Standing as the Labor Candidate for Kooyong

Well ain't life funny.  I am now the official candidate for Australian Labor in Kooyong.A map of the electorate is here:
http://www.aec.gov.au/profiles/vic/files/2010/2010-aec-a4-map-vic-kooyong.pdf  

Kooyong has been held by the Liberal Party or its predecessors since it was established in 1900.  It is thought that the name Kooyong comes from an Aboriginal word (I would hope from either Boonwurrung or Woi Worrung the language spoken by those people of the Kulin Nations who lived in and around the area that now makes up Metropolitan Melbourne) meaning camp or resting place, or haunt of the wild fowl.  

The path to my candidacy is mapped against another group.  I recently took a step back into the waters of activism by joining Grandmothers Against Detention of Refugee Children, a loosely organised group of older women who are desperately concerned about the plight of children in detention and decided to make a noise about it to try to convince the Government to take a humanitarian approach to the plight of asylum seeker children and their families.

Joining the Planning Group and helping to organise the first 'action' at the front of St Paul's Cathedral last year reminded me of the power of a collective group of people.  I have been a member of the ALP off and on since 1977 and had various levels of participation and activity.  The Grandmothers reminded me of the importance of being active, the importance of taking a stand.  They reminded me of the importance of 'turning up' to quote Tony Windsor.   So I started going to branch meetings again, and when the thinking started about nominating a candidate for the next federal election, I decided, with some persuasion, to put my hand up.

That was the start of an interesting journey.  At first it looked like there would be 4 nominations, however eventually it came down to two of us.  For the first time since 1982 we had a contested pre selection in Kooyong.  

We campaigned, I emailed members, both of us spoke to a joint branch meeting and were subjected to a couple of hours of questions from local members.  Then there was the local plebiscite and it was a draw!  So then it was off to Public Office Selection Committee, first both of us presenting to the right, then to the left then to the committee as a whole.  The vote was fairly heavily in my favour so at least that decision was clear cut.

So now I am campaigning.  Now dear readers this does include of course spelling out what I stand for, clarifying my position on a number of issues, planning a strategy for getting to know the people in the electorate (some 65,000 households) and understand what are the issues that are important to them and working out our campaign tactics.  It also involves photos.  I am much more comfortable being the one taking the photos, however I am convinced now that reasonable photos that give the electorate a sense of who I am are important.  So I asked my lovely niece Susan D'Arcy susandarcy.com.au/ to do me a favour and take a few photos to give me something to start with.  This is one of her shots.

But then I had to have the official photoshoot.  Yesterday we did the on location photos and, the day before my studio photos for posters etc....  The photographer, Anthony Leong, is a delight, full of stories about the photos he has taken over the years, thoughtful, professional and in the most delightful way suggesting which of our ideas would be useful and which would not.  I dragged the family (Beci, Raph and the kids) out to be the family that I was talking to in front of the Medicare office, I met with a group of enthusiastic young people at Swinburne University, I met with a group of Grandmothers and had the opportunity to yet again have a hot chocolate at Xocolatl, the best chocolate makers in Kew.  I stood in the rain at Camberwell Station with the previous candidate for Kooyong, John Kennedy.  I had to have the discussion - make up or  no make up - I went for a touch of make up.  I had to deal with Anthony saying that this was all about me, something which doesn't sit comfortably.

But we got it done and now I anxiously await the results.  I am not the most photogenic person, I don't particularly like looking at photos of myself.   So I leave it up to my campaign manager and committee to choose.  

The committee is made up,  interestingly, of mostly men reflecting those who have put their hands up. I am on a round of attending branch meetings, talking with people and arranging dates...  I have a website in the making, I have a Facebook:  Marg D'Arcy Labor For Kooyong and a twitter address @Darcy4kooyong - check them out.

So far I am loving it, have renewed energy for life and relish the challenge of taking on Josh 

 Frydenberg in the seat of Kooyong and playing my part in putting Labor into Government.

Here's a litt bit about why I am standing: 

I see Labor Governments preserving and protecting the things I hold dear - investing in public transport, building a strong education system, protecting universal access to quality health care, introducing NDIS to give people with disability and their families choice and control about how they live their lives, acting to stop climate change and taking real action so that women and children can live free from the fear of violence.

i despair at the Abbott Government that Josh Frydenberg is part of.  A Government that has no vision other than to wreck all the gains that Labor made.  A Government that wants to destroy our working conditions, our universal access to quality health and education, that is blind to the impact of climate change, and a Government that works to destroy the jobs that have been created in the renewable energy industry. A Government that is intent on destroying the ABC and taking away it’s editorial independence.  A Government that fosters fear and division and is taking us backwards so that we lag behind the rest of the world in action on climate change and achieving Marriage Equality.  I want to work to get rid of that Government and make Australia a country we can again be proud of

So if you want to follow the journey, stay tuned.

