Senator Andrew Bartlett
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
 
Although I only met Janine Haines twice, she was a key reason why I decided to join the Democrats back in 1989.

The Democrats' ethos of participatory democracy and attempt to move beyond the old ideological divisions had already drawn my attention. Janine Haines seemed to embody the reality that moving away from a two party system would make our democracy more vibrant and dynamic.

I also appreciated her irreverence and willingness to make comments that were a bit 'courageous' and outside the safe clichés which dominated party political discussion. One example that sticks in my mind was when she said (words to the effect that) a large proportion of the electorate didn't know enough to cast an informed vote. This was naturally jumped on straight away as an allegedly disgraceful insult of the average Australian, but in many respects it was (and remains) true. Given the abysmal coverage of political issues by the mainstream media, it is probably not surprising that most of the public aren't terribly well informed about the reality of what happens in the Parliament, but that doesn't make the comment incorrect.

The first time I met Janine was at the Democrats' launch of our Queensland candidates for the 1990 federal election. It was a function held at the Greek Club at South Brisbane, a convenient function centre which still serves as the venue for a wide variety of meetings and forums. I’ve gone to at least 10 different events there since that time, from small community group meetings, to dinners and speeches. I even played a gig there once with one of my bands at a Qld music awards night.

I don't remember a huge amount about the candidate launch. It was relatively early in my days in the party, and I was still very much at the stage of sussing things out. I was standing on the edges, just observing people and Janine came over specifically to say hello to me. I was 25 years old and had very long, died black hair – probably untidy although I don't recall. Rather than ask me how long I'd been a member and why I joined and the usual sorts of questions, she just started making conversation about how boring these sorts of events could be for many people, but for some candidates and some of their supporters they were a good morale boost. She then walked off and gave a typically rousing campaign launch speech. About the only other thing that sticks in my mind was that one of our candidates (for the seat of Moreton I think) was wearing a Hawaiian shirt, so it probably was a fairly dull event.

The only other time I met her would have been around 1992. By that stage I was Qld Secretary and on Cheryl Kernot's staff. She was visiting Cheryl's office in Melbourne St, South Brisbane and I was sitting out the back in the little kitchen area talking to her about the other time that I'd met her. She was friendly, but in keeping with her approach once she left politics at the 1990 election, she was very reluctant to making pronouncements about what the party should be doing or to give political advice.

A combination of her desire not to be commenting form the sidelines after she'd left politics and a worsening illness meant she made few forays into the public arena after that. Her illness was such that she ceased appearing even at celebratory and official party occasions. In some ways, this has helped in her being remembered at her dynamic and charismatic best.Janine still remains the most electorally successful third party leader and she did that with strong opinions and an open-minded attitude to good policy, but without being extremist or fundamentalist in her approach, something we could do with more of today.

posted by Andrew Bartlett @ Tuesday, November 23, 2004
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