Talk:Hal Colebatch (author)

earlier comments
I am unsure exactly how to phrase his name, since he seems to use the same common name has his father Hal Colebatch, without any jr or middle initials to distinguish it. I am also unsure what possible profession, ie Hal_Colebatch_(journalist), might apply, since he is prolific in so many. It might just be easier to change the link for his father to something like Sir_Hal_Pateshall_Colebatch or Hal_Pateshall_Colebatch (who won't be getting any more titles, names or jobs, in the forseeable future) and give this Hal Colebatch the short link. Why can't people with the same first and last name just use the darn jr. I'm talking to you Dubbya. 64.162.10.100

Hal used to have problem with another Hal over east, or someone with the same name - the full name is a good idea! User:SatuSuro 11:39, 6 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Well, I've often seen his son's name written as "Hal G.P. Colebatch", so perhaps it might be more succinct to address both using middle initials in this way, and prefix Hal the Elder with a "Sir" so as to differentiate the two?

Rpot2 (talk) 00:23, 10 December 2014 (UTC)


 * Sorry, that last comment might have been a bit confusing: I'd thought, at the time, I was editing the article of Sir Hal (the father), and not that of Hal himself. Same suggestion applies as to middle initials, though :-)

Rpot2 (talk) 00:42, 10 December 2014 (UTC)

!

State Elections
Someone, apparently an enemy of Colebatch named  Graham Milner, desperately wants this article to say that Colebatch has twice run for W.A. Parliament as a Liberal without success. I have never seen any sources for this claim. I would really like to see sources, because I want to know whether those seats were winnable or not. Aus political parties often get young would-be parliamentarians to run in seats which they cannot win, as a practice-cum-test for possible later runs in winnable seats. Is this what happened with Colebatch? Did he do better or worse than other Liberal candidates in those elections? (Context! We need context!)

I think this article should cover these candidacies, but I say we need some proper sources first. So I've moved the sentence here for discussion:
 * Colebatch has stood twice as a candidate for the Liberal party in State elections in Western Australia and failed to be elected on both occasions.

(FWIW, I'd copyedit "and failed ..." to ", without success".)

Can anyone please, please find good source(s) for these events? On-line sources will be much more useful than print-only sources. Thanks in advance.

Cheers, CWC 05:52, 22 December 2007 (UTC) (Edited to strike five words out 05:19, 7 January 2008 (UTC).)


 * I couldn't find any online material, and I don't have anything in print either. Yet I believe the statement to be true. The ideal source would be And perhaps also
 * The problem we have here is that the original article was written by Colebatch himself, and is dreadfully biased in his favour, yes the only person with an interest in redressing that imbalance is someone with an axe to grind, who is more interested in cutting Colebatch down than actually improving the article, and refuses to engage in any discussion. This is not the way to go about writing an encyclopedia.
 * Hesperian 10:36, 22 December 2007 (UTC)


 * No online material ... rats! Bah! Humbug!
 * Also annoying: the non-encyclopedic tone that Hesperian mentions.
 * I may do a WP:BRD rewrite one day if no-one beats me to it. (Please beat me to it.) CWC 09:22, 23 December 2007 (UTC)


 * I am the person (Graham Milner) who has been attempting to insert additional information on Hal Colebatch's career.  I have only just figured out how to make an editorial entry onto this page, so bear with me for apparently not being prepared to discuss the matters in dispute.   I am not an enemy of Hal's.   Actually I do know him a little, and I find him to be a warm and friendly individual, and someone whose writings I respect.
 * I have now altered my interpolations into Hal's personal history, and mentioned that his second candidature for the Liberal party in a State election in Western Australia, in the seat of Perth in the 1990s (I'm afraid I do not know the exact year) came very close to being successful.  In this election Hal Colebatch stood against a good quality, high profile candidate for the ALP in Diana Warnock.   The battle in this seat went right down to the wire, and there were only a few votes separating the two candidates after preferences were distributed.
 * I think it is important that Hal Colebatch's parliamentary political endeavours should be included in his personal history, as they add a further dimension to his considerable achievements as a writer and as a public figure in other respects. G.M. 203.190.196.123 (talk) 06:56, 3 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Now we're getting somewhere. I said you refuse to engage in discussion because you appear to have ignored my message to you at User talk:Graham_MIlner. But perhaps you had already abandoned the account.
 * I am happy with your latest attempts to improve the article. It needs sources though.
 * Hesperian 07:09, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

I have managed to establish the exact year of the State election in WA in which Hal Colebatch stood for the seat of Perth. It was 1993 (February). The Coalition won this election from the incumbent ALP government. It should be possible to locate a breakdown of the results for the seat of Perth, but I am reasonably sure that the contest for the seat was very tight. Possibly the reference books edited by David Black mentioned above might contain the necessary confirmation of this. Otherwise the Battye Library newspaper archives might provide information. GM203.190.197.113 (talk) 12:27, 3 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Just in case this hadn't been resolved, if someone's willing to email me, I can email them an Excel spreadsheet copy of the electoral return for Perth for 1993, supplied to me yonks ago by the WAEC. It shows that Colebatch almost won the seat (it was in the midst of the WA Inc fiasco, and could also have been helped along by the former MP, a left-wing Labor member who was disgusted with the WA Inc stuff, quitting the party and sitting as an independent, then not contesting; as well, the brother of the premier who was at the centre of the mess had been the seat's member for 19 years until 1987.) The relevant information is also in (page 264) Orderinchaos 08:13, 26 January 2008 (UTC)
 * He also ran at the 1977 state election for Perth, getting 5083 votes (40.3%) to Terry Burke's 7525 in a straight contest. The electoral return for 1977 as well as Black above confirms this. So that's 1977 and 1993. Orderinchaos 06:18, 2 February 2008 (UTC)

This page listed under works
Has anyone noticed this? It's a rather good joke, but it points out something that might concern editors, namely, the very real possibility that Colebatch has edited this page.Stealstrash (talk) 19:47, 8 October 2014 (UTC)

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