http://www.crikey.com.au/2008/04/09/mungo-button-was-a-truly-good-human-being/ now with extra source Sun, 12 Feb 2012 00:58:05 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://www.crikey.com.au/2008/04/09/mungo-button-was-a-truly-good-human-being/#comment-19901 Jamesk Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000 #comment-19901 A very good valedictory Mr. MacCallum A very good valedictory Mr. MacCallum

]]> http://www.crikey.com.au/2008/04/09/mungo-button-was-a-truly-good-human-being/#comment-19902 barry donovan Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000 #comment-19902 Mungo made some good points about John Button as a clever politician but it would be a mistake to turn him into an all-wise Saint John. JB was in fact a member of a very disciplined Victorian faction - the Participants - who used their admitedly small numbers to great effect in linking with one of the two main factions - invariably the Left - when it suited on endorsements and policies. Federal ALP intervention into Victoria ( more a big Clyde Cameron push than JB's) led to amazing scenes at the next State ALP conference when Gough's nemisis, George Crawford, Bill Hartley's sidekick,was voted back in as State ALP President. The ALP won office in 1972 not because of intervention in Victoria but because of the obvious outstanding ability of Gough Whitlam and his fresh appeal to the younger Australian electorate and the tiredness and hopelessness of the Liberal Party led by the unfortunate Billy McMahon. Mungo made some good points about John Button as a clever politician but it would be a mistake to turn him into an all-wise Saint John. JB was in fact a member of a very disciplined Victorian faction - the Participants - who used their admitedly small numbers to great effect in linking with one of the two main factions - invariably the Left - when it suited on endorsements and policies. Federal ALP intervention into Victoria ( more a big Clyde Cameron push than JB’s) led to amazing scenes at the next State ALP conference when Gough’s nemisis, George Crawford, Bill Hartley’s sidekick,was voted back in as State ALP President. The ALP won office in 1972 not because of intervention in Victoria but because of the obvious outstanding ability of Gough Whitlam and his fresh appeal to the younger Australian electorate and the tiredness and hopelessness of the Liberal Party led by the unfortunate Billy McMahon.

]]> http://www.crikey.com.au/2008/04/09/mungo-button-was-a-truly-good-human-being/#comment-19903 megan stoyles Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000 #comment-19903 Button will be resting peacefully, having escaped Barry Jones and 'all the things I'd have liked to have told him,' as BJ said in The Age. Jones was never one for dialogue. Button will be resting peacefully, having escaped Barry Jones and ‘all the things I’d have liked to have told him,’ as BJ said in The Age. Jones was never one for dialogue.

]]>