Saying Goodbye to a Political Comedian, Speaker and Entertainer Man for the people, this is your life

The retiring Speaker of the NSW Parliament, John Murray, had a grandfather who took over a Cobb and Co franchise in 1853, though how this could possibly interest his constituents in the seat of Drummoyne is anyone's guess. But there it is, on page two of the glossy 36-page pamphlet Murray has produced and distributed across Drummoyne.
The handsome document, For the People, has many such pearls. It notes, for example, that in 1976 skateboarding became a craze among teenagers, that the Bicentenary in 1988 marked the 200th anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet. It has a nifty guide called "How Parliament Works" and another on the role of the Speaker.
But most of all, it is about Murray. It has photos of him handing out cheques, standing on bridges, meeting foreign dignitaries and bustling before tuckshop counters. Pages are devoted to his battles and victories. "The longest uninterrupted speech made by John Murray was about skin cancer. Members on both sides of the house heard him out in silence," it notes on page 23, before indulging in choice excerpts from that address.
There is a page of flattering fluff from colleagues, including Russell Grove, clerk of the Legislative Assembly, who said, ’I've smoked a pipe for years and he has never commented on it. That says something about him as a person.’
What the pamphlet doesn't go into is how much it cost to produce and distribute, or where the money came from. We guess - Murray did not return our calls - it would have been paid for by an allowance called the electorate mail-out account, a Carr Government initiative launched last April. Murray was allocated $45,000 to this end, money that returns to the public purse if not spent.
· Last Waste of Taxpayer’s Money? [SMH]
· No Rivals in Perks [Perks]