ANZAC Day and My Dad

It's ANZAC Day in Melbourne. It's wet and cold.  I know I'm not the only one who has been a bit overwhelmed by all the focus on ANZAC Day this year.  The media hype has been unrelenting.  And you know what, I don't like it.  I don't like war.  I particularly don't like that I'm made to feel unpatriotic because I don't get teary when we talk about Gallipoli.

I am saddened by the lives that were lost at Gallipoli, all those young men heading off into a horror that they did not understand, fighting in a country that we had no quarrel with.  Killing tens of thousands of Turks for no good reason and losing thousands of young Australian lives.  Causing untold misery to the people left at home, the mothers, the fathers, brothers, sisters and lovers.  Causing long term trauma to the villages and local Turks who were witnesses to the carnage.

And for what?  Because some hare brained politician thought it was okay to send soldiers off on some wild goose chase to forge a path through the Dardanelles.

From Dad's photos from the Middle East

However, ANZAC Day is an important day in memory.  My Dad always marched whether it was in Melbourne, Albury or wherever he happened to be at the time.  As a kid I would go and stand on the sidelines and watch.  As I got older often Mum would take Dad into the march then come to our place and we'd watch it on television and wait for the 2/23rd to appear.  Once we saw Dad marching, medals clinking, surrounded by his mates we'd turn the tele off and enjoy ourselves until it came time to pick Dad up from he reunion.  He'd always be quite happy, a bit pissed as were most of his mates and we'd bring him home, often dropping off a few of his mates on the way.

He loved coming back to our place, loved it best if it was a cold day and we had the fire going.  He didn't talk much about the war but he'd give us the goss on all his mates and sing some of the old songs - my favourite was:

 Around her head she wore a yellow ribbon, she wore it for a paratrooper far far away, far away... 

Yes he started off his war service with the paratroopers, but for some reason he couldn't leave with them so he joined the 2/23rd an infantry battalion based in Albury.  He went to the Middle East and was in Tobruk.  I am lucky enough to have some letters that he wrote back to my Mum while he was over seas.

HIs letters show me a man who was a bit bamboozled by it all, who didn't cope well with regimentation and who maintained his sense of humour all the way through.

My favourite bit in one of his letters is about a time he'd been injured:

I happened to be in the vicinity of one of Jerry's shells when it came over.  Thought i had joined the Air Force for a while, but when I came down realised I was still in the footsloggers

He goes on to talk about his recovery and the hospital then says:

When you are in the trenches you hate the Ities and Jerrys like poison, but once you capture them or they surrender you feel quite sorry for them.  I came down in an ambulance from the front alongside a wounded Itie.  A few of my cobbers had been killed the night before, and although I felt like shooting the Itie at first, before we got back to hospital we were quite good cobbers.  Couldn't understand a word he was saying, but we had some fun.  He used to call me 'Tom Mix' don't know why though.

Seems to me to sum up the craziness of war, fighting someone who has been designated an enemy for whatever reason, then realising that really they are no different from you.  

Anyway Dad. thought of you today, the fire's going there's a leg of lamb in the oven and I wish I could share it with you and Mum.  I'll have a glass of port afterwards to toast you and try to avoid all the reports of today's tourist invasion of Gallipoli.

My brother Harold, has sent me this history after reading this blog and responding a question from one of his daughters. Both he and my other brother Frank were in the army at different times.  So this gives the correct history, interesting how I got things quite confused......

He was then around (when a photo my niece asked about was taken) 24 or 25, in 1940-41 He was a temporary sergeant in 2/22nd Battalion when he was sent to Portsea to do a PTI (PHYSICAL TRAINING INSTRUCTORS), when he returned his Battalion had left and he was transferred to 2/23rd Battalion reserves, and as there was no posting for him as a Sgt, he became a private again and went to the Middle East with a large group of reinforcements. He arrived after the Tobruk siege but took part in the pivotal battle of El Alamein, and many other important battles. He was wounded twice in the arm, but after treatment in field hospitals, returned to fight.

He travelled to M East on the Queen Mary and returned on the Queen Elizabeth. 

He then volunteered for the newly formed Paratroopers, and after training in NSW was based at an airstrip In FNQld at Mareeba. His Paratroop Battalion, was held there in reserve if the Japanese had landed, but they were not needed in combat. After Mum (Nana) was attacked late at night in wartime Melbourne he was transferred back there on compassionate grounds. They were married on 6/5/1944 almost a year before I was born. Dad had a clerical posting in Melb until he was discharged.