Ruined general may still swing a sword

DESPITE NSW Premier Morris Iemma's hangdog expression, the ALP are not the underdogs in this month's state election.

The worst that Labor (and the unfortunate taxpayers of NSW) can expect at this stage is a hung parliament with a rump of independent and Green MPs holding the balance of power. That repugnant spectre should be enough to stir the most indolent and least politically aware citizens into action but Labor's 12-year incumbency seems to have anaesthetised the voters, at least as far as their views are reflected in the polls. Labor's absolutely appalling record should have condemned the party to ignominy but there appears to be sufficient doubt about the quality of leadership offered by Liberal supremo Peter Debnam to have neutralised even that saga of monumental mismanagement. There is, however, one person who could at this late stage alter the equation if he so chose - John Brogden. The societal memory is faulty at best but in the past 18-months since Brogden resigned as Opposition leader and subsequently from State Parliament his qualities have been mythologised to an astonishing degree, giving him a degree of credibility he lacked when he presented as the new young face in NSW politics. Among the myths that have now achieved the dubious status of conventional wisdom is the view that his polling was spectacularly superior to that of his successor and that he would have had no difficulties in leading the Opposition to victory in this election. The fact is that Brogden's popularity ebbed and flowed and it is impossible to make any hypothetical assessment of his comparative popularity with that of either Debnam or Iemma, given the very different emphasis on issues now confronting the electorate. What is fact, however, is that when Brogden and former Labor premier Bob Carr were subjected to qualitative assessment, Brogden was to the Left of Carr on most major social issues and would remain to the Left of Iemma on the same scale. Another myth held by small-``l'' Liberals, which flows directly from the social views held by Brogden, is that his political career was foreshortened by conspiratorial members of the much-feared Right of the Liberal Party personified by Upper House figure David Clarke, who is regularly demonised in a manner no member of any other church is forced to endure for being a devout practising Roman Catholic. This right-wing plot myth began almost immediately after Brogden made his clumsy remarks about Carr's wife being a mail-order bride and also some rather childish approaches to female journalists at an alcohol-fuelled media function. Reports of that event led later to an unfortunate bout with a bottle of spirits and a clumsy attempt at self-harm in his Mona Vale electorate office, leading to his resignation after a short period in hospital. Indeed, Rodney Tiffen, Sydney University's Professor in Government and International Relations wrote for On Line, a supposedly authoritative web journal of social and political debate: "The reporting that led to Brogden's political downfall started in The Sunday Telegraph, with a column from Canberra by Glenn Milne, based on sources in the Liberal Party." Milne yesterday confirmed that he had never at any time suggested that the source for his story was from the Liberal Party, which supports the view of every member of the state press gallery involved in preparing the initial definitive stories who told me at the time that there was no Liberal Party involvement whatsoever. They simply reported what they had witnessed. That myth fed the next popular legend peddled in Brogden's former electorate of Pittwater by independent Alex McTaggart, who won the by-election for the seat. That is, that Brogden was a local boy who had been white-anted by members of his own team. He was not a local by any means, having come from Drummoyne and having fought other pre-selection battles (including one for Debnam's seat of Vaucluse) before finding success in Pittwater and winning the blue-ribbon Liberal seat in a 1996 by-election. Myths aside, Brogden is a former state Opposition leader and having joined the Liberal Party as a 16-year-old and having spent most of his adult life working in a variety of state offices associated with the wringing-wet side of Liberal politics, he might now consider whether he owes some obligation to the party which nurtured and supported him for almost two decades. Brogden is by no means an outcast, except perhaps in his own mind, and there are many in the Liberal Party who believe that it is time he showed some maturity and made a small personal contribution of his time to his former colleagues' struggle. NSW yesterday went into caretaker mode for the remaining three weeks of the election campaign - some say it has actually been in convalescent mode for years. Brogden has the opportunity to make a difference. Whether he chooses to do so will be the true measure of this former party leader.