THE PEACOCK SYNDROME

Some shock news I learned today. A former political heavyweight and almost Prime Minister, Andrew Peacock, has just had emergency heart surgery in a Melbourne hospital.

He took ill suddenly and, as I understand it, has had a double by-pass and a valve replacement. This comes only weeks after another famous politician, Bill Clinton, had emergency heart surgery.

I am told Peacock’s operation was a success and he is recovering well. He was smart enough not to “do the male thing” and ignore some warning signs, went to his cardiologist and had the successful surgery this week.

It is interesting that Peacock’s name will be back in the news because I was only thinking of him and his political career this week after I interviewed beleaguered new federal Labor leader Mark Latham.

The Labor doubts and squabbles in Canberra in 2004 are reminiscent of the internecine warfare which disemboweled the Liberal Party and kept them out of office for more than a decade when Bob Hawke won four elections on the trot.

Like Kim Beazley under Latham Peacock under Malcolm Fraser went to the backbench to brood and plot. Then for years Peacock was in as Opposition Leader then Howard was in then Peacock was back in. Then Howard said it would take more than “Lazarus with a triple by-pass” for him to get back in. Looking back it is a blur of a party in turmoil being rejected time and again ( albeit by a whisker under Peacock in 1990) by the electorate.

Now John Howard has been re-elected for the fourth consecutive time and given control of the Senate from July for the first time in two decades.

And it is Labor in Opposition that now seems to be committing hara-kiri. Already the cartoonists – who depicted Latham as a train wreck after the election disaster – are now portraying him as a corpse. I mean, you don’t have a “post mortem” on somebody who is still alive. As I said earlier this week the “ dead man walking” tag is starting to feel like a tar baby.

Speaking of Andrew Peacock and John Howard: Is it beyond the realms of possibility that the Bomber can “do a Howard” and come back again, yet again, for the next federal election? Is that you Lazarus???

Thursday, November 25, 2004

©Copyright Derryn Hinch 2004