A birder in the gilded cage of politics

Greg Combet, member for Charlton in the Federal Parliament, the hard man of the Patrick’s wharf dispute…and of course much more, is apparently a big softy at heart – he breeds, and has special places in his heart for, birds. I had a vague memory of Greg’s name being mentioned in relation to birds a fews years ago in this story by my mate Murray McLaughlin, an ABC-TV journalist in Darwin but Greg hadn’t stuck in my mind’s-list-of-celebrity-birders.

This piece in today’s Sydney Morning Herald caught my eye as I browsed the morning papers online – “Fancy takes flight in the gilded cage of federal politics”.

…for Greg Combet, last year’s federal election also entailed a not so minor “tragedy”. “That’s what it was,” Combet says. “I mean, it’s the tragedy of my working life that I had to leave my birds behind.” Combet, 50, who was elected last November, has at one stage or another owned parrots, peacocks, pheasants, canaries, chooks, lovebirds and cockatiels, but finches have captured his heart. Not just any finch, mind you, but Erythrura gouldiae, or the Gouldian finch.

…

Hawkish yet urbane, a class warrior in Clark Kent glasses, Combet helped co-ordinate some of the most bruising battles in Australian industrial relations history, from the 1998 waterfront dispute to the struggle to secure entitlements and compensation for James Hardie asbestos victims and staff of the late Ansett airlines. And always, behind it all, were Combet’s Gouldians.

As they do for so many of us, birds provide Greg with those valued moments for peace and reflection away from the panic and rush of the working day.

“In the most stressful moments of my life, the birds have provided a total counterpoint to everything else. Waterfront and James Hardie were incredibly tense times, so it was very relaxing for me to go out the back and be with my birds, just to feed them and clean the aviary and make sure they were OK.”

What strikes me most about this article is that it goes beyond the usual puff-piece so often written about politicians and so sought-after by their minders…and the lazy journalist. It looks to those things that keep Greg’s soul alive behind the frantic world of a busy politician.

Greg lost his father to cancer when he was 13 and his birds give him a way to connect with, and pay tribute to his father:

“My father was always interested in birds. We kept 40 chooks and sold the eggs to the local market gardener. We also had pigeons, and I used to breed them. Dad and I would then drive into Parramatta to sell them to the pet shops.”
…
“The birds have always been an important connection to my dad, given I lost him when I was quite young. I think of him often, especially when I’m with the birds. I feel like it’s a part of him that I can hold onto, a way of holding onto those good memories.”

Gouldian Finch. Pic: Butterflyworld.com

And Greg is right…Gouldians are important, and special. Gouldian Finches are endemic to the savannah woodlands of northern Australia and are a member of the Estrildidae family, that consists of about 135-140 species found across Australia, Africa, Arabia & south-east Asia and includes the Zebra Finch Taeniopygia guttata, which, with the Gouldian and other Estrilid finches, are among the world’s most popular cage birds, relatively easy to breed and have been the subject of much scientific research, particularly into their behaviour, breeding and physiology.

After noticeable declines in their wild numbers and contraction of their range, the Gouldian Finch was listed as an Endangered species in 1989, with the probable causes of the decline in population and range including habitat change, through the development of the pastoral and agricultural industries across much of their range, and changes in traditional Aboriginal burning practices. Gouldian’s also have a susceptibility to infection by an endoparasitic mite the Air Sac mite (Sternostoma tracheacolum), that affects their respiratory system.

There is a National Recovery Plan for the Gouldian Finch and further information on actions and plans in the NT are available here.

The Gouldian Finch was first described in 1844 by the esteemed English ornithologist and publisher, John Gould, after his wife, Elizabeth Coxen Gould.

I’d love to hear about other Federal, State and local politicians, business people and other ‘movers and shakers’ with an interest in birds – I know of a few – please leave a comment or suggestion of where we might find them.