Saturday, November 03, 2007

John Schumann: The man who nearly was

Here's the surprising story as I wrote it in Sunday's Canberra Times, courtesy of ABC Adelaide mornings. I suggest you listen to the last part of the interview. It's riveting.

Labor has ex-ABC personality Maxine McKew, weather presenter Mike Bailey, celebrity footballer’s wife Nicole Cornes, war hero Mike Kelly, and it almost had as a candidate… John Schumann, the voice of the legendary Australian protest band Redgum.

The man behind I was Only Nineteen – the Vietnam veterans anthem honoured by the Australian record industry as one of the best Australian songs of all time – says he seriously considered the offer made on behalf of Kevin Rudd but the deal broke down over his insistence on being made Veterans Affairs Minister should Labor win...

Speaking in an ABC radio interview about his fellow musician Peter Garrett who did enter Parliament for Labor and has been embroiled in election controversies John Schumann said he had predicted trouble from the start.

“I wrote to him and said – you are going to have to compromise, you are going to have to do backflips and it is not going to be nice. And the people who have supported you and admired you and nurtured you to date are going to turn on you. And I think that’s what’s happened,” he told the Adelaide ABC’s David Bevan.

John Schumann stood as a Democrat candidate against the Foreign Minister Alexander Downer in 1998 and cut his margin from 16% to 1.7%. He said he thought it was that success that led to an approach earlier this year from some of the Leader’s “archangels”

“My response to the archangels was: How dumb do you think I am? You just want me to entertain Alexander Downer for a while and not win, because I don’t think Mayo’s takeable. Not now. It was when I did it in 1998 and it certainly was achievable in 2001, but not now because the Democrat vote’s collapsed”.

John Schumann said that in response they offered him a choice of two other Adelaide seats “that were winnable”.

“They offered me a lot of money for the campaign. There’s absolutely no doubt about it. I look back now in the context of what’s happening now, there is absolutely no way that I would have lost.”

He would not confirm whether one of the seats was Boothby, now being contested instead by the mistake-prone Nicole Cornes, wife of Adelaide football legend Graham Cornes.

John Schumann said although the offer was genuine and he respected it, it made him uneasy. So he asked to be guaranteed a Ministry.

“I said, if you want me to do this, I am as good as anybody else you’ve got in your organisation and if you win and I win, I want the Ministry of Veterans affairs.”

He said the response was that Labor could not guarantee any Ministries, “which is what I expected of them”.

“You know, Veterans Affairs would be the one thing that I have a passion for, and some knowledge of, and some profile in the community, and it would also mean that if they double crossed me I would walk.”

Instead John Schumann is back on the road, playing tonight in Melbourne’s Williamstown RSL.


EXTRACTS FROM DAVID BEVAN'S ABC 891 INTERVIEW:

I was approached out of Rudd’s office, via some archangels, to Run for Mayo.

My response to the archangels was “how dumb do you think I am. You just want me to entertain Alexander Downer for a while and not win, because I don’t think Mayo’s takable. Not now. Itt was when I did it in 1998 and it certainly was acheiveable in 2001, but not now because the Democrat vote’s collapsed.

And they said Oh, okay, we will, and they offered me a couple of other seats that were winnable.

They offered you Boothby?

They offered me a couple of seats that were winnable.

Including Boothby?

They offered me a coupled of seats that were winnable.

So you won’t deny that they offered you Boothby?

They offered me a couple of seats that were winnable.

I don’t pro[ose to say which seats they were because I don’t think that’s helpful to the people who are now campaigning in those seats. I don’t think that’s fair.

But the seats that they talked to me about were winnable ALP seats.

Why did you not take them up on the offer?

I thought about it, I entertained it seriously, because it you know, it was a serious offer, it came, on my understanding it came out of Rudd’s office, It was a genuine approach. I respected it.

Buy why would you turn them down?

Well because, it was all going end in tears, it was all going to end in tears. Because you know, I watched my erstwhile music industry colleague my Garrett, and er, I couldn’t do what he’s done, you know.

I said to them, I said look, you know, at some point in time, probably sooner rather than later, the party, quite reasonably is going to expect me to line up behind some policy issue that I am uncomfortable with, that I am really uncomfortable with, and I’m not going to be able to do it. I am going to have to you know, speak out and if push comes to shove I am going to have to cross the floor and it’s going to be unpleasant for everybody.

And I really don’t think that you need that, and I don’t think that I need it either.

You wrote an open letter to Peter Garett and said it would all end in tears?

I said – you’re going to have to compromise, you’re going to have to do backflips and it’s not going to be nice. You’re going to feel uncomfortable. And the people who have support3ed you and admired you sand nurtured you to date are going to turn on you. And I think that’s what’s happened.

Look. Peter made a decision. He made a decision I think in the full knowledge of what was required of him, he decided that the, the ends justify the means.

And that’s what he’s done. That is not a decision that I would make.

But I don’t want to criticise Peter.

Look, I think Peter’s you know, a very intelligent, able, principled guy with great intentions.

I don’t think there’s anything hypocritical about Peter at all.

But he has decided he’s going to do some backflips.

But you entertained the offer?

There’s a part of me that loves politics, and there’s a part of me that knows that, given half a chance I’d be pretty good at it. But the other part of me knows that if I were to play politics I would want to play to win because it is in my nature. And if were to play to win I would be ruthless.

Q: Did they offer you something. Or did you demand something? Did you say if I did this I would want x, y, and z?

They didn’t’ offer me anything, but they offer me a lot of money for the campaign, there’s absolutely no doubt about it. I mean I look back now in the context of what’s happening now, there’s absolutely no way that I would have lost, either [DELETED] or any of the seats that I…

Nicole Cornes looks like she’s pulling back the Labor vote?

We’ll look, that’s something that you can discuss with Nicole and others.

Would you have asked for a Ministry?

I in fact did ask for, I said: if you want me to do this, I am as good as anybody else you’ve got in your organisation and if you win and I win I want Veterans affairs.

What did they say?

Oh we can’t guarantee any ministries, Which is what I expected of them.

You know, Veterans Affairs would be the one thing that I have a passion for, and some knowledge or, and some profile in the community, and it would also mean that if they double crossed me I would walk. Absolutely.

What do you think of the Caolition government?

I loathe and detest the Coalition government. I will not forgive them for Tampa. I will not forgive them for children overboard. I will not forgive them for AWB. I will not forgive, I can understand how AWB happened, but I cannot forgive them for the bullshit.

I can not forgive them for Hicks. That was disgraceful, absolutely disgraceful.

Look Hicks is an idiot, you know, I think, I suspect. I think Hicks is a poor dumb kid who was in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong set of beliefs, so he is an idiot, okay?

But he’s our idiot., he’s our idiot., If I was the Prime Minister he would not have been in Guantamo Bay for any longer than he had to be.

I would have said: “I don’t care, he’s ours. You give us the evidence, you give us the complaint, we will bring him home to Australia and we will try him and we will do what has to be done, but leaving that kind in a paid of orange overalls in a cell manacled hands, it’s just bullshit. I will not, I will not forgive them for that.