Brian Burke: Why modern Labor owes Graham Richardson a great deal

“Stay in a crouch and keep the faith”.

Graham Richardson’s advice to me when my life spiralled into the lonely depths of despair underlined the Labor loyalty that was his long suit.

Graham Richardson, was one of the finest political brains the Labor Party produced. And his number-crunching ability is best explained by comparing him to Robert Ray, the great political operator and numbers man on the Labor Right in Victoria.

When Ray destroyed someone, it was impossible to put the broken person back together because you often couldn’t find all the pieces.

After Richardson destroyed you, he then put you back into some sort of working order – but committed to him.

Graham came to Perth with John Ducker, the NSW party president, in 1977 seeking to formalise the establishment of a Right faction in WA.

He wisely understood very quickly that forcing formal factions here would consign the Right to a permanent minority and he and “Bruvver” Ducker left it to the locals to win more fights than they lost as the stage was set for our success in the 80’s.

Graham was the best fund-raiser I ever met. On one memorable occasion, I was surprised not to hear from Multiplex boss John Roberts after I’d approached him seeking support at a coming election.

The silence was explained when I bumped into John in the street and he explained that he was happy to have “…sent the donation through Graham…” who’d told John he was representing me.

Remonstrating with Graham was useless – he said the money had helped re-elect the Wran Government in New South Wales!

The truth was that Richardson was successful because he combined his organising skills with a fine political brain.

He was very often right and it’s almost always overlooked that people with power in politics very frequently owe it to their ability to judge situations and come up with the right answers, not because they command unthinking support from others who don’t care about outcomes.

Not for Graham was the approach that bludgeoned colleagues into supporting the wrong decision by convincing them it was necessary to “keep the party pure”, which was double-talk for preserving personal power.

Modern Labor owes Graham Richardson a great deal. With Bob Hawke and Paul Keating, Graham confiscated the Liberal Party’s constituency sowing the seeds of enduring Labor success.

Without Graham Richardson the financial literacy that marks Labor today would not have been achieved because he defined the context for the leadership of Bob Hawke and the economic pirouettes of Paul Keating.