Thanks for the info Andrew.

All I knew of Peter previously was that he seemed like a helluva nice bloke.

Sad to see someone so relatively young lost to society, he certainly was a great man, as so many great Labor Ministers of the past were, I loved the man's explanation of the former ILO building, what a unique way to look at the subject, and how typical of Peter Cook's ability to "think outside the square" we won't soon forget him.

Thanks for the tribute to Senator Cook.

My 56 year-old cousin (P.C.s age) died a broken woman. There would be few people more exploited. Barmaid, cleaner, usher, mother (only child died), 17 year-old brother killed when she was in her 20th year, abusive husbands, addictions etc. Labor must continue to respect girls like this. Not just dimiss them as "losers". They must continue to see that circumstance play a part in their constituents' lives.

Cause effect should not just be selectively applied to wealthy "mates". People like Peter Cook and people like my cousin are, I think, connected in some way. It may just be that very human quality that allows people to understand that all people must be treated with fairness and respect regardless of their position in society.

To "think outside the square" is something that Labor must do. So the ILO building is now the ITO. Well I think that Australia, given our love of fairness, must consider placing tariffs on imports from our trading partners that allow over-exploitation of their workers. Then we might see an end to the over-exploitation of Aussie workers. (Wattle trees).

Wasnt Peter Cook having a toast on a plane with indonesian generals and their civilian associates while they were butchering East Timorese? Werent they toasting the deal Indonesia and Australia had struck to steal East Timors seabed resources? Pardon me please if I am wrong,but this sad fact seems to have been forgotten among journalists. So much for an internationalist concern for the rights of working people... something the ALP has never been good at.

Oh, by the way, I would argue that Jim Cairns was Australias pioneering free trader in the labor movement... but he did not take the same free trade angle as the 'post-modern' neoliberals in the Coalition and the ALP. See the long forgotten essay by Jim Cairns published as 'Tariffs or Planning: the Case for Reassessment' Lansdown Press 1971 available deep in the archives of some libraries.