All Posts Tagged With: "Jeff Kennett"

Annabel Crabb from the Sydney Morning Herald has paid australianpolitics.com a compliment in an article in today’s paper titled Loose lips an occupational hazard for ambitious MPs.

In the context of Peter Costello’s dinner conversations with journalists, Crabb unashamedly recycles the 1987 story of the Jeff Kennett-Andrew Peacock car-phone conversation, referring to the transcript and audio of the conversation on this site.

She says: “The excellent australianpolitics.com website, bless it, has a full transcript of that memorable conversation, if you’re over 18.”

Unfortunately, the address given in the article omits an underscore which would have produced a “page not found” message. The page has been duly replicated to ensure an unbroken internet experience.

Long before mobile phones became the ubiquitous accessory of the 21st century, a famous conversation took place between the then Leader of the Opposition in Victoria, Jeff Kennett, and his close friend, the former and future Federal Leader of the Opposition, Andrew Peacock.

The Victorian Liberals had performed well in a by-election on the evening of Saturday March 23. On his way home by car, Kennett rang Peacock. The call was intercepted by a man with a scanner. The conversation found its way onto the front pages of the newspapers and the Leader of the Opposition, John Howard, sacked Peacock from the shadow ministry.

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