[Tari, Vince]

I reckon little Johnny Howard & his conservative cronies will be shaking in
their boots now that PG has a lot more time on his hands all of a
sudden.....

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/12/03/1038712936857.html

Garrett's new gig a mystery

By Bernard Zuel and Stephanie Peatling
December 4 2002
	
All the world's a stage ... insiders say that given his global outlook,
Peter Garrett will probably aim for federal politics. 
The death of a rock band doesn't normally get federal and state parliaments
buzzing with speculation and gossip. But then Midnight Oil is no normal
band.
It was announced yesterday that Peter Garrett, Midnight Oil's lead singer,
was quitting the band after 25 years to "immerse myself in those things
which are of deep concern to me and which I have been unable to fully apply
myself to up to now".
By mid-morning it was political reporters rather than music writers asking
what this meant, with interest in whether Garrett, one-time Senate candidate
for the Nuclear Disarmament Party, former Greenpeace board member and
current president of the Australian Conservation Foundation, was considering
a political career.
The Greens, still on a high after their performance in the Victorian
election at the weekend, were considered the most likely party but Greens
Senator Bob Brown said "everyone's been calling me about Peter except
Peter".
Although Garrett is not a member of the party, Senator Brown said he felt
"Peter's already in the fold as far as I'm concerned".

However, one associate of Garrett's said if the singer was to seek a career
in politics, it would be more likely to be at a federal rather than a state
level.
"His perspective has always been more national and global than local," the
associate said. "His philosophy is very much a Greens philosophy but he is
also very pragmatic."
A federal Labor staffer said the ALP had so far received no signs of
interest from Garrett but his presence in the party room would be "awesome".
After posting the announcement on its website, the band went to ground
yesterday, all phones switched off and interviews refused. Although it seems
Midnight Oil is over, the rest of the band members said they would "continue
making music together in another guise at some point".
Midnight Oil was one of the biggest bands to come out of Australia's
underground scene of the 1970s. Coinciding with but never really part of the
punk movement - its members could play too well to be considered punks -
Midnight Oil formed in 1976, releasing a self-titled debut album two years
later.
Never a noted singer, Garrett, an articulate law graduate, was immediately
the band's focal point. Towering over two metres, his blond hair shorn to
reveal a head full of angles and edges, much like his dancing style on
stage, he delivered songs that addressed land rights, nuclear disarmament,
corporate greed and the rise of Hansonism.
Although its lyrics tackled Australian themes in an unmistakably Australian
manner, in the late '80s and early '90s Midnight Oil was a top 10 band
around the world, competing with INXS, Crowded House and Men At Work as the
country's biggest musical export.
Its total album sales approached 12 million and although there was the
occasional hiatus, the band continued recording (its 12th album was released
earlier this year) and performing including an American tour a few months
ago.