How not to become Premier
You’re 36, leader of the opposition, and the long serving state premier has just retired. Pundits say you may be Premier before you are 40.
However you then go to a partyhosted by the Australian Hotels Association, and do the following things in ascending order of stupidity:
* Have a quick half dozen beers
* pinched Sunday Telegraph journalist Justine Ferrari on the bottom
* propositioned Sun-Herald journalist Angela Cuming.
* and finally referred to the wife of the former Premier as a “mail-order bride”
Helena Carr, wife of the popular Bob Carr, is Malaysian born and has lived in Australia since 1965. She has been married to Carr for 30 years and runs a division of a multi-national employing 1,000 people.
So it is no surprise that he has resigned. He keeps on digging blaming Alex Hawke, the national president of the Young Liberals for his downfall. No he didn’t make you act like a pillock.
August 30th, 2005 at 11:28 am
Shame, I liked Brogden. I’ve had a good talk to his father about his son’s political aspirations, the whole family will be very upset.
Stupid, and unexcusable thing to do. What a waste of a political career.
August 30th, 2005 at 11:43 am
I engage in precisely that kind of behaviour all the time! I’d vote for a guy like that!
It’s a sign of the politically correct, feminazi-dominated society that we live in that a guy gets pilloried out of public office simply for being a good c*nt.
August 30th, 2005 at 11:50 am
Maybe Shane Warne should go into politics.
August 30th, 2005 at 12:26 pm
What a load of shit. If he’d just fronted up and apologised to Bob and Helena Carr and the hackettes he’d groped, perhaps that would have been the end of it. Instead, he did nothing for serveral weeks – and when the calls started, the story seemed to change by the hour.
Being a crass, drunken arsehole is one thing. Being a crass, drunken arsehole who *ahem* spins to an egregious degree is quite another.
August 30th, 2005 at 12:38 pm
Craig:
What did he do wrong? He made a pass at a journalist. So fucking what? The journalist concerned said that she was uncomfortable with the approach. Well, if that’s the case, she shouldn’t go to bars where guys will hit on her. She needs to harden up.
Brogden’s only crime is if he sleazed on a chick who was repulsive. If the issue is whether he was actually successful in porking chicks other than his wife, well, he wouldn’t be the first Australian politician to do so.
And he made a comment about Helena Carr being a mail-order bride. Again, so what? It was in a private audience, and Australian politicians are by nature much harder and verbally aggressive than they are here.
August 30th, 2005 at 1:48 pm
Shame about his drunken behavior but he has not exactly covered himself with glory since. He seems to lack the maturity to be a Party leader but he could still have a career in politics if he wants one, this is not career breaking stuff. Just take a deep breath, have some time out, stop blaming the world for your stupidity and work yourself back in.
August 30th, 2005 at 2:01 pm
You’re absolutely right Tim and Craig. He’d suit NZ Labour down to the ground.
August 30th, 2005 at 2:19 pm
I’m amazed.
Australia is changing.
Whatever happened to the spirit of Sir Les Patterson?
August 30th, 2005 at 2:28 pm
Has anything like it happened in New Zealand?
I know Dover Samuel’s peed in a corridor but I cannot recall any drunken pollies going for any journos and pinching their bottoms, etc.
If we cannot recall any, then which pollies should give which journos a good grope?
August 30th, 2005 at 2:40 pm
Rob:
You do realise Les Patterson isn’t real, but a creation of Barry Humphries – who, by all reports, is a gentleman of punctilious good manners.
I’d also note that Mr. Humphries is not offering any of his stage characters for consideration as the next NSW Premier, as leader of a center-right, pro-family, pro-law and order political party.
But as I said above, I don’t think it was the crass behaviour that did Brogden in (I’ve been told that I did worse when I was on the piss), as much as the lack of candour about it.
August 30th, 2005 at 3:26 pm
Darren:
The closest I’ve seen to that behaviour was David Lange’s sleazy attempt to hit on a female member of our group at a business function in the early 90′s. She graciously refused his offer, and felt no need to go “public” with the details – even though she was revolted by his groping and overture. She had more class than Ms. Cuming (wouldn’t be too difficult it seems).
August 30th, 2005 at 3:32 pm
So he got pissed and hit on a journo….
Do you live under the Taleban of morality, in Australia?
I think your Journos need to be pulled in, that &*%/? brought him down simply to further her career and profile….. just by showing he was human and is capable of being stupid…
By her own admission she doesn’t paint a great picture of his ability to pull anyone.. yet insists that he actually wanted her!
August 30th, 2005 at 3:37 pm
Lets hope he will be replaced by a gentleman..Actually I thought you were reminiscing about Bob Hawke.
August 30th, 2005 at 3:40 pm
Craig R wrote: “Rob: You do realise Les Patterson isn’t real, but a creation of Barry Humphries”
Fuck! No!?
August 30th, 2005 at 3:59 pm
As a journo, I was wondering who we might have to watch out for at next year’s Qantas Media awards, or who maybe who should be invited to liven things up a bit.
I am sure as the perfect gentleman, Don Brash will never do anything untoward.
But what about Trevor ‘beer bottles’ Mallard, Davis ‘tennis balls’ Benson-Pope or Dover Samuels?
I am sure they could misbehave.
Perhaps Labour wimmin might do the harassing. Imagine, for example, which journo might Helen Clark want to get her hands on?
Any suggestions?
August 30th, 2005 at 4:03 pm
Talking of ‘Mail Order Brides’ Anyone know if Don Brash’s wife was by mail order?
August 30th, 2005 at 4:09 pm
Peter:
Excuse me? First, even if you want to be extremely charitable, I have to question the character and good judgement of any politician who:
1) Got loaded at a public function.
