My tete-a-tete with a former Howard hunchmen [Philip Ruddock]

My dad is involved with this annual medical mission that performs 500 cataract surgeries in remote parts of Uncle. On Sunday evening the charity group responsible hosted a big, flashy fundraising dinner, with past and present NSW premiers, MPs and Unclese officials attending. My sister and I arrived at 6pm, only to see everyone still faffing around with photos and shmoozing, so we decided to return to her apartment just 10 minutes away, and come back later. But before we re-entered the elevator, guess who I spotted in the room? None other than Philip Ruddock, my MP.

You may recall a previous post, in which I sent Mr Ruddock a heartfelt letter pledging my support for gay marriage. And now, here was my chance to talk to him about it in the flesh! Not only that, the night before I had dinner with one of my best friends and her boyfriend, who had advised me to contact my MP and pledge my support to an upcoming carbon emissions trading scheme bill.

My sis and I went home, and I quickly jumped on the internet, typing in “emissions trading scheme bill Australia” into Google. The truth of the matter was I knew nothing about this bill. But I trusted my super smart friend and her boyfriend, and wasn’t about to pass up this opportunity so there was nothing for it but to do a very quick crash course in what all this was about.

(For those of you who think it foolhardy I so quickly adopt someone else’s stance, perhaps you’re right. But as I’ve said in previous posts, one can’t be an expert at everything. And for many things, one must simply trust the knowledgeable people they have access to. Otherwise we’ll all just flounder in indecision, and nothing will get done!)

An hour later and we were back at the dinner, eating and listening to pollies from both ends of the political spectrum take the mike. I snuck up to my Dad, who was sitting at another table.

“Dad, can you introduce me to Philip Ruddock later?”

My Dad eyed me suspiciously. I had told him previously of my same-sex marriage letter to Mr Ruddock. “Why?”

“Why do you think?” I laughed.

“No,” he replied flatly.

“Dad, he’s my MP. If you don’t introduce me, I’ll just go up to him myself.”

“Oh, OK then,” he conceded.

The speeches had ended and the charity auction had begun. My dad brought me to the VIP table where Phillip Ruddock was sitting at the centre of. He had met Mr Ruddock several times previously, and introduced me to him as his daughter.

“Hi Mr Ruddock, I was just wondering if you’d read the letter about same-sex marriage I’d sent you?”

“Jog my memory,” he replied.

I explained the letter, and how I was supporting the recent senate inquiry into a Greens amendment to the Marriage Act, which would basically allow same-sex marriage. He didn’t really know about the bill, and said that they, in the House of Reps, would probably never see it. I admitted that I realised it probably wouldn’t get passed, but as I was a member of his electorate, I just thought it important to inform him of how I felt about the matter.

“Which suburb do you live in?” he asked suspiciously.

“Beecroft,” I replied. And with a laugh, added my postcode, “2119″ for extra emphasis.

A few years back, Mr Ruddock was the guy responsible for amending legislation so that the current definition of marriage stands as an institution between a man and a woman. Making iron-clad a common understanding that gays can’t marry. He reiterated this line, saying that although the government should legally recognise relationships between gay people, under no circumstance should gay people mistake what they have for a marriage.

“But I want to go all the way with this. Let’s give them 100%, genuine marriage,” I requested.

“Well you’re going to be very lonely with that view,” he replied.

“Well there were 5,000 of us protesting at the National Labor Convention, so I can’t be that lonely,” I quipped. “I’ll send you the letter again. Funny, I did receive an email from your staff saying they’d passed it on to you. And, ahem, I happen to think it was a pretty great letter!”

At this point I nervously moved onto the ETS bill. This was surely some kind of madness. Here I was, talking to a man who was once one of the most reviled figures for the Australian Left. Talking to him about gay marriage and the environment. And worst of all I was about to bring up something I was definitely not informed about.

“And the other thing I wanted to say, is that I support the upcoming emissions trading scheme bill.”

Now this, he was definitely aware of. His line was that although the Liberal party want to do all they can to reduce carbon emissions, it was foolhardy and pointless to promise anything the rest of the world weren’t going to do. Any kind of independent action would lead to job losses, detrimental to the country’s economy.

“So basically you think we shouldn’t implement any changes until after Copenhagen?”

“Exactly,” he replied.

“But,” I struggled to recall a line from an article I’d read just hours before, “but don’t you think that to some degree Australia needs to show some leadership and come to the Climate Change conference promising something?”

“Again, you’re going to be very lonely with that view,” he smirked.

Suddenly we were interrupted with someone calling him to get onstage. I thanked him quickly for talking to me, and got out of the way. Later, my dad dragged him over to the table my siblings and I were sitting at for some photos. Last year Mr Ruddock had presented my brother with an award for the Australian Agricultural Industries Young Innovators and Scientists Award. I couldn’t help but feel, a little, that in this situation I was definitely the shit-stirring bad kid, and my brother the high-achieving good kid!

Just before grinning for the cameras, I asked Mr Ruddock if I could write-up our little talk on my blog. He graciously gave me permission.

UPDATE: A couple of days later I resent that original letter. Here is Mr Ruddock’s reply.