Bastard Boys

Given the subject matter - a long-term strike on the Australian waterfront in 1998 by union employees while the Australian government tried to break the back of the unions - I watched 'Rove' and only recorded the first episode to watch later, thinking that if I got bored, I could easily delete the rest. Wrong choice!! Firstly a big bouquet must go to Sue Smith for yet another exquisitely sharp and economical script. The direction by Raymond Quint, and the wonderful performances by an array of top Australian actors - Anthony Hayes, Geoff Morrell, Lucy Bell, Daniel Frederickson - more than adequately supported the script, and so many stood out I feel bad only naming those 4. Rhys Muldoon's quirky and distracted Julian Burnside was beautifully crafted, and courageous also, given Burnside's recent and regular appearances in the media as the barrister for the refugees. Whilst the point of view of the writer was chiefly that of the workers, we were also taken on a regular journey into the struggles facing Chris Corrigan, the boss who was prepared to sell out to the government of the day to get the unions off his back.

I suspect that not many Australians would have seen this outstanding mini-series, given the usual Sunday and Monday night competition from the commercial networks. This is saddening, as this story needs to be seen by us all. It amazes me how quickly we all forget what came before.

With "Bastard Boys" I don't think the makers truly set out to be so one sided, they simply only see one side as the "truth" despite the fact that the reality is much more complex.

For those not familiar with the story portrayed in this mini series, it involves Patrick Stevedores controversial sacking of its entire workforce (of mostly union members) and replacing them with non unionised workers.

This wasn't a very good thing to do, but what "Bastard Boys" fails to do is point out the extenuating circumstances that led to this extreme course of action. The Australian waterfront had been virtually held to ransom for years with one of the lowest lift-rates of any OECD nation, workers with "go slow" policies in order to gain valuable overtime rates, but which miraculously disappeared when the right hands were greased, and a unhelpful union intent on waging an "us vs them" battle of ideology against any sort of attempt to change a status quo that wasn't working.

Bastard Boys completely failed to portray Chris Corrigan (head of Patrick) as anything other than a weird loner. We didn't see him at his wits end, unable to do anything about the lack of productivity that was costing his company a fortune. We didn't see all the rubbish he had to put up with from the union. We just saw unionists and union officials playing happy families and horrified at their "unwaranted" mistreatment.

This miniseries should have been about how union and employer couldn't work together to resolve an obvious issue, so extreme (and yes, wrong) actions were taken. Instead Patrick's and Corrigan are demonised and the unions and sacked workers are painted as pariahs. The series should have pointed out that years after this dispute, the lift rates which the unions so flatly condemned as unsafe and impossible were being achieved by the very same workers who were fired once they had been reinstated.

Bastard Boys should have been about how this whole incident could have been avoided if everyone just worked together, instead of turning into another preachy bit of political revisionism and selective history which only shows one side of the debate.

Bastard Boys should have been about how the workers, the unions AND Patrick's did the wrong thing, and how after all this fuss it was worked out in the end. Fuss that could have been avoided.

This story is a recreation of the battle of the 1998 waterfront dispute between the unions and Patrick Corporation, in Australia. Even if you are not a student of political history, or think the storyline is a bit dry, you can still enjoy the confrontation between the major players of the day, superbly performed by an array of the cream of Australian actors. The acting and the production levels are so good that I didn't notice the time go by watching it , and I was sorry it was over, and wishing there was more. There are four episodes of approximately 1 hour each, which gives the viewer an insight into four respective characters(real people central to the historical events). I gave it a 9 out of 10 vote.

I think the writer (Sue Smith)and producers made a bold step to create and televise this mini-series. Recreating, not just a real life event, but one with characters who are still alive and concerning such a controversial issue. Inevitably, it will ruffle feathers as it depicts such an important milestone in our democratic history. A portrayal of living public figures will always be seen as biased, one way or another.

But this was a story that needed to be told. A sanctioning by government of aggressive, potentially violent behavior, towards a group of men and their families who had broken no laws, merely been very successful in their fight for wages and conditions. And yes, maybe some of these had gone further than was healthy for the survival of the industry. (I have to claim ignorance here. I am not an economist or business owner) However I don't hear anyone up-in-arms about those business owners who are in the happy position of taking large slabs of time off to play golf, go overseas etc. We seem to have a different set of values for 'workers' and for business owners.

Back to Bastard Boys. One of the many themes was the portrayal of the personal lives of the main characters - the MUA leader, John Coombs (for which Colin Friels should get an award), Chris Corrigan (owner of Patricks, stevedores coy), Greg Combet, ACTU, the on-site Union rep (name?) and the solicitor, Josh Bernstein.

There are some surprises in store for those of us who felt angry towards Corrigan at the time. Corrigan is portrayed as a man with his back against the wall financially. He takes on the banks very forcefully. But the biggest surprise was some of the writing posted on the screen at the conclusion. It mentioned the friendship that arose between Coombs and Corrigan who met quite regularly after the conflict was over. Obviously, somehow or other, a mutual respect developed between them.

On the other hand, Bernstein is quoted this week in the Age's Green Guide as saying that this was a watered down version of what actually happened. The reality was a lot more heated and more intense. One wonders to what extent lawyers specialising in libel had been consulted and how much footage ended up on the cutting room floor.

Bastard Boys has single-handedly broken new ground in Australian TV - a drama about real events that took place, not 100, 50 or even 20 years ago, but in our recent memories. A story about a time when our democracy was severely tested. Thank goodness our restrictive laws concerning free speech (see Right to Know campaign) didn't stop this one! Don't miss it!

Reviewing "Curtin" a few weeks ago I suggested that it was the sort of drama-documentary the ABC should be doing more of, but after watching this very one-sided account of the1998 Patricks waterfront strike I'm not so sure. I say that even though my sympathies were with the strikers, who were all portrayed as wonderful, warm hearted working-class people who just wanted to be left to do their jobs. The other side was represented almost entirely by Geoff Morrel who played Chris Corrigan as a quirky business loner who has his back to the wall. There is a wonderful scene where he meets with the serried ranks of the bankers who are about to foreclose on him, and completely wrong-foots them by delivering torrents of abuse and then walking out of the meeting. But in the charisma stakes he is a long way behind the affable John Coombes (Colin Friels) and eager beaver Greg Combet (Daniel Fredrikson). Jack Thomson as old time unionist Toby Tully also puts in a sterling performance, though his attitudes rather make Chris Corrigan's point.

The real problem is that the scriptwriters have not tried to dramatise the role that various other figures such as Peter Reith, John Howard and the officials of the National Farmers Federation played in this battle. At the end of the four hours we are still none the wiser as to who conceived and paid for the plan to secretly train hundreds of scabs (all right, non-union labour) in Dubai in what was a truly immoral attempt to put 2500 people out of work. The Australian waterfront does not have a happy industrial history but there has been a great deal of change in the previous 20 years and the workforce was a great deal smaller and more efficient than it used to be.

The Maritime Union of Australia got its members reinstated, but at a price. Over a third of the workforce was made redundant (albeit voluntarily) with the Federal Government, suddenly in Santa Claus mode, paying for them. Corrigan continued on running Patricks until he was removed by a successful takeover bid in 2006. This film is "inner warm glow cinema" – it will give labour sympathizers a warm feeling inside, but it will not challenge their intellects or beliefs. If Channel 9 had produced this I would have said "Fair enough – sentimental tripe is their specialty". But the ABC? Not up to standard, folks.