Reith Aground

The French bulk carrier Mirande ran aground on June 29 after its

steering failed, the same day that the Mr Reith, having done his

sums, realised that there was only one way to avoid the ultimate

indignity of losing his seat to a wharfie - retreat.

MUA member Wayne Finch only needed a 3 per cent swing to take

the formerly blue ribbon Liberal seat.

Like the ship off the coast, Peter Reith had hit rock bottom.

His prime ministerial ambitions had been sunk by the Telecard

Affair and his involvement in the murky conspiracy to sack 2,000

Patrick stevedoring workers is heading him for the dock as not

one but two court cases draw nearer.

So too Reith's mission to make Australian seafarers extinct. Deregulation

of the Australian coast, like deregulation of industrial relations

came back to haunt him on that eventful day.

And what of the French bulk carrier stuck in the mud? It too made

headlines some days later after a Melbourne Magistrates Court

heard that its captain was 'paralytic" on whisky, a breath test

showing a reading of 0.29. ("What to do with a drunken Sailor",

The Herald Sun, July 5)