Blood Oath subscription news
Monday 5 August, 7.00am
Proctor, the dog with bite
It’s now almost a week since Susan Wright’s body was found at Lake Burley Griffin, and yesterday, Alan Proctor turned up dead by the water as well. It’s probable both were murdered by the same people.
Michael Lansdowne was so shattered when he heard of Proctor’s death that he had to re-schedule an interview with the Plod. The PM’s people last night described his eventual contact with the police as ‘fruitful and co-operative’. I wonder if that’s how the boys in blue saw it.
They say that if you want a friend in politics, get yourself a dog. Well, Alan Proctor was Lansdowne’s dog. He was loyal and unquestioning, and when it came to protecting his boss, he had a tendency to bite first and ask questions later.
So why doesn’t Lansdowne now honour his dead best friend by suspending the campaign for a day, like he did for Susan Wright? An overnight Aztec poll might provide the answer to that question. Aztec now puts support for the government at 51 per cent, with the opposition at 49, two-party-preferred. This turnaround in the government’s fortunes owes everything to the recent slayings, and Lansdowne knows that to ride the sympathy vote back into office, he’s got to keep his foot flat to the floor all the way to polling day. Sometimes a politician will wrap himself in the flag to get elected. Sometimes he’ll smear himself with the blood of others. Michael Lansdowne enters the last week of this campaign covered in the red stuff.