>>6511771 (LB)
>>6511729 (LB)
So Bob Hawke dies and my wife gets an email from the current labor leader Bill Shorten.
It seems like Bill was trying to tug the heart strings so people would vote for him.
At our Labor launch I told Bob we loved him, I promised we would win for him. I said the same to him the next day at his home, when I visited.
It was Monday 6 May, the Sydney sun was out, that famous silver mane, now snow-white. Cigar in hand, strawberry milkshake on the table, the hefty bulk of his dictionary holding down the day’s cryptic crossword.
I gave the man who inspired me to go into politics a gentle hug, I tried to tell him what he meant to me, what he meant to all of us.
I couldn’t quite find the right words, few of us can, when we’re face-to-face with our heroes.