Vale Alexander! Hail Christopher!

Bad News for Sports Fans: Alexander Downer has

shocked and stunned

the Nation by announcing his retirement from Parliament.

The question on everybody’s lips is: does this mean Alexander will stop blogging?

Let’s hope not. Since April and my last excursion into The Mind of Alexander, he has revealed much. For example, did you know:

* KRudd’s 2020 Summit may usefully be compared to Stalin’s Five-Year Plans?
* Madeleine Albright asked Alexander in 1998 if Australia would be prepared to support a war against Saddam Hussein?
* Alexander met a tough woman named Aung San Suu Kyi in her home in Rangoon and Alexander committed Australia to helping her?
* During the Blair’s visit to Australia in 2006, Alexander suggested to Cherie Blair that Tony Blair, whose father was a strong Conservative, was not truly Labour but the heir to the British Liberal tradition of Asquith, Lloyd George and Campbell Bannerman?
* Alexander first visited Beijing in 1982, as Malcolm Fraser’s speechwriter? It was a very different China from the China of 2008! In 1982 there were very few modern high rise buildings, people dressed in drab Mao suits, there were no neon lights or bars and restaurants to be seen! It was a dour, socialist, drab sort of place! There were almost no shops: the only one the chaps who accompanied Malcolm could find was a department store bulging with cheap junk, some of which Alexander lugged home for his family (it was poorly received)! More significantly, Alexander had never seen more bicycles in a single place anywhere before or since! The place was swarming with bikes! There were millions of them! Today there are not many at all!
* All of us dream, or we ought to anyway? Alexander discussed these dreams late one night on the inaugural passenger journey on the Adelaide–Darwin railway with the Premier, Mike Rann, the then head of Santos, John Ellice Flint and the then head of the Economic Development Board, Robert deCrespigny?
* Nicole Kidman’s a great actor and a national icon. But could she put together a government budget or work out the geo-politics of the Asia-Pacific region? Alexander thinks not!

Alexander is, obviously, a legend, and filling his short pants is going to be no easy task. Fortunately, there’s another private schoolboy from Adelaide who may well fit the legend: and his name is Christopher.

Alexander Downer Resignation
Thursday, July 3, 2008

I shall be resigning from the Federal Parliament as the Member for Mayo from the close of business on Monday, 14 July 2008.

It has been a great honour to have served the people of Mayo for nearly 24 years and I am deeply grateful to them for the support they have given me.

I was born in the electorate and am deeply committed to the district and will remain so after politics.

Amongst my proudest achievements in Mayo have been to get the funding for the Heysen Tunnels in 1996 at a time when the Federal Government was otherwise making significant spending cuts. I am also proud to have helped get grants for many local projects ranging from the Hut now located in Aldgate to the new Stirling library.

I am also proud of the part I played in the Howard government’s $10 billion Murray Darling initiative. This initiative although, being implemented much more slowly than I would have liked, has the potential to transform completely the Murray Darling environment which, for the people of Mayo, is the most important single issue they now face.

Had it not been for the people of Mayo, I would never have served as the Foreign Minister of Australia for nearly 12 years. This was an enormous honour and throughout that time I tried to use every minute to advance the interests of Australia.

Amongst my proudest achievements are the Bougainville peace process, Australia’s response to the Asian economic crisis, our role in East Timor, Australia’s response to the war on terror in South East Asia as well as in Afghanistan and Iraq, the support for South East Asia following the 2004 tsunami and the restructuring of Australia’s South Pacific policies, in particular, the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands.

The Liberal Party has been the foundation of my political career. Although it is going through difficult times now, it is showing determination at both the Federal and State levels to get back into office. I am confident that it can look forward to considerable electoral success. I appreciate the friendship of Brendan Nelson who has done a marvellous job stabilising the Coalition after the election defeat of 24 November 2007. I think he, supported by Julie Bishop, Malcolm Turnbull and the Shadow Cabinet has every prospect of winning the next election.

In the future, I shall be establishing with Ian Smith and Nick Bolkus, a business consultancy called Bespoke Approach; accepting a number of board positions and taking up a part time role at a university (details of which will be announced by the university soon).

I shall also continue to be active in public debate through speaking engagements and writing, all of which are being managed by Robert Joske Management Pty Ltd

Finally, as is well known, the United Nations has approached me about a role as a Special Envoy of the Secretary General on Cyprus and I have told the United Nations that if this role is confirmed I will accept the position. I very much appreciate the role Kevin Rudd and Stephen Smith have played in supporting me for this role.

Finally, I would like to thank my wife Nicky and my four children, Georgina, Olivia, Edward and Henrietta for their enduring support during my years as a Member of Parliament. There have been difficult times for them on occasions and they have always been my backbone of support.

END

See also : Rogues’ Gallery

PS. Sophie Mirabella has had a baby: