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(FAINT CHEERING)

(SLOW INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PLAYING)

(CROWD CHEERING)

(DRUMS BEATING)

MAN: (SHOUTING) Garrett for Prime Minister!

(CROWD CLAPPING)

(CROWD CHEERING)

(WOMAN SCREAMING)

PETER: What a night!

Oh, I can't believe it!

(NO TIME FOR GAMES PLAYING)

PETER: Let's dance.

(MUSIC INCREASES IN TEMPO)

♪ The raising of children The rearing of young

♪ Used to be simple But look what it's become ♪

(GUITAR SOLO PLAYING)

(MUSIC INCREASES IN TEMPO)

(CROWD CHEERING)

(CROWD CLAPPING)

RECORDIST: Midnight Oil Red Sails

Sound roll two, Musical Films and that was the Oils coming off stage.

ROB: Beauty, Michael! Very good.

Fantastic. Isn't it marvellous?

We have a meeting in the afternoon...

Four hours later, we're making movies.

Oh, there he is. God, right on cue. (LAUGHING)

Almost but not quite more than we deserve.

PETER: This is Ray Argall, cinema verite.

(INDISTINCT CONVERSATION)

(CHUCKLING) Mr. Verite.

(STRUMMING THE GUITAR)

It is pretty cold out there still.

NEIL: Okay.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

Well, the stick sounds were like the other day with the intro

when they changed back to the bass

after you played the stick.

You hear yourself, you hear the beat

and then you play like that, then it will be great.

♪ Sometimes you've got to Take the hardest line

♪ Two three four Two, two, three, four ♪

(PLAYING THE TRUMPET)

(PLAYING POWER AND PASSION)

(DRUMS BEATING)

(MUSIC INCREASES IN TEMPO)

(CROWD CHEERING)

(CROWD CLAPPING)

ROB: Perhaps it's easy to forget what it was actually like back in the early '80s.

That was kind of our generation’s fear

that we were about to be plunged into a nuclear winter

and there was a lot of saber rattling going on

with Reagan bullishly shirt-fronting a succession of Russian presidents.

I don't know who it was. Andropov, Chernenko, whoever it was.

So there was a real feeling of brinkmanship.

The like of which we hadn't seen since the very early '60s.

and of course we found ourselves in Japan.

You know the place where nukes had actually been used

and got to speak to some of the Hibakusha, the survivors.

And so all of these things added up to, you know, song writing,

which could not avoid that issue.

I think the Red Sails period was a real period of experimentation with the band.

Where we really wanted to do something different.

PETER: And the nuclear build-up and so on and so forth had already started to permeate

through into our thinking and my thinking

about what we might or might not do, and how someone should respond.

(CROWD CHEERING)

PETER: This is the joke about the presidential elections.

Because on top of the dollar, it's got "In God we trust," you see.

So, it's better than in a hacko hillbilly man from California.

(PLEASANT MUSIC PLAYING)

I say, "Casper, let’s lob a few on those commies."

(LAUGHING)

PETER: I think I’ll get cousin Piston Rings to sing a song for us this afternoon.

Mr. Robert Hirst.

(WHEN THE GENERALS TALK PLAYING)

♪ Introducing the new Introducing the new

♪ Introducing the new Introducing the new

♪ Introducing the new general school of Australian diplomacy and philosophy

♪ If you disagree When having breakfast

♪ Consider the consequences

♪ Quietly pouring the muesli Into the plate

♪ General Electric

♪ Quietly sticking the T-shirt In the middle of the drainer

♪ General Westinghouse

♪ Quietly considering The confusion that rains

♪ On the front pages Of the newspaper

♪ Every day and every night

♪ General inconsequentiality

♪ General miscomprehension Ha-ha

♪ I tell you they are The worst generals of all

♪ When the Generals talk You better listen to him

♪ When the Generals talk You better do what he say

♪ When the Generals talk You better listen to him

♪ When the Generals talk You better do what he say

♪ When the Generals talk You better listen to him

♪ When the Generals talk You better do what he say

♪ When the Generals talk When the Generals talk

♪ When the Generals talk You better listen to him ♪

Whoo!

(MUSIC CONTINUES)

(DRUMS BEATING)

All right, Mr. Garrett, I want you to tell us

why you decided to go into show business?

(IN FEMALE VOICE) Show business?

(LAUGHING)

We broke away from getting involved with agencies and record companies,

and everybody, and we just went to our audience.

We looked at town halls instead of going through promoters.

You know we started to promote ourselves,

putting the posters up ourselves.

And you have got, you know, a couple of support bands

that will draw 200 people there, and 300 people there

and you bring it together with your audience,

and you‘ve got 1,000 people.

All of a sudden the agents are going, "How did they get 1,000 people to that show?"

And so this whole alternative way of surviving and having an audience

that wasn't a radio audience, wasn't a TV audience,

wasn't a top-40 audience, wasn't a record company’s audience.

There was no promoters. You know, what's going on here?

When do the tickets go on sale there? Saturday?

Are they on sale tomorrow?

(WHIRRING)

NEIL: Yeah, Steve. Neil here, mate. Is Gary there?

ACCOUNTANT: Gary has already given them a grand.

STEPHANIE: Yeah. You are aware of that?

That is 2,100 bucks.

(PHONE RINGING)

(INDISTINCT CONVERSATION)

ACCOUNTANT: You want some just general float cash? For petrol, taxis.

There is 500.

They are going to be paid cash.

(INDISTINCT CONVERSATION)

GARY: Just good value for 300 bucks for about 50 people to come.

GARY: This is an important seven nights.

Oh, they are all going to be standard.

MAN: (OVER RADIO) 2SM City's Rock Of The Ages, with Charlie Fox talking to Rob Hirst

from Midnight Oil about the new Oil’s album called Red Sails in the Sunset.

ROB: We're going down with the new songs on Melbourne people.

We're then going to Adelaide and Perth.

And we end up at the Horden Pavilion.

We've kept the price right down.

It’s about half, I think, what you are paying for some of the overseas acts.

(RACY INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PLAYING)

(STRUMMING THE GUITAR)

(LILTING INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PLAYING)

ROB: That was meaningful last night. They all knew it.

I think they must have been paid a lot.

Saxophone, hypocrisy, democracy and ideology.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

CROWD: (CHANTING) Oils! Oils! Oils! Oils!

(CHANTING INCREASES IN TEMPO)

About four minutes, okay?

(STRUMMING THE GUITAR)

You're right, Bastard.

Anyone else in the same trouble?

After the chaos.

(STRUMMING THE GUITAR)

Took all that asparagus to get it out of my system.

All right!

MICHAEL: So I started in 1980.

In those days, bands had to learn their craft the hard way.

So we were playing on milk crates,

with plywood on top sometimes.

I do corporate now and I go into rooms with clients

and look at a room and say, "Will we fit 300 people?"

And I go, "Hey, I can fit 1,500 people in here

"and still make money on the door," you know.

(COLD COLD CHANGE PLAYING)

(MUSIC INCREASES IN TEMPO)

♪ Cold cold change We were so excited

♪ But you came And went so soon

♪ Left us all Angry and uninvited

♪ We smile at the way ♪

GARY: There was just this explosive energy coming off stage.

and the room filled with that kind of tension

and excitement and sweat and heat and sound.

And you know the bottom end, the kick drum would be thumping through your chest.

ROB: The heat levels in those pubs, particularly the ones with the low ceilings,

with a couple of thousand people smoking

and it was like running ten marathons

all in the space of an hour and a half, every night.

MICHAEL: We blew the switchboard off the wall in the pub

and took out the local sub station.

In those days, the ceilings used to drip

with condensation above the audience.

You know, everything was wet from sweat.

The audience was wet with sweat.

There was no air conditioning, or anything.

No one could breathe and Constance, the little tour manager,

was running around with an oxygen blower

reviving people with oxygen.

(CROWD CHEERING)

(WHOOPING)

(STRUMMING THE GUITAR)

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

JIM: It was always really important to this band to be able to deliver to the audience

and just make it count.

PETER: We were about giving that audience everything that we had.

Everything that was happening on stage, we wanted to give to them in buckets.

(CROWD CHEERING)

(DRUMS BEATING)

(BEST OF BOTH WORLDS PLAYING)

♪ You say times are tough

♪ We've got the best Of both worlds here

♪ Things are rough

♪ We've got the best Of both worlds here

♪ You say times are tough

♪ We've got the best Of both worlds

♪ You say times are tough

♪ We've got the best Of both worlds here

♪ Things are rough

♪ We've got the best Of both worlds here

♪ Times are tough

♪ We've got the best Of both worlds

♪ The real world is not as calm As it appears to be from here

♪ The real world is not as calm As it appears to be from here

♪ The old world is not as calm With the new world closing in

♪ The great South land can be As great as the one It could have been

♪ The one it could have been

♪ The one it could have been

♪ The one it could have been

(MUSIC CONTINUES)

♪ You say times are tough

♪ We've got the best Of both worlds here

♪ Things are rough

♪ We've got the best Of both worlds here

♪ Times are tough

♪ We've got the best Of both worlds here

♪ Things are rough

♪ We've got the best Of both worlds here

♪ We've got the best Of both worlds here

♪ We've got the best Of both worlds

♪ Best of both worlds ♪

(CROWD CLAPPING)

(CROWD CHEERING)

(DRUMS BEATING)

(SOFT INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PLAYING)

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

(STRUMMING THE GUITAR)

ROB: I remember ice-skating around Prince Alfred Park

when we first moved from the country to the city.

And they played the Beatles relentlessly

and then, of course, also the Stones and the Kinks

and The Who and Freddie and the Dreamers

and Dave Clark Five and all those British beat bands,

which influenced people of our generation so much,

and then got absolutely fascinated by what was happening musically in the '60s.

They actually wrote stuff about things.

So if you had a great melody, and you had great lyrics,

and you had a great beat,

and then you also were talking about something really important

to ordinary people's lives,

then that was a killer combination.

(INDISTINCT SINGING)

PETER: And I think it was quite scary sometimes.

Particularly with Jim in the corner,

the raw, the rhythm and the drive.

It wasn't rhythmic or timely, it was...

It was urgent. It was urgent and threatening.

(STAMMERING) It was like, you know, it would make the hairs stand up

my things thinking about it, you know.

The power that we could create when we were in form.

(GUITAR MUSIC PLAYING)

JIM: And we were just doing covers and Rob was the singer.

All the way through school,

and the school concert that we played at my school was hilarious

because we did a lunch-time concert.

And in the middle of the concert,

the head master ran up on the stage

and just turned all the amps off

and then ran off.

There was about 300 people in the hall going, "What?"

And you know it was just what we were dealing with.

Like we were just schmucks to these people.

Like, you know, the people at the school

that were really into rugby, and they were really into sort of the military,

and it was just sort of not a good place

for a slightly sensitive and artistic person to be.

(STRUMMING THE GUITAR)

(INDISTINCT CONVERSATION)

MICHAEL: The day I was setting the gear up,

the monitoring engineer, Mark Edwards, said,

"I'll show you how everything gets set up,

"and I will show you once, and that is it. You remember it after that."

And I didn't care. I thought I am only going to be here for a day.

And as he was setting things up,

I kept asking questions.

I went, "Why are you nailing the drum kit to the floor?"

Like we had sand bags, and I had done that before.

And then he was tuning the monitors,

and he put this small road case at the base of this really tall microphone stand.

And I said, "What the hell is the microphone so tall for?"

And he said, "You'll see, you'll see. "

And they didn't do a soundcheck that day.

And sure enough, after the support act,

they went on stage,

and I saw it all right in the first song.

They fucking destroyed it. The whole stage near caved in.

You know, I had never seen anything like it.

Never.

GARY: The first encounter of the first kind

was at the Narrabeen Antler.

This tall bloke got our curiosity.

Sort of had long blonde hair, and there was a lot of energy on stage

and there was just a really interesting feel with the band.

And I said, "Look, you know, if I can get some shows,

"just started looking for the rooms on the Northern Beaches

"that we could get them playing."

You realize, "Wow, this is emotive."

It is actually generating a lot of great ideas.

And that will engage debate.

"Call off the ultimatums" could be stronger.

(INDISTINCT CONVERSATION)

You don't reckon? Nah.

No, it should be just that one low or two low choices.

If you do, I reckon they could be they can be stronger live.

(STRUMMING THE GUITAR)

Sounds very pretty.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

PETER: As I sort of reach back into the memory vault,

I can remember a bunch of school boys sitting around, sort of, you know,

frantic little guy, you know, sort of just out of school

banging away at the drums, you know?

(CHUCKLING) A couple of shy guys just out of school playing guitar.

But, it was what I heard, really,

I think, that got me more than anything else,

and that was really the key for me.

And I have always said, you know, once I heard the kick of the bass drum,

and just heard the way that they played,

I thought, "You know, there is something very, very special going on here,

"and who knows where it will lead?"

PETER: Be safe and nuclear-free in 1985, and remember,

we have a grave international problem on our hands.

Something called "Idiot control the world."

(LAUGHING) (CROWD CHEERING)

Oh, dearie me! Henry Kissinger is in South America.

It sends the very shivers of all existence down my large spine.

We're not waiting for any kind of poise to lay out the food.

We're waiting for Henry and Co., they've got short memories.

(CROWD CHEERING)

(HARRISBURG PLAYING)

(MUSIC INCREASES IN TEMPO)

♪ The empire rings

♪ The umpire's not laughing

♪ The President's presented Ambassadors in nightclubs

♪ You cannot get it out

♪ It's stuff you cannot Taste or see

♪ It's stuff You cannot smell

♪ It's stuff that's Twenty times as hot

♪ As the hottest stuff in hell ♪

(MUSIC INCREASES IN TEMPO)

REAGAN: (OVER PA SYSTEM) My fellow Americans,

I am pleased to tell you today that I have signed legislation

that will outlaw Russia forever.

We begin bombing in five minutes.

I have asked special guest Mr. Colonel David Hackworth,

who now lives in Brisbane and Nimbin

and has spent some time with the United States Army

in Vietnam and Cambodia

to come along and speak.

Put your hands together, please, for David Hackworth, thank you.

Hello.

Last night, I was asked on a radio program

why I was talking to you.

And my answer was, because you are what counts.

(CROWD CHEERING)

(CROWD CLAPPING)

Since 1945, there have been 23 examples

where the US Military have recommended

to use nuclear weapons.

(CROWD BOOING)

They have so much firepower,

it is like trying to kill a mosquito

with a hand grenade.

(INDISTINCT SHOUTING)

PETER: All you have to do is see a photo of the victims of Hiroshima

and you'll understand that it can never be allowed to happen again.

And if everyone stands up and says, "Look ,you know, we think it's very, very wrong.

"And we're prepared to do something about it, then maybe we can change it."

(INDISTINCT CONVERSATION)

The reason that we are here today

is because we value the trees

and the environment that we sit in.

And we realize that this environment is put at great risk

by the incredible proliferation of nuclear weapons in the world.

As a response to that risk, ordinary Australians have gathered together

and formed the Nuclear Disarmament Party.

They approached me to stand as a senate candidate,

and I decided that I would accept their offer to stand as a candidate.

It doesn’t mean the end of Midnight Oil. Midnight Oil will continue.

All it means is that I am going that one stage further

to talk about those things, which have concerned me for a number of years,

which I have tried to write songs about.

JOURNALIST: How will you be able to do anything different

from the people with principle within the ALP?

It's all very well for the left wing of the ABC...

Excuse me.

Freudian slip.

It's all very well for the left wing of the ALP

to put that particular point of view.

The fact is, in 1984, we have a pro-nuclear government.

JOURNALIST: Are you confident of success? The coming elections? Yes.

JOURNALIST: Why?

PETER: Jean Meltzer in Victoria, who has been a serving senator

is our candidate in Victoria.

And in discussions that I have managed to have with her over the last couple of weeks,

she has indicated that there are lots and lots and lots

and lots of very, very effective and fruitful ways

which you can operate from the senate.

Operating from the senate plugs us into the system.

Are you concerned that your personality and image

will overshadow what your party is trying to say?

PETER: No, I'm not.

Both the band and myself

are people who have been prepared to stand on principle,

and this is one particular principle,

which we have held to very firmly.

I am now elevating this principle to the position

I think it should take for every Australian,

for everybody in the world if we are going to see the decade out.

We are simply saying the Nuclear Disarmament Party is here,

the election campaign is on, and we are going to be successful.

STEPHANIE: I came into work on the Monday

after the announcement on the Sunday night

that Pete was going to be running for the NDP,

and I could not believe the amount of messages.

I just saw names from mainstream radio

and TV and press who had never bothered to contact the Oils before.

Prior to that, we were just a band.

JIM: And he just came to our room and said, "Look, I am going to do this.

"I am going to run for politics."

No talk about whether the band was going to survive or not.

So when you have someone like that in your band, you have to...

You know, what do you do?

You just embrace it, really.

I think that is what we did, rather than try and stamp it out

because I mean, you couldn't.

Why would you, anyway?

Like, it was all to do with who we were as people

and what the band was talking about.

He was just going to take it to the next level.

(CROWD CLAPPING)

MAN: The launching of the Nuclear Disarmament Party

represents the dawning of a new age in Australian politics.

Heading the ticket, we have Peter Garrett,

one of Australia's foremost musicians,

and a man who for more than a decade has been fighting for peace,

disarmament and social justice through his music.

(CROWD CLAPPING)

PETER: It has been quite an extraordinary campaign,

and it is quite an extraordinary political party.

In fact, it is not really a political party.

It is much more than that.

It is a movement of people in this country

who have decided that they really have had enough.

They want to make a nuclear-free Australia.

And I must admit that there are times when it seems very chaotic for us.

We're not operating out of the flashiest premises in the world.

We don't have the biggest budget in the world.

But we've got heart, we've got spirit,

we've got hope, and we've got faith.

And they're the most important qualities of all.

(CROWD CLAPPING)

ROB: Around about the time of Pete's senate campaign,

we thought, "Well, we'll probably just continue playing in between

"when Pete's sitting in the senate."

I mean I don't think any of us thought we were going to end.

It was like, "No, no, we'll just work around what he is doing."

And we were very supportive of what Pete did.

I mean there was no one crying in their beer, or anything.

We were all saying, "Well, that's the way it goes." We’d made plans.

We knew what we were going to do if he made it.

We’d effectively campaigned

just by singing songs against nuclear issues.

I'll do yours quickly. What's your name?

Mark Schultz.

Mark? Yup.

Thanks a lot. No worries.

There you go, mate.

And remember, tell your Mum and Dad all about the Nuclear Disarmament Party.

Yeah, I will. Sure.

My Mom is here. Is she?

Yeah. Right.

MARK: I think one of the reasons

why Pete wanted me to get involved

was that I understood about the band as well.

And trying to fit the twin constraints of the political campaign

and the tour for the band was actually really important.

They needed to be kept quite separate.

For a start, the band couldn't put out a single

because they didn't want to be seen to be exploiting Pete's political campaign.

Um, the political campaign couldn’t be seen as trying

to be promoted on the back of the band's concerts.

MICHAEL: The biggest difference from a crewing point of view

was that the venues had to be searched every day.

So, we did a deal with the police.

They weren't allowed to just turn up any time.

The police made my road crew very nervous.

Cause they searched everywhere.

They searched under every seat,

they searched the dressing rooms, the crew room,

the crew room, which we didn't want.

And they use to search the audience coming in, too.

That had never happened at a rock and roll show.

Prior to those days? Before 1984?

(LILTING INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PLAYING)

Our major ally plans to spend 1.6 trillion dollars

on weapons of war in the next four years.

The re-election of President Reagan brings Australia's role

and Australia's relationship with the United States into an even clearer focus.

(MUSIC INCREASES IN TEMPO)

(MOTOR WHIRRING)

LEE: Midnight Oil, as we all know,

are not ones to shy away from political issues.

And that culminated last week

in Peter Garrett's endorsement by the newly formed Nuclear Disarmament Party.

On the musical front,

Midnight Oil’s new album Red Sails in the Sunset is in the shops this week.

Their last album, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, incidentally,

is still number 51 on the album charts

and has been in the top 100 now for nearly two years.

(ROCK MUSIC PLAYING)

Ooh, shit, I find that the hardest number is the highest.

(PLAYING SLEEP)

♪ So you've got...

(VOCALISING)

♪ Take this heart

♪ Break this heart Wrap it ♪

(PLAYING SLEEP)

(VOCALISING)

♪ So you've got the blues ♪ So

♪ You've got the blues ♪ The evening

♪ Wore out your shoes ♪ The evening

♪ Wore out your shoes ♪ So

♪ You've got the blues ♪ So

♪ You've got the blues ♪ The evening

♪ Wore out your shoes ♪ The evening

♪ Wore out your shoes ♪ So

♪ So

♪ You've got the blues ♪

(AUDIENCE CHEERING AND WHISTLING)

PETER: What I am doing at the moment apart from being on stage for the Oils

is getting around and talking to as many schools as I can.

We're involved in a historic time, 1984 is a time of history,

which I invite you to be involved in.

I don't think that politics means being old enough to vote.

I don't think politics means being interested in the difference

between capitalism and socialism.

I think politics means understanding that you can change

the way society affects you and you can change that it doesn't matter

how old you are, you just have to go out and get in to it.

None of this stuff is going to come easy.

It is not easy for me to get up early in the morning

and go out and get on the road but I believe strongly in it.

(AUDIENCE MEMBER WHISTLES)

The question is if I win the election what will happen to the Oils

and the answer is that

I will become a Nuclear Disarmament Party senator

and Midnight Oil will continue to do what it has done in its way.

Midnight Oil's been going since 1977.

It's never been a band that has seen itself up on the top 40 charts.

It's never seen itself as band which is, you know,

like a pop band that is a Duran Duran or one of these people.

(BOOING)

(CHUCKLES)

PETER: It's important, I think, to be on the street

or to be where people are and a lot of young people

who were interested in us as a band were actually at school.

I mean schools are really important places, you know.

