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After a spell at the Caulfield Institute of Technology where his concept of educational marketing had resulted in over-subscribed courses and its rise to one of the top education institutions in Victoria, Steedman felt the need to move on again. His wife, Julie, had completed her ceramics course and the eldest child was ready for school. Pete and Julie had been instrumental, with several others, in establishing the first crèche on a tertiary education campus, assisting many single mothers and others to have the opportunity of an education and they now had to work out the next step for their two sons.
By Peter Simon
Pete took up a position as Research Officer for Senator John Button, then Deputy Leader of the Labor Party in the Senate. He combined this with his unpaid editorship of the Labor Star putting him in a position where he could learn about Canberra and how it worked. He created a network of people he could trust to provide him with information, both on policy issues and scuttlebutt.
While working for the lively senator, an article written by Richard L’Estrange , in the National Times for the week ending May 19,1979, noted that " yesterday’s " ill fitting denims, cowboy hat and Peter Fonda sunglasses remained , but now Steedman drove a fully imported Jaguar, albeit over 20 years old. ( Steedman groaned on reading this, and pointed out he wore sunglasses long before anybody took any notice of Fonda and his shades.)
The entertaining report revealed that back in the l960s , Steedman had been the "absolute personification of radical chic." The intriguing article was headed : KONFRONTASI (1) Blood nearly flows at ALP victory party . It told of an incident late at night in the elegant ALP suite of offices in Carlton to celebrate a swing against the Victorian Hamer Government. Steedman, a Super A grade journalist, confronted a reporter from The Australian, David Wilson .
Steedman, it said, had had confrontations with L’Estrange - nicknamed " Dick the odd"- and Wilson in the past. Steedman claimed to have been denigrated regularly by L'Estrange, an ex Press Secretary for State Labor Leader , Clyde Holding, in a sheet called The Toorak Times.
According to the L'Estrange confrontation report , Steedman told Wilson it was five minutes to midnight and if he was not out of the premises by midnight , he "would be done over". A beefy person had intervened between the two, and Steedman began the countdown. At the two minute mark , Steedman stated the obvious when he said he expected the incident would appear in print . Wilson tempted fate by saying he was not a correspondent for the journal of Mental Hygiene. Phew ! With little time to go before the promised doing over erupted , Wilson decamped with " some dignity," leaving Steedman to enjoy the celebrations in an appropriate manner .
At times , in the Labor Star, run by Steedman , he criticised the right wing of NSW Labor , which attacked the Victorian Left wing ; this prompted another strange exchange .
Senator Button and NSW Right wing strong man , John Ducker , were together in the backblocks during an inquiry, both tired and hungry, eating pie , chips and garnish (fair shake of the tomato sauce bottle ?) . In his account of what transpired, the late Senator Button said Ducker, with a rich Yorkshire accent, known as "Bruvver Dooker", said : "Bruvver, I've got one problem with you."
"I understand", he said, ”that you are on friendly terms with a certain Pete Steedman."
Senator Button here explained for readers that Steedman, who later went into Federal politics was a member of the Victorian Left, a noisy libertarian in a leather jacket; Ducker was a conservative New South Wales Catholic.
" He makes outrageous attacks on the NSW Right ," Ducker went on.
Button made some comment about the ALP being a broad church. Ducker put on his bemused look and returned to his pie and chips. No further mention was made of Steedman during that period of togetherness on the pie crust littered fact finding trail.
GUN PLACED AT HEAD
Steedman moved on from the senator’s employ and became an official of the Municipal Employees Union , representing many people on the bottom of the socio-economic ladder, garbos , the same people who inspired Frank Hardy’s up -the -workers political farce , Outcasts of Foolgarah.
The union was coming up to their elections and a group, associated with outside bodies , was making a bid for control of the union. It turned nasty and officials were bashed at a meeting in Trades Hall, a car was fire bombed and Steedman had a gun put to his head by a thug working for the other side. Steedman designed an internal media strategy, exposing the links behind the opposition and although the other group tried twice more, its vote continued to decline, until they were no more.
When he joined the MEU it was going down the gurgler financially, with old long- term investments on minimal returns. He restructured the finances , pulled in outstanding union dues and bought a building next to the ALP office and moved out of Trades Hall. Steedman oversaw the development of the building and introduced computers into the union, designed new logos and brought them into the 20th century. Steedman still has a liquid lunch from time to time with comrades from that union, now part of the Australian Services Union [ASU].
Who was that man in a cowboy hat, wearing dark glasses , driving a Jaguar, with a sign saying , in no uncertain terms, that the Tory PM must go ? The possession of such a vehicle produced some critical comments by union officials drinking in the Curtin Hotel about him driving around in a toff’s limo. Steedman pointed out his old Jag cost about $5000, while the snipers had vehicles costing $20,000 or more.
BOB HOGG FREAKS OUT
A political animal , Steedman was full of ideas , an achiever , who had run a number of major, successful campaigns in London against powerful vested interests, including one which stopped a plan to tear down a large part of Piccadilly Circus , a natural contender for parliament. So in l983 he was selected to contest the Federal seat of Casey for the ALP. While Steedman’s lively headings in The Star had FRASER FREAKING , he caused ALP Victorian secretary, Bob Hogg, into a similar freakish condition, perhaps more like apoplexy.
As an audacious joke, Steedman had made political tin lapel badges carrying a message like : Put a Pervert in Parliament . Vote Steedman 1 . Steedman said Hogg nearly fell through floor when he showed him the badge and said thousands had been distributed throughout the electorate . Actually, only about three badges had been made , one still exists somewhere in Steedman’s files.
In the interests of factual reporting, due consideration was given to contacting Hogg, a former senior adviser to Bob Hawke and ALP National Secretary, partner of former Bennelong MHR, Maxine McKew , soon to launch her book TALES FROM THE POLITICAL TRENCHES, to test the veracity of the alleged tin badge episode, but it would be a shame to cast doubt on such a beaut anecdote. On the other hand, when Bob Hogg, pictured above with Maxine , becomes aware of this part of the Steedman Chronicles, Little Darwin would like to receive a communication from him.
As is the case in politics, Steedman’s controversial days in university and his prominent opposition to the Vietnam war and conscription were resurrected and rehashed to present him , he said, as a "hydra-headed monster". Much of this information was wrong , compiled by people since identified as operatives of ASIO and the far right wing NCC. Despite the campaign of vilification, he won the seat, defeating Liberal Peter Falconer. NEXT : Steedman makes his maiden speech , enrages the National Party by suggesting they were extremely close to pet sheep , makes disparaging comments about Tasmanians and takes up the cause of oppressed Filipinos.
