Talk:Doug Anthony

Deputy Prime Minister double numbering
He was the 2nd DPM, not the 2nd and 6th. We don't use US Presidential numbering for office-holders in Australia, which is why Prime Ministers who had more than one term separated by a period out of office are given one number only. There's no reason why the practice would differ for Deputy Prime Ministers. I've also raised this issue @ Talk:Deputy Prime Minister of Australia. -- JackofOz (talk) 14:21, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

This page has a zero chance of deletion?
Prodding a Deputy PM... that comes close to one of the most bizarre things i've ever seen on wikipedia. It will not happen. Timeshift (talk) 10:04, 20 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Yeah, but he's an Australian Deputy PM. It's not like we're talking someone famous and important like William E. Miller or Jim Stockdale.75.186.44.156 (talk) 03:02, 6 July 2010 (UTC)
 * Good God. The article may be unsourced, but that's a bit much. Frickeg (talk) 10:41, 20 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Found some more info at this page: http://naa12.naa.gov.au/scripts/PersonDetail.asp?M=3&B=CP+55 Barrylb (talk) 10:37, 22 January 2010 (UTC)
 * "A part of RecordSearch is unavailable, or your session has expired, or you have exited RecordSearch and are trying to re-enter it without logging on first. You can login again and, if one of our other machines is available, you will be logged onto it." - you can't directly link to NAA stuff. Timeshift (talk) 11:06, 22 January 2010 (UTC)
 * I've added two sources (while I put in four three are from the same site on the ABC) which should keep the Prod at bay! Bidgee (talk) 12:14, 22 January 2010 (UTC)

I'm a Country Member / "We Remember!"
I found this page (and the page National Party of Australia) trying to track down what is apparently an urban legend or runaway joke about Doug Anthony and the Country Party (now National Party). The joke/legend has now escaped the boundaries of Australia and is told by politics junkies and eternal sophomores throughout the English-speaking world, even people otherwise ignorant of Australian politics, as though it were true, although I can find no evidence that it is. (Admit it, Australians, you've heard about the Texas State Legislator who said, "If English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for the people of Texas," so this sort of thing is not uncommon.) General Internet searches turn up nothing useful about the origins of this anecdote. Is it worth mentioning here, perhaps with a link to Urban Legend or Political satire, or to a source if one is known?75.186.44.156 (talk) 03:18, 6 July 2010 (UTC)


 * It's a grand old anecdote, and if it isn't true, it should be. I've heard the riposte attributed to Fred Daly, but I cannot vouch for the veracity of that claim.  --   Jack of Oz    ... speak! ...   09:17, 6 July 2010 (UTC)


 * Versions of that joke go back to the 1960s or earlier, with various real politicians cast in the lead roles. I've seen a version set in the 1960s with a rural backbencher (not Doug Anthony, nor his father) and Gough Whitlam.
 * So the joke is an urban legend, but it could well be based on a real incident. There are a few biographies of Australian politicians which might mention it, all too old to appear on the Internet. The Politician who Laughed by Fred Daly (Australian politician) would be a good place to start. You would probably need access to a major Australian reference library to find a copy.
 * If someone can find a good source for the original incident and/or the urban legend, we should definitely mention it in Wikipedia, but perhaps not in this article. Cheers, CWC 09:38, 6 July 2010 (UTC)


 * This seems to be genuine, with Gough Whitlam and Winton Turnbull as the dramatis personae, backed up here and here. I'm not sure if any of those can really be counted as ultra-reliable sources, but at least they establish that the incident occurred and could point us in the direction of something more concrete. Frickeg (talk) 09:56, 6 July 2010 (UTC)

I always thought Doug Anthony was referring to his father, Larry and said "my father was a country member". What is true (I was there) was that when Whitlam appointed Lionel Murphy to the high court Anthony interjected with "You have made a prostitute of the Law!". Whitlam answered; "I don't know what the honourable member knows of prostitutes but he knows nothing of the law". Porturology (talk) 09:14, 7 July 2010 (UTC)


 * Thanks for those links, Frickeg. I've just added a quote from the debate speech (at the whitlamdismissal.com link) to |the Wikiquote page for Gough. Since Wikipedia's article about Gough has a link to his Wikiquote page, the story is now sorta kinda "in Wikipedia". I'm not going to try to add it to Wikipedia's article about Gough myself; does anyone else want to? If we had a WP:RS saying that the story that Gough pulled this trick on Doug Anthony was an urban legend, it would be good to mention that debunking in this article; failing such a RS, I don't think we should mention it here. So I guess we're done here. Thanks everyone. CWC 14:07, 6 August 2010 (UTC)
 * It's actually in Wikipedia already and has been for a while, which is how I found that quote. (I got to that page, I hasten to add, by checking "What links here" after creating Winton Turnbull.) But I agree that adding it to Gough's page - especially as said page is now an FA, is probably not the best idea at this point. Frickeg (talk) 01:03, 7 August 2010 (UTC)

Please explain.
‘While Acting Prime Minister in July 1979, he threatened to shut down an industrial strike in Western Australia, stating the issue had to be resolved‘

How does one ‘shut down’ a strike? If an industry had already shut down because the workers were on strike, what did Anthony propose to do? Declare the strike illegal? And if an issue ‘had to be resolved’ isn’t that the reason for the strike in the first place? 203.59.215.236 (talk) 04:17, 18 April 2022 (UTC)