This is where kids are learning, obviously,

but it's also in the later years where they are developing their thinking

and starting to form up their political values and their social values.

All those in favour, would you please raise your right arm.

All those against.

I now declare by unanimous decision, Manly High, a nuclear-free zone.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

I think people felt like their band was,

um, suddenly very important.

I think they saw the band taking a stand

in a very public way and felt quite proud of them.

It was almost like a chance for the audience to grow up

and see that their concerns were important as well.

This is historic, let me tell you.

Girls and boys, we are making history, and we'll continue to do it.

We were approached to do a street kids open house foundation concert

prior to my involvement with the Nuclear Disarmament Party.

There was no way because an election started

that we were going to detract from that.

JOURNALIST: Now, can we get on to this?

PETER: No I'd like to do this. JOURNALIST: All right.

PETER: Okay. Is there gonna be other questions about the street kids?

Look, I am here to do the Open Family Foundation press launch

and that's really what I wanna do

and I don't want to have a token question about it and then launch into Mr. Hayden.

JOURNALIST: Look, we've only got

a short amount of time anyway. Okay. All right.

So despite the constant attacks from Mr. Hawke and most other people

you're not gonna speak out on any other issues?

The fact that Mr. Hawke, Mr. Bjelke-Peterson, Mr. Hayden,

Senator Carrick, Mr. Howard, Mr. Wentworth, who claims the communists

are still under the bed of the Nuclear Disarmament Party

are joining together to attack us

simply shows how effective we're being, how we've got those politicians running.

They're scared of the votes. We're concerned about the issue.

(ROCK MUSIC PLAYING)

(BACK ON THE BORDERLINE PLAYING)

♪ From the bar to the bedroom I'm swimming in the neon

♪ Lighted pictures Of a redhead Plasticoated hot on

♪ And sometimes When that mirror shows

♪ The smile of disbelief

♪ Stained signature Of nightmares

♪ They're stolen by the thief Oh, yeah

♪ I'm back on the borderline

♪ Yes, I'm back On the borderline ♪

PETER: Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello.

(AUDIENCE CHEERING)

Welcome to the tent.

You know, every time that Midnight Oil gets up out here,

it seems like they've built another one of those things that, uh,

screech up to the top of the sky

and cast their imposing shadow over the sunny, sandy terrain.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yeah, Come on. (WHOOPS)

If you're not careful it's gonna get so if you're having a surf

at about 5:00 in the afternoon,

it will be like surfing in the Grand Canyon or something.

Except that instead of walls of brown shale

it's gonna be walls of cheap,

wait until everyone has bought up their timeshare resort,

it'll fall down in 20 years time home units, so...

(CROWD CHEERING)

JIM: I don't think when people came along at that stage to a gig,

they'd expect someone like that to kind of, have a microphone and talk.

'Cause usually it was like, "Yeah, we're gonna go on to our next song

"and here is our latest single and

"and I wrote this about my girlfriend" or something. I mean, our stuff

was much more angular and much more angry.

(PLAYING ARMISTICE DAY)

♪ You're watching People fighting

♪ You're watching people losing

♪ On Armistice Day

♪ You're watching People fighting

♪ You're watching people losing

♪ On Armistice Day

♪ The watchers do the wincing

♪ Reporters so convincing

♪ The TV never lies

♪ I went looking for a war

♪ And the only guns I saw

♪ Never used in anger

(DRUMS AND GUITAR PLAYING)

CROWD: ♪ You're watching People fighting

♪ You're watching people losing

♪ On Armistice Day

♪ You're watching People fighting

♪ You're watching people losing

♪ On Armistice Day

♪ The watchers do the wincing

♪ Reporters so convincing

♪ The TV never lies

♪ Never lies

♪ I went looking for a war

♪ And the only guns I saw

♪ Never used in anger

♪ The fixers do the fixing

♪ The locals do the lynching

♪ The papers deny ♪

(VOCALISING)

(INSTRUMENTS PLAYING)

GARY: His voice was an instrument.

His voice was something that just meshed with the band’s sound

and it became a wail.

He was the social commentator on stage

and I guess that sort of process of people knowing they're gonna go out.

They're gonna have... they're gonna see something spontaneous,

they're gonna see something that reflects their basic attitude

that they can't put their finger on,

you know, what's going on around us.

STEPHANIE: People were seeing themselves within the music and the lyrics of the band.

They wrote about their world, their country

um... And how they related to it and what they thought of it.

ROB: We were happy for people to learn about us

but also about Australia generally.

About, you know, political, social,

environmental situation that we faced.

