Death of Bob Hawke

[Jenna Talia]

It might interest some that Bob Hawke has died today aged 89.

Just announced on the ABC news.

[V-Jet]

Leigh Sales almost in tears. No bias there!

[The Love Doctor]

I can't wait to be the first to piss on his grave! It's gonna be a thing trust me :)

[ACMS]

Finally........

[John Citizen]

Bus drivers hey ?

[Harbour Dweller]

Dead at 89. How ironic

[wondrousbitofrough]

I wasn't in the country when he was making an apparent impact on the aviation industry here- its obvious some won't miss him. What was that impact please?

[Captain Dart]

I’ve outlived the bastard!

[Mr Leslie Chow]

I thought that as well Harbour Dweller. The bloody irony.

Lots of different emotions in this happening for a lot of people.

Sadly also I’m sure Shorten will milk the crap out of this as well.

[Pinky the pilot]

Dead at 89. How ironic

Rather. :hmm:

[Obie]

Wot a terrible shame. Pete's probably up for a bit of a chat tho!!!

[ad-astra]

YES! The queue starts!

[Fliegenmong]

Ha...yeah...the irony of '89 huh?

But..you know I'm going to the Doctors tomorrow, and I go with my medicare card, so I thank the Silver Bodgie for that....(The lady pulling up in her Bentley for her appointment almost certainly also flashes her Medicare card as well....but that is a different story)

[Valdiviano]

B Kelty to go

[FLGOFF]

My first thought was to jump on here, glad I wasn't disappointed ;)

[Xeptu]

I'm with FLGOFF,

[witwiw]

My etching fluid is ready.

[Not My Jet]

A man how was a hypocrite to the end.

I'll never forgive him.

[Fliegenmong]

I was a bit young at the time of the going down of the 89 nastiness....but I know several 'Glorified Bus Drivers' that went on to remain as CX 'A' scalers for many years and retiring obscenely wealthy...some so much so that they returned home early to 'retire' in GA....

....that was not the case for ALL of course!, but there are those that privately acknowledge it was the best thing that ever happened to them...$ wise....

[ad-astra]

I will be at the grave site to see him off.

Sui Generis

[tio540]

Dead at 89. How ironic

Wow 89, he almost reached the ripe old age of 17.5 % mortgage rates.

[das Uber Soldat]

I more look forward to the 89'ers passing on than Hawke, mostly so I can finally stop having to listen to a bunch of salty moaning geriatrics whine about something that happened 30 bloody years ago.

[Captain Dart]

I more look forward to the 89'ers passing on than Hawke, mostly so I can finally stop having to listen to a bunch of salty moaning geriatrics whine about something that happened 30 bloody years ago.

You clicked on the topic. No one forced you. You did not have to ‘listen’.

[SOPS]

I more look forward to the 89'ers passing on than Hawke, mostly so I can finally stop having to listen to a bunch of salty moaning geriatrics whine about something that happened 30 bloody years ago.


Perhaps if you were there.. and your whole life was disrupted, you would understand better.

[Mr Leslie Chow]

das - easy to say when it didn’t happen to you, pray it doesn’t.

Selfish, self absorbed ******

[Iron Bar]

I think there’ll be a few kicking around for a little while yet ......

So, where for beers tomorrow?

[Capt Fathom]

If that’s what you think das Uber, why would you come to an aviation thread about Bob Hawke?

[Captain Sherm]

das Uber Soldat (https://www.pprune.org/members/162990-das-uber-soldat).....the name, the language, the venom, says it all really. I think that is probably the lowest post I've ever seen on Prune. You should be ashamed.

As for Hawke.....I'll think about what I think later. Maybe. In the meantime this paint ain't going to watch itself dry.

Sui Generis.

[ADawg]

Salty, moaning geriatrics - what an ignorant statement. Let's hope it never happens to a family member of yours.

[V-Jet]

Das Uber Soldat - ironic comment from someone whose nomenclature harks back to the ‘40’s!:):):)

Can you spare some of your Pervitin*? I have always wanted to stock up!!

* Pervitin - ‘Pilot’s Salt’.

