Graham Richardson’s wife reveals his final moments and promise to his son before he died age 76
The wife of Graham ‘Richo’ Richardson, the former Labor senator and powerbroker, has paid tribute to him and revealed what happened in his final hours before he died.
Graham ‘Richo’ Richardson, the one-time senator, Labor hardman, broadcaster and stirrer, has died aged 76.
Mr Richardson had fallen ill with the flu in September which worsened into pneumonia.
His son D’Arcy finished his HSC exams on Thursday.
His wife Amanda said Graham was waiting for him to finish.
He began to feel unwell on Friday afternoon at 1pm and was taken to hospital. He passed away at 4am Saturday morning.
Former soccer player Mark Bosnich came last night to Richo’s bedside and held his hand for an hour, as did Dominic Sullivan, the former Randwick mayor.
His wife Amanda said: “I’ve lost the love of my life. D’Arcy’s lost the greatest dad and Australia’s lost one of its best. He was a man ahead of his time.”
His death was first announced on radio station 2GB on Saturday after radio personality Ben Fordham rang in to confirm his passing after he was contacted by his family.
Paying tribute to the former political powerbroker, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told Sky News he was a “legend” who was “larger than life” and a “much loved” member of the Labor Party.
“He’s someone who I often got advice from and he was always worth listening to,” Mr Albanese said.
Sky News Australia CEO Paul Whittaker said Mr Richardson was committed to the Australian people despite enduring health troubles.
“It is a true measure of Graham’s dogged determination, will to live and strength of purpose that he insisted on appearing for his regular segment with Sky News’ Chief News Anchor Kieran Gilbert on Monday morning from his hospital room despite his failing health,” he said.
He added “Richo” was one of the sharpest political minds in Australian politics.
“During his almost 15 years delivering his frank yet charismatic commentary on political affairs on Sky News, Richo added an insight, expertise, and depth that enhanced political discourse in Australia,” Mr Whittaker said.
“His uncompromising style and enviable ability to call the election result, often before anyone else, cemented him as a key fixture of Sky News’ election night coverage, while his contributions across the network helped shape Sky News into the leading destination for live political news coverage it is today.
“Richo was an inspiring and loyal member of the Sky News team whose presence in the newsroom, and on our screens, will be greatly missed.
“Our thoughts are with his wife Amanda and son D’Arcy at this difficult time.”
Former Labor premier and foreign affairs minister Bob Carr said Mr Richardson would be remembered for his “colossal” environmental achievements as a federal minister, such as securing a World Heritage Listing for Queensland’s Daintree Rainforest.
“It’s a sad moment, especially for people of my generation who counted Graham Richardson as a colleague and friend going back to our days in Young Labor in the early 70s,” he said.
“We went to one another’s weddings, and ran around Whitlam rallies in 1975 with plastic buckets, getting donations.
“He will be remembered for colossal environmental achievements as a federal minister. He was smart and funny and quick to get to the essence of anything. He did that on environmental causes and Australians for hundreds of years will enjoy the results.”
The outspoken political powerbroker had battled ill-health for years. His first cancer diagnosis came in 1999, which was a rare form of bone cancer. In 2016, he was forced to have his bowel removed.
Richardson had his bladder, tailbone, bowel and prostate removed during the 17-hour surgery.
But with the sort of fighting spirit for which he was renowned throughout his political career, Richardson came back to broadcasting, offering his candid and frequently maverick opinions on national and global politics.
Richardson came to national attention when he was elected Senator for NSW at the age of just 33, his political profile already set in stone by a decade of brutal internal Labor Party politics.
He became the party’s state General Secretary at just 27, and would enjoy a fearsome reputation as the leader of the NSW right faction, during a time of thuggery at several inner-city branches. The culture of violence made nationwide news in 1980 when a left-leaning Labor MLC, Peter Baldwin, was bashed at his Sydney home – a crime for which nobody was ever charged. (Baldwin would later go on to become the Federal Member for Sydney.)
Richardson’s arrival in Canberra coincided with the election of the Hawke Labor government in 1983, and he was a key player in both the Hawke and Keating ministries, holding the portfolios for environment, social security, transport, communications and health at various times.
While never really a ‘greenie,’ in his political memoir Richo professed a love of the wilderness, and recounted how he came to see the electoral advantage in championing environmental issues. During his time as Environment Minister he increased protection for the Daintree and Kakadu, and stopped the Wesley Vale Pulp Mill in Tasmania.
But his career was frequently dogged by controversy.
He was a key architect behind the toppling of Hawke as Prime Minister in 1991, and his 1994 resignation from the Senate, nominally because of health issues, was enmeshed in rumours of hidden causes and criminal connections.
Post-politics, he was accused of tax evasion, thanks to his links with the colourful Sydney stockbroker Rene Rivkin, who claimed the Labor powerbroker had shares in the printing company Offset Alpine, which burnt down in mysterious circumstances in 1993. (Richardson was to deny this, but questions over his involvement in the Offset Alpine affair continued to haunt him for many years.) He was also caught up in the cash for comment broadcasting scandal of the early 2000s.
Richardson released his memoir Whatever It Takes in 1994, the same year he stepped down from the Senate, but the title of the book was often used to discredit him by his political opponents, who would insinuate the Labor hardman would indeed do whatever it took to win a fight.
He made many enemies, even eventually falling out with long-time friend Paul Keating, and his Labor contemporaries could be withering in their assessments, at least when writing their memoirs.
Former Health Minister Neal Blewett described Richardson as an “Antipodean Machivaelli” and “the arch proponent of vested interests” while former Foreign Minister Gareth Evans said Richo’s inclination for doing “whatever it takes … was not always a recipe for good, principled government”.
Richardson focused on lobbying work away from the headlines in his post-parliamentary career, although there was also a spell on Sydney talkback radio, and an appointment as a board member of SOCOG (Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games). This last role landed Richo the plum role of mayor of the athlete’s village during the 2000 Games.
But the lure of the spotlight would eventually draw Richo back to national attention. He debuted his own show Richo on Sky News in 2011, and would later co-host Richo + Jones with the controversial radio shock-jock Alan Jones.
But ill-health would force Richardson into taking medical leave on a number of occasions, the most serious being in 2016 when his heart flatlined three times.
“I had the operation because I thought the consequences of not having it were going to be incontinence. I didn’t realise it was also death,” he was to say in an interview a year later.
“There’s nothing quite like thinking you nearly carked it.”
He was married twice, sharing a son and daughter with first wife Cheryl Gardner, whom he married in 1973. He had another son, D’Arcy, with second wife Amanda, whom he married in 2007.
Richardson even had hopes for his son D’Arcy to become Prime Minister one day.
“I want him to be Prime Minister. If I hang around long enough I reckon I could manage it. I could get him there,” he told 60 Minutes.
At the time, D’Arcy said he wanted to be a “creative writer” instead.
He is survived by his wife Amanda and son D’Arcy.
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