Enderby eulogy says it all

FORMER  Whitlam government attorney-general Kep Enderby named his son Keir after the Scottish Labour Party founder James Keir Hardie.

“I’m surprised I wasn’t named Che or Fidel or Lenin or Karl or even Marx, but that may give you a picture of my dad’s passion for equality and fairness to all,” Keir Enderby said yesterday at his father’s funeral in Sydney.

Equality and fairness to all in the same sentence as Che or Fidel or Lenin or Karl or even Marx tells you all you want to know about the man and the Whitlam government. Commo bastards. Enderby, who died last week aged 88, is credited with passing no-fault divorce legislation, setting up the Family Court and legalising homosexuality in the ACT. Those remembering him yesterday included Whitlam minister Les Johnson, Age Discrimination Commissioner Susan Ryan, Labor elder John Faulkner and federal deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek.

Keir Enderby said his father was “a thinker, a believer and a dreamer”. He quoted Che Guevara: “The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall.” Keir wondered if that was why his ­father planted so many trees.

He was a fighter for causes: befriending conscientious objectors during the Vietnam War and defending the Aboriginal tent embassy in front of Old Government House. He backed David Hicks and Julian Assange. About all I have in common with Enderby is that we are both fathers.

Keir Enderby said he hoped his father had now joined other revolutionaries: “Hopefully they are comparing notes, having a drink, and shaking their heads at the state of Australian affairs.”

When they compared notes would they ask each other “How many people did you murder and then argue over the countless millions that died because of their communist insanity? …and laugh insanely over their the answers.