Comments on: Peter Howson, minister for ‘trees, boongs and poofters’ http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/02/05/peter-howson-minister-for-trees-boongs-and-poofters/ now with extra source Sun, 12 Feb 2012 07:14:43 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Kevin Charles Herbert http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/02/05/peter-howson-minister-for-trees-boongs-and-poofters/#comment-23814 Kevin Charles Herbert Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000 #comment-23814 <br /><br />Nice work Mungo...I particularly liked your closer. Nice work Mungo…I particularly liked your closer.

]]> By: lazy http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/02/05/peter-howson-minister-for-trees-boongs-and-poofters/#comment-23815 lazy Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000 #comment-23815 You should always speak good of the dead... and he's dead, which is good. You should always speak good of the dead… and he’s dead, which is good.

]]> By: Jen http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/02/05/peter-howson-minister-for-trees-boongs-and-poofters/#comment-23816 Jen Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000 #comment-23816 Poor old Malcolm T got it wrong too. He's vague on all sort of things lately. Poor old Malcolm T got it wrong too. He’s vague on all sort of things lately.

]]> By: JamesK http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/02/05/peter-howson-minister-for-trees-boongs-and-poofters/#comment-23817 JamesK Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000 #comment-23817 I know nothing of Peter Howson. But after reading MacCallum's typically mealy-mouthed and vile vale, I then read Caroline Overington's and then Peter Costello's tribute in the House of Representatives.<br /><br />None of us are perfect, but it is obvious, having read these three accounts that it is McCallum's review that lacks humanity. I know nothing of Peter Howson. But after reading MacCallum’s typically mealy-mouthed and vile vale, I then read Caroline Overington’s and then Peter Costello’s tribute in the House of Representatives.

None of us are perfect, but it is obvious, having read these three accounts that it is McCallum’s review that lacks humanity.

]]> By: Venise Alstergren http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/02/05/peter-howson-minister-for-trees-boongs-and-poofters/#comment-23818 Venise Alstergren Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000 #comment-23818 lazy: Isn't that kinda like speaking well of Hitler? lazy: Isn’t that kinda like speaking well of Hitler?

]]> By: Henry http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/02/05/peter-howson-minister-for-trees-boongs-and-poofters/#comment-23819 Henry Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000 #comment-23819 Peter Howson could not, I think, have written Mungo's entertaining satires but he was a very clear thinker on issues where his views came to prevail in the 30 years or so after he ceased to be an MP. Unlike the instinctive socialist-interventionist ways of right-of-centre politicians from the 1940s till the 1980s he actually saw the merit of the competitive market determining the fate of capitalists without being simple minded about the need for a proper legal and regulatory framework. And his decades of work for Aborigines, centred on the Bennelong Society, can be seen to embody the now conventional wisdom after the appalling failures of the Coombs-Whitlam-Fraser innovations which have done so much damage. Peter Howson could not, I think, have written Mungo’s entertaining satires but he was a very clear thinker on issues where his views came to prevail in the 30 years or so after he ceased to be an MP. Unlike the instinctive socialist-interventionist ways of right-of-centre politicians from the 1940s till the 1980s he actually saw the merit of the competitive market determining the fate of capitalists without being simple minded about the need for a proper legal and regulatory framework. And his decades of work for Aborigines, centred on the Bennelong Society, can be seen to embody the now conventional wisdom after the appalling failures of the Coombs-Whitlam-Fraser innovations which have done so much damage.

]]> By: Kevin Charles Herbert http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/02/05/peter-howson-minister-for-trees-boongs-and-poofters/#comment-23820 Kevin Charles Herbert Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000 #comment-23820 <br />Seeing that Dover Heights armchair Zionist militarist, Little JimmyKoward, heap scorn on a journo of Mungo McCallum's stature, is akin to watching a fool trying to flag down a freight train at night with a cigarette lighter..... Seeing that Dover Heights armchair Zionist militarist, Little JimmyKoward, heap scorn on a journo of Mungo McCallum’s stature, is akin to watching a fool trying to flag down a freight train at night with a cigarette lighter…..

]]> By: Rosie Fairbairn http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/02/05/peter-howson-minister-for-trees-boongs-and-poofters/#comment-23821 Rosie Fairbairn Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000 #comment-23821 Drongo MacCallum gets it wrong again. Peter Howson was a family friend, he brought honour to the country, the Liberal party, his portfolios, and joy to his friends; we loved him well. My father, David Fairbairn, was his contemporary and close friend - Mungo also got DF's obituary wrong in 1994. Drongo MacCallum gets it wrong again. Peter Howson was a family friend, he brought honour to the country, the Liberal party, his portfolios, and joy to his friends; we loved him well. My father, David Fairbairn, was his contemporary and close friend - Mungo also got DF’s obituary wrong in 1994.

]]> By: Marion Diamond http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/02/05/peter-howson-minister-for-trees-boongs-and-poofters/#comment-23822 Marion Diamond Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000 #comment-23822 In his jaundiced but entertaining commentary on Peter Howson, Mungo omits to mention that Howson's most valuable contribution to political debate was probably that he published his diaries: The Howson Diaries: a life in politics (ed. Don Aitkin, 1984). A brick of a book (1000+ pages) but an almost unique record of daily life on the conservative side of politics. In his jaundiced but entertaining commentary on Peter Howson, Mungo omits to mention that Howson’s most valuable contribution to political debate was probably that he published his diaries: The Howson Diaries: a life in politics (ed. Don Aitkin, 1984). A brick of a book (1000+ pages) but an almost unique record of daily life on the conservative side of politics.

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