I'll try, panz:
the fellow on the left is Mark Latham, who would have been newly appointed leader of the opposition (the Oz Labor Party - ALP) at the time of this cartoon. Mark had a "colourful' history, apparently, including an episode when he beat up a taxi driver while drunk! ... the Liberals & other Latham enemies (& quite a few were made over the years!) made quite a deal of mileage in the media about his "flawed" character & his unsuitability as a possible future prime minister.
The fellow on the right is Wilson Tuckey, otherwise known as "Iron Bar Tuckey". He is a member of the Liberal (conservative) Party of Oz. He acquired the Iron bar nickname as a result of a violent incident in a pub in Western Australia, some time ago, which involved the use of an iron bar! He was a useful bully for the Liberals in parliament when dirty work needed to be done.
Nicholson's cartoon suggests that these two have much in common. In fact, Latham could be a younger version of Iron Bar! They're both known for their "colourful turn of phrase" as well. Mark Latham once referred to some group like the Liberal front bench (I think) as "a conga line of suck holes". He was much funnier than Tuckey though, who was just plain crude. True blue Aussie rough diamonds, the pair of them! :wink:
As you would probably know by now, Panz, Mark Latham is no more ... & the Australian Labor Party has returned to a more sedate image via installing Kim Beazley as their leader recently . <yawn> Life's a lot more boring a result!
How's that?
Please enlighten me if I've "read" the cartoonist's intention incorrectly.
Now that would probably add weight to Deb's interpretation. Latham lost most of his oomph when he attempted to change his image to a softer, kinder Mark. Folk kept asking for the REAL, gutsy Latham to reappear, as this new version was so insipid.
