Talk:Geoff Gallop

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Following copied from Talk:Geoff Gallop/Comments ...

Rewrite?
This Article needs a serious rewrite. No achievements in government, no controversies in government. Anyone object to a serious rewrite? Tobestronach (talk) 07:27, 4 March 2009 (UTC)
 * It is a bit vanilla isn't it. By all means do so, but please keep in mind Wikipedia policies on WP:Neutrality and WP:Reliable sources.  Djanga 05:12, 5 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Absolutely. Some entries on Australian politicians read as though they were knocked up by the campaign staff, or the opposition's campaign staff! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tobestronach (talk • contribs) 02:42, 6 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Still needs more information on political achievements TVil93 (talk) 05:28, 3 May 2023 (UTC)
 * Still needs more information on everything really. The article is massively inadequate. I plan on getting around to this eventually. I've worked on several other WA premiers previously, and most of them had no inline citations and were nowhere near comprehensive. Steelkamp (talk) 07:48, 3 May 2023 (UTC)

Frankly I don't think he, personally, had any "achievements" in Government. He was the first Premier I can think of who didn’t also hold the portfolio of State Treasurer. The others I can think of, from Sir Charles Court to O’Connor to Burke, Dowding, Carmen Lawrence and Richard Court all kept it (and the authority in Government it gave them) and as an Economics graduate, you’d think Gallop was better qualified than any of them (with the possible exception of old Court) or Eric Ripper the ex-school teacher. It was reported in the media the only decision he himself took was to block the Ningaloo development because of Tim Winton's bumper sticker campaign. The government which he nominally headed did proceed with the Mandurah Railway on its current configuration, although he quit before it was finished. That was the only substantial achievement you could reasonably push in his direction (it is one). The "Gay Law Reform", which was actually lowering the age of consent from 21 to 18 but reducing the "mistaken age" defence, was a quid pro quo by the Attorney General McGinty to get the reduction in country LA seats through the Upper House (they needed the Greens to back it0. On the other hand you could hold him partially responsible for the housing crisis due to his government reducing land releases, and not changing policy when the boom really got going with mass immigration (which they encouraged) and subsequent price rises.  I would support putting in the Mandurah Railway as the big achievement of his government so long as it is mentioned that there were other proposals being made at the time.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.39.162.130 (talk) 14:40, 12 October 2010 (UTC)

"Good News Geoff"
There should be something on the sobriquet he got, "Good News Geoff". He was notorious for hogging every single "good news" story that was going, and running a mile whenever there was any bad news. An example was when the Western Reds were set up, HE was the one making all the announcements as if he did all the work, and dominated all the shots of the occasion, whilst the actual Sports Minister (Kucera) was kept 50m away and well out of camera shot, and was only seen as a barely recognisable tiny figure on the edge of vision when the TV camera zoomed out for a wide shot of the ground. But for my money the worst example was the Supreme Court escape in 2005 when he left the Attorney General high and dry to explain to the media how the prisoners escaped and why she hadn't acted on the report detailing deficiencies in the security (it was a bit hard since she hadn't been Attorney General all that long, and wasn't in the job when the report crossed the AG's desk). But I remember Gallop was conspicuous by his absence, and could only be quoted because he was directly asked questions in Parliament. But a few days later when some of the escapees were recaptured, HE was the one making the announcement that they'd be caught and basking in the “glory”, with Michelle Roberts kept out of sight, when he could of helped her out by letting her have some good publicity to balance out her having the bad publicity of the escape. She would surely be as “responsible” for the recapture as the escape, and certainly more responsible than the Premier. I could comment on what I made of his character, but that would be NPOV! But he was well known both the name and the “actions” which earned it. This should be in the article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.39.162.130 (talk) 14:21, 12 October 2010 (UTC)

Relationship to Richard Gallop
Geoff Gallop says that Geoff Gallop's great-great-grandfather James arrived in 1829 with his brother Richard Gallop. However this reference (from Richard's article) describes Geoff as Richard's great, great nephew - which would make Richard Geoff's great-great-uncle, and thus James would be Geoff's great-grandfather, not great-great-grandfather. Mitch Ames (talk) 11:51, 7 June 2014 (UTC)
 * It is possible to trace the relationship, showing that James was Geoff's great-great-grandfather. Geoff's father was Douglas John Gallop (see, e.g., "Death of Premier's Father" in The West Australian, 5 September 2005, p. 4), Douglas's father was Charles Clarence Victor Gallop (Douglas's marriage notice says his father is V. Gallop of Greenmount, revealed to be Victor in a death notice soon afterwards), Victor's father was Charles Gallop (revealed by searching the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages online index), and Charles's father was James Gallop (also shown in a BDM search, or in The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians). Abibliophobe (talk) 11:19, 2 January 2017 (UTC)

Assessment comment
Substituted at 15:56, 29 April 2016 (UTC)