[das Uber Soldat]

das - easy to say when it didn’t happen to you, pray it doesn’t.

Selfish, self absorbed ******
Cry me a river. You think you're the only one whos lost their job at one point or another? You went to war and you lost, get over it. I came in here to see if people were low enough to celebrate the death of an old man. True enough, that's exactly what I saw. And I'm the self absorbed one eh? Good luck with that.

People deal with greater personal tragedies every day and don't have to harp on about it literally for 3 decades.

Do you still carry around your little notebook matey?

[Guptar]

One day my uncle decided to retire in 88/89, sell the family home and and with his wife move to Nth Qld for a quieter life, they purchased a small pub/motel. They put every cent they had into the venture. They renovated as best they could, being of modest means. Two weeks after they re-opened, the dispute began. The customers rapidly disappeared. After 4 months, the bank foreclosed. They lost everything. Very soon after, they both committed suicide. Many of you it seems would not be sympathetic, after all they were only "ordinary people"....certainly not "pilots". But to see people earning $200,000 PA arguing that they should earn $300,000 PA and destroying the lives of other people to achieve it, has left a bitter taste in my families mouth....and a lot of other people as well who have long memories.

After reading this thread, I am ashamed I was part of the industry for 30 years.

Das Uber Soldat was on the money.

[The Love Doctor]

I came in here to see if people were low enough to celebrate the death of an old man.

Absolutely. And what a great day it is!
I for one will piss on his grave, take a pic of it and post it on here for all the pilots he f*****d over. Can't wait!

[Tangan]

No pilots went on strike or shut down the industry. Companies actually “set pilots aside” when they would not accept duties outside a 9 to 5 working day, which was the basis set by Hawke, Kelty and their cronies.

[john_tullamarine]

Very soon after, they both committed suicide.

Guptar, may I suggest that the very great majority of those who were in the Industry at that dreadful time will have nothing but the greatest empathy and heartache for the suffering the events caused to your family.

More than a few of our friends and colleagues were driven to such despair that they, too, saw no way out but via a similar and tragic ending to their lives.

The events affected a great many folk, most of whom did not deserve to have any fallout affect them.

[Fliegenmong]

Firstly Guptar...not many (?) of us know each others circumstances very well...and I am genuinely sad to hear of the double suicide...that is clearly very personal and very sad news and would stick in any Family's craw for a very very very long time.

That said.."after all they were only "ordinary people"....certainly not "pilots"..... Hate to burst your bubble here...but pilots ARE ordinary people....hundreds and thousands of them / us flying many many many manyaircraft ALL day & night..take a look at "flightradar24"...that's a LOT of people!...and they're not just white westerners either....you hear them on the radio..you see them pass below or pass above you .... second guess what their first language is...

Nowadays the Main stream media is VERY much pro 'right' & the LNP....in '89, perhaps not so much so...when they picked up on the 'demand of Limo transfers' to the airport instead of just plain taxis...you were all condemned by the media!!...Packer on down had you by the b@lls..

These were the days of VERY expensive flights between Oz cities!..I remember doing $50 First Class (remember?) between QLD and Syd return, with a FULL cooked breakfast on a 1hr 30 min flight....staff travel.

Ain't no more first class....full cooked breakfasts and to all means 'staff' travel anymore.....conditions have been far more eroded by the likes of lil Napoleon than anything Silver Bodgie ever did...

As I said previously I know more than a few who made FAR more than they EVER could have staying in OZ...they condemn '89....but they think it a blessing in disguise!

[busdriver007]

Remember he was installed by Rupert Murdoch and Peter Abeles and forever burdened the Labor Party with corruption. Labor was renowned for being one of the people and the workers. How does a son of an Anglican Minister end up owning a Harbourside Mansion and his successor lives in Woollahra. The pilots were abandoned by the ACTU and the Labor Government run by a former ACTU Secretary. Two times in history have strikes been broken by the Military and that was 1942 and 1989. Both were Labor Governments!

[benttrees]

I more look forward to the 89'ers passing on than Hawke, mostly so I can finally stop having to listen to a bunch of salty moaning geriatrics whine about something that happened 30 bloody years ago.
Just goes to prove that you don’t need a long neck and feathers...... to be a goose !

