I admired much of Bill Leak's work. He was a talented
artist and satirist. My condolences to his family.
We lost a great talent far too soon.
May he rest in peace.

Foxy,

Neither you nor I might be regular listeners of Michael Smith. However, in searching for some of Bill Leak's art I chanced upon Michael Smith's tribute to him. It had the portraits of Bill's sons, beautiful artwork that would bring tears to the eyes of any parent.

The link,
http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2017/03/vale-bill-leak.html

Dear Foxy,

Bill Leak probably doesn't quite rank with the absolute greats of Australian cartoonists, he too often went for the cheap shot rather than some of the brilliant dissections our best are capable of, but he was more than just capable, was gutsy, and went at things pretty straight on.

While it is safe to say he tended to pull his punches far more with the conservative side of politics there were quite a few decent jabs aimed in their direction.

http://www.safecom.org.au/images/abbott-real-action-muslims-bill-leak.jpg

http://cdn.theconversation.com/files/28655/area14mp/9kmz88q5-1375699192.jpg

Ultimately I consider him a pretty decent bloke who found a niche with the conservative press and played to that audience to keep food on the table.

Both sides of politics repeatedly hijacked his 'truths' without addressing his message.

He will be missed.

Bill leak's cartoons were extremely well drawn, incisive, and funny. He championed free speech and lampooned hypocrisy, and was not afraid of making enemies within extremist ranks whether Islamic or PC.

He ranks well amongst the all time greats, and if there are any better cartoonists today, I certainly haven't seen them.

leoj,

Thank You for the link.

The paintings were beautiful and illustrate the man's
talent. I had not seen them before.

Dear Steele,

I admired much of Bill Leak's work.

As did Bob Hawke who commissioned Bill Leak to paint his
portrait in the 1990s.

I think Bill Leak was a talented cartoonist much more so
than Pickering. Although I also admired Pickering's
earlier work. Especially his calendars of the pollies.