♪ I've seen faces In the window

♪ I've seen faces In the street

♪ They talk and walk of nothing

♪ Out-talked By the mass media ♪

PETER: All right, all right, all right. Let's calm down a little bit.

Boys and girls.

Anyone who pushes and carries on down there,

you'll get thrown out immediately, all right? So...

(AUDIENCE WHISTLING AND CHEERING)

Wormy, give me a spot down here at the front down here.

Stage left, just to the front, please.

A little bit further.

Now, boys, it costs Midnight Oil a fortune in security guards to come into this place.

I don't want you lot destroying it for us and for everyone else. All right?

And the next person I see facing the other way

trying to cause some aggravation, I'll throw them out myself.

(YELLS)

I can't get this mentality.

We've got the fattest, richest, stupidest people in the whole world,

Russia and America, they want to blast us to smithereens.

Everyone knows that life is a precious commodity

and you two want to kick each other's heads in.

(AUDIENCE MEMBER WHOOPING)

I'm sorry...

PETER: It was a weird thing. You know, I would sort of,

look in to a crowd and be able to tell, you know, which corner

something would come from and think, "Oh, hang on

"there's a bit of evil lurking over in that corner."

That's you. And you're gonna behave for me tonight, aren't ya?

Yeah, all right.

All, right.

Thank you, boys and girls.

We shall have a good time.

PETER: I always wanted a Midnight Oil concert

or a performance to be somewhere where everybody could come

and feel that they could be themselves.

CROWD: ♪ Waiting for the meat Of tomorrow

♪ Sing me songs Of no denying

♪ Seems to me Too many trying

♪ Waiting for the next Big thing ♪

MICHAEL: And generally they would listen to him

but if they didn't, or they were fighting he would send me in there.

You know, knee-high to a grasshopper,

to diplomatically sort it out

and every now and then he would come in and rescue me.

(CHUCKLES) Because he’d see me in shit

and it was just going to turn to shit.

But I could go through that audience, and they were packed together

like, in these venues, like sardines.

Or I could rush through those, that audience, anywhere from front to back.

They would get out of the way.

They would assist me getting through there to do what I had to do.

It was aggression but it wasn't aggression

like you talk about nowadays.

They weren't... It wasn’t fighting aggression. It was passion.

(CHEERING)

(GUITAR PLAYING)

(VOCALISING)

(PLAYING READ ABOUT IT)

(AUDIENCE CONTINUE CHEERING)

BAND MEMBERS: ♪ The rich get richer

♪ The poor get the picture

♪ The bombs never hit you... ♪

MICHAEL: Yeah, a lot of performers on stage would be more than reticent

to get up and make a dick of themselves like he did.

You know? And he knows what I mean about that.

You can't call that dancing.

No one's ever seen that style of dancing before.

Mate, they would just stare at him.

Because I had to keep checking that first four or five rows

and they would just stare, and it wasn't because he was good looking.

It wasn’t because he had the body of Adonis. No.

No, it was the dancing.

It was like he was on the dance floor with them, you know what I mean?

And because, yeah, he held them in the palm of his hand.

(PLAYING NO TIME FOR GAMES)

♪ Some kids Got no time for games

(INSTRUMENTS PLAYING)

♪ Easy to follow Your natural instinct

♪ Easy to follow Much too hard to learn

♪ What opportunity The modern child?

♪ Wasted passion Wasted mind

♪ Some kids got no time For playtime

♪ Some kids got no time For games

♪ Some kids got no time For playtime

♪ Some kids got no time For games

♪ Some kids got no time For playtime

♪ Some kids got no time For games... ♪

BOY: Mount Druitt. GIRL: We come from Mount Druitt.

(WHOOPING)

WOMAN 1: We've been Oil's fans for seven years.

We know they're talking about that nuclear disarmament

and how one day it's going to affect us all.

Peter Garrett's gonna be the next President. Not Prime Minister, President.

WOMAN 2: He can get everyone listening to him

because he is cool, and he cares about peace on earth.

WOMAN 1: He does. He cares about our country and everything.

This concert has been one of the best concerts there is.

WOMAN 1: I'm 19. WOMAN 2: I'm 20.

(BOTH WOMEN CHUCKLE)

BAND MEMBER: There was a dialogue between the audience and the band

and we realised that writing about Australian subjects... uh, would work.

(PLAYING SECTION 5)

♪ Push start that car tomorrow

♪ I'll take it to the tip yard

♪ I'll leave it as a metal Wreck for cats to sleep in

♪ Then I'll stop the small talk

♪ Then I'll stop the games

♪ I'll show them That the plans I've made aren't wrong

♪ What's wrong?

