Published: May 17, 2019
Former press secretary Geoff Walsh recalls the charisma and breezy optimism of the man many would like to have had a beer with
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You lost count of the times he was asked – in shopping centres, pubs, political meetings and a dozen other settings – “Can I call you Bob?” The response always, with a bit of a chuckle, was, “Well, that’s my name.”
Nothing so much captured his ease and pleasure at being among his “fellow Australians”. The “love affair” he enjoyed saw him riding 75% approval ratings in early 1984.
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