2) Sleazed all over a couple of journos.
3) Directed a pretty distasteful ethnic slur at Bob Carr’s wife, the day after the Premier’s resignation. (And, needless to add, if Je Lin Brash was called a “mail order bride” by an *ahem* tired and emotional Labour Minister at a public function, his blood alcohol level would win him precisely zero symapthy around here.)
4) And as I’ve said more than once, his lack of candour seems to have done more damage than the behaviour itself.
And this guy has been in Australian politics for more than a week, hasn’t he? The politicians may be a tougher breed on the other side of the ditch, but so are the hacks – and the gossip columns, where this story actually broke Peter.
If Brogden wanted to behave like some boofhead engineering student, he should go back to uni. Not put himself up as candidate for Premier of NSW. Oddly enough, I think even the Aussies draw a line between being a larakin and just being a sleazy creep.
August 30th, 2005 at 4:17 pm
Nope, she wasn’t. They were working together on a kiwifruit farm or something like that.
August 30th, 2005 at 4:20 pm
How did you know what my degree was?
I find you logic bizare, points 1-3 merely illustrate he was pissed, judgement once gone rarely returns in a hurry…. but in point 4 you intimate that the above behaviour may be allowable and excusable… even savageable… if an appology had been forthcoming?
thats the type of political BS that been engineered by journos as if they are allowed to draw the line between larikin and sleazebag..
Hang on a minute mate, I , joe public, have not given you journos the right to draw that line, and hell that line would be a bell curve anyway
whats worse drunken chat up lines or a certain Labour MP who basically ran down every senior minister over a pissy lunch…
who got away with it and why…
August 30th, 2005 at 4:23 pm
Paul Holmes will reveal all tonight, along with looking at Mr and Mrs Peter Davis.
But no-one want to join in my fun?
Which NZ pollies might similarly misbehave? Which journo’s bottom might Helen Clark want to pinch?
Go on, we need some light relief for this arvo.
But yes Craig, you are absolutely right, though I am surprised the Aussie hackette did not simply kick him in the nuts.
But by losing his job, Brogden he has now been castrated another way.
August 30th, 2005 at 4:25 pm
Paul Holmes will reveal all tonight, along with looking at Mr and Mrs Peter Davis.
But no-one want to join in my fun?
Which NZ pollies might similarly misbehave? Which journo’s bottom might Helen Clark want to pinch?
Go on, we need some light relief for this arvo.
But yes Craig, you are absolutely right, though I am surprised the Aussie hackette did not simply kick him in the nuts.
But by losing his job, Brogden he has now been castrated another way.
August 30th, 2005 at 4:25 pm
If it had been a female pollie hitting on a male jurno I very much doubt the reaction would be the same The male jurno would be told to get a life and his sexual preferences would be questioned Dont we live in interesting times
August 30th, 2005 at 4:26 pm
Is she a dyke? the hack.
August 30th, 2005 at 4:30 pm
Cadmus … the inference in your question about Don Brash’s wife is quite beyond the pail.
I despise you and all you stand for.
August 30th, 2005 at 4:42 pm
Craig and others:
Brogden has been so widely condemned by almost everyone in Australia (and no I am not just talking the ABC). Have a look at today’s The Australian (hardly a bastion of the left-wing) where one article calls him a “knucklehead” and then a “Bonehead” and the editorial calls him a “neanderthal”.
Brodgen wasn’t helped when John Howard came out said he was “wrong” for saying what he did.
August 30th, 2005 at 4:42 pm
Peter:
No, I don’t think that kind of behaviour is “allowable and excusable”. But I think there’s a quite cold political calculation Brogden forgot: Lying about screwing up is often more damaging than the screw-up itself. And paranoid self-pity certainly doesn’t help – just ask Richard M. Nixon.
At the very least, we was highly naive to think his conduct – as leader of the NSW Opposition the night of Bob Carr’s shock resignation – would stay out of the public domain for long
August 30th, 2005 at 4:49 pm
Yeah, crap timing. should have waited till he was cut down the RSA over the weekend before hitting on the half/cut hotties.
August 30th, 2005 at 5:14 pm
What can we glean from Brogden’s behavior? That he’s a philanderer, a sleaze and a liar. bear in mind he started of denying the event, then playing it down before fronting up. Also the guy is married and has kids. And by all accounts he has played the happily married card to his political advantage in the past.
I don’t know what sort of qualities others may look for in their leaders but, personally, lying and cheating don’t rate highly with me.
Oh, and in response to the inevitable comments about Lange and Margaret Pope … a bit of honesty wouldn’t have gone astray in that matter either.
August 31st, 2005 at 12:04 am
Maybe he meant ‘The former Premier has a mail order bribe’? hehe
August 31st, 2005 at 12:28 am
Not to worry Brogden was never going to be Premier anyway. Libs can`t make any head way against Labour in NSW no matter what F–k ups Labour makes.
August 31st, 2005 at 4:12 am
Brogden tried to commit suicide last night (see The Australian, or the Syndey Morning herald Herld). He was found unconscious and rushed to hospital.
It is a sad, sad story.
August 31st, 2005 at 11:19 am
Ross Miller….you say Cadmus
“I despise you and all you stand for”
Just freedom of speech Ross, I pity you despise it.
August 31st, 2005 at 9:35 pm
Adolph and IP can you both be at drinks next time at the backbencher.It’s along drive from the far north and I want to wipe both your clock’s at the same time if you could oblige.It won’t take long and you won’t feel a thing.( for awhile anyway).
August 31st, 2005 at 9:59 pm
Bring it on, Fred, you frigging drop-kick!
August 31st, 2005 at 10:05 pm
I intend to IP you are first cab off the rank slut.