangcock. This put Rose back on the front pages where she belongs and allowed all of us to revel in a seemingly endless trail of maids and other witnesses paid under the table in the greatest legal soap opera of the century.

So, in light of this great accomplishment, and considering the fact that the GG has no real power anyway, I am prepared to forgive Junior Queen of all of these gaffes. At the very least, this should create some amusement around the place.

Explanation of key terms for non-Aussies in the extended entry.

Junior Queen - the Governor General is not actually our head of state, merely the Australian representative of the Queen.

the whole WA Inc debacle - excruciatingly embarrassing stuff up for the Western Australian state government, during which period they couldn’t seem to keep any publicly backed companies from going into liquidation and during which time Brian Burke’s Labor government was revealed to be involved in clandestine and often illegal deals with all manner of corporate entities. Royal Commission followed, as did jail terms. And yes, the Labor party was fair game for the sort of cheap shot that Jeffery made, but the point is that as the governor he is not supposed to be partisan.

Rose Porteous - charlady turned princess when she married one of the richest men in Australia, who after a reasonably short period of time passed over into the afterlife.

Gina Rinehart - the daughter by a previous marriage who inherited the bulk of Hancock’s estate, challenged Rose’s entitlements under the will and eventually (with the help of Junior Queen) brought on an inquest to investigate whether Rose in fact killed Lang.

soap opera who could forget quotes such as these:

“For anyone else it would be a scream, but for me it’s just raising my voice.” - Rose Porteous on whether she had screamed at Mr Hancock.

“In February and March he was telling me the marriage had been a charade. He went so far as to say `she was the most evil person I have ever met’ … and Dad is not one to make things up.” - Gina Rinehart on her father’s alleged decision to divorce Ms Porteous and cut her out of his will just before he died in 1992.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 24th, 2003 at 3:09 pm by dan and is filed under oz politics and society. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.