[Fliegenmong]

Two times in history have strikes been broken by the Military and that was 1942 and 1989.

And lets not forget everyones Pin Up boy....

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/howard-still-in-denial-over-wharf-shame-20101028-175mw.html

The media of the day had your number!...now the media is in your thrall....but it is tempered with chairmans lounge membership...so a little criticism is perceived as acceptable...you need to look like you are doing a thorough job ... but Don't reveal too much, lest your QF Chairmas lounge membership be revoked...it is probably "soft Corruption" at a level that 'everyone' is in on and so willl not change....you see it a lot in South Asian 'democracies'..this idea of honest governance....Bwahh haahh!!!!

[tio540]

I can't wait to be the first to piss on his grave! It's gonna be a thing trust me :)

Imagine the size of that lemon tree in a couple of years.

[leftfrontside]

Good riddance to an arsehole, destroyer of careers and anyone who stood in his way - little man with a huge ego.
Apparently 40 buses have been ordered to convey those of us who want to piss on his grave - I've got my ticket.

[waren9]

worked with a bloke who had a bottle of grange tucked away, ready for this occasion. he's probably not the only one.

i cannot imagine harbouring such a grudge for so long.

[das Uber Soldat]

Just goes to prove that you don’t need a long neck and feathers...... to be a goose !
A thread full of people celebrating the death of someones father etc and you have decided that I'm the one you want to have a cry at. Surely says far more about your character than mine.

Yet it perfectly encapsulates the point I've been driving at. What a small, bitter little man you have to be to carry such a grudge for over THIRTY years, that would drive normal civil adults to behave with such disgraceful malice and bitterness.

Salty, moaning geriatrics. You lot couldn't have proven my point better if you tried.

You'll be buried with your little notebooks in your top pockets no doubt.

[tartare]

Ahh - the good old Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific forum.
The vat of acid and bile in the dark at the back of the PPrune hangar.
Pissing on a dead man's grave?
Someone who achieved more than you could even imagine?
You've managed to plumb new lows.
Hoo roo.
I'm off to stand in the sun outside.

[The Butcher's Dog]

Uber - you aren't short of putting the odd burr under a saddle.

[gordonfvckingramsay]

Very soon after, they both committed suicide. Many of you it seems would not be sympathetic, after all they were only "ordinary people"....certainly not "pilots". But to see people earning $200,000 PA arguing that they should earn $300,000 PA and destroying the lives of other people to achieve it,

I doubt if anyone on here would feel anything but sorry for your family Guptar but how is a group of professionals making a stand for their careers a bad thing? You said it was the banks who foreclosed because of a strike caused by pilots defending their careers against airlines bent on degrading those careers and supported by government bent on aiding those airlines. Pilots making a stand was never the problem. To use your logic, it was people earning millions PA arguing they should earn tens of millions PA and destroying the lives of other people to achieve it...if you’re looking for a place to lay blame, look to modern corporate Australia and it’s government buddies.

I will I’ll forever be a glorified bus driver and Bob will forever be an arsehole!

Rot In Perpetuity Bob.

[RAC/OPS]

Ahh - the good old Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific forum.
The vat of acid and bile in the dark at the back of the PPrune hangar.

Love it! So true.

[Ollie Onion]

I was in high school in ‘89 and it passed me by, I was taken back when I returned to this part of the world after flying overseas for a good number of years to hear people on the flight deck still describing fellow pilots as ‘scabs’. It was obvious there was a lot of ill feeling still around the events. I did a little research and was directed towards The Australian Pilots Dispute of 1989 by Alex Paterson (http://www.vision.net.au/~apaterson/aviation/pd89_document.htm) , this is the most concise and balanced account I have ever seen and I would encourage all pilots with an interest who weren’t flying at the time to spend 30 minutes and have a read. Whilst I personally find it distasteful to see so many openly voicing such vitriol towards a deceased person I can certainly understand the feelings around Bob’s role and think that if I wasn’t involved I don’t really have the right to tell people how they should express themselves.