♪ I'm just part of this play

♪ I'm making an inroad On the one and only... ♪

ROB: The band could communicate through its songs

and the power of its instruments and everything

and then on top of that you've got Pete communicating

in a brilliant and diverse and, might I say, initially outrageous way.

One on one.

Initially with pub crowds of 1,000, 1,500

but then to festival crowds of 60,000.

It was such a gift.

♪ Oh, the power And the passion

(PLAYING POWER AND THE PASSION)

♪ Oh, the temper of the time

♪ Oh, the power And the passion

♪ Sometimes you've got To take the hardest line

(GUITAR MUSIC PLAYING)

♪ Sun burnt faces around

♪ With skin so brown

♪ Smiling zinc cream And crowds, Sundays... ♪

(INAUDIBLE)

(INSTRUMENTS PLAYING)

♪ You take what you get And get what you leave

♪ It's better to die On your feet Than to live on your knees

♪ It's better to die On your feet Than to live on your knees

♪ Oh, the power And the passion

♪ Oh, the temper of the time

♪ Oh, the power And the passion

♪ Sometimes you've got To take the hardest line ♪

(AUDIENCE CHEERING)

(INSTRUMENTS PLAYING)

PETER: I thought the audience were fantastic in that era

because they were excited about what was happening,

both to the band and also to the band's singer.

And they listened to the music

and then they went out and, you know, listened to the campaign.

And they became a part of it

and some of them would have had very high hopes

and others would have just been doing it for fun

and everything in between but that didn't matter, you know.

It was a really unique and quite powerful

collective experience that we shared

and I'm really proud of the way in which people became active players

if you like, in the concert,

in that period of political engagement

because

it showed that they were thinking about what we were singing about

but it also showed that they understood the spirit in which it was being done.

I am not going to talk about the serious things in the world

like politics except to say I hope that you all, those of you that came along

and witnessed the Stop the Drop concert, understood what was going on.

(AUDIENCE CHEERING)

JIM: He was very excited by the idea of being

involved in politics, you know.

He was on top of the world. He was like, alive

and

effusive and, you know, that's kind of who he was going to be, you know.

(INSTRUMENTS PLAYING)

MICHAEL: From the public's point of view,

they never really behaved like pop stars.

Because they didn't do drugs,

they didn't drink

and they didn't whore around.

Now, you don't have to cut any of that out because that's all good stuff.

The road crew had more fun than Midnight Oil did.

(MAN LAUGHING)

MAN 2: What happened?

First around North Adelaide with Mr. Argall.

Get your running pants on there, boy.

Get your running pants on there.

Got your shorts?

I can see the sort of running you're gonna do.

(CHUCKLES)

In the Ford Falcon.

(WHO CAN STAND IN THE WAY PLAYING)

♪ And there's just one thing

♪ And there's just one thing

♪ I was hanging round off Dobroyd Point

♪ When the first fleet Chain sailed in

♪ Looked into the clearest blue

♪ The scurvy smell The convicts cry

♪ But it's metal on metal

♪ It's the dance of TV

♪ If Christ were here He'd camera check

♪ He'd cry so loud The planes would stop

♪ He'd cry so loud The earth would shake

♪ And men would fall In tinsel town

♪ And there's just one thing

♪ And just one thing

♪ And just one thing

♪ And just one thing

♪ And just one thing

♪ And just one thing

♪ And just one thing ♪

(VOCALISING)

JIM: Peter at the beginning

was always a very imposing character

but I remember a conversation he had

saying to all of us, "Look, guys, I can't do this all on my own.

"You can't just stand there and play your guitar

"and, you know, your fancy licks and stuff.

"You've got to come up and help me cause I can't do it all on my own."

ROB: The first great Australian performer that I saw up close

was JOK, Johnny O'Keefe.

Someone who just,

just screamed and put every ounce of energy in to this take

and I remember being so knocked out by it

and I thought, "Fuck, you know, that's a performer.

That's the level you've got to give, you know, to do this."

(PLAYING KNIFE'S EDGE)

(AUDIENCE CHEERING)

♪ It's a knife-edge razor day

♪ If you listen long enough They've got nothing to say

♪ It's a time warp place Don't change

♪ The rhythm of the night... ♪

PETER OVER MIC: The speech is called We Live In A Nuclear Age,

1984,

George Orwell is looking nervous.

(AUDIENCE CHUCKLING)

Actually, it is a pretty frightening thought, you know.

If some Russian submarine person has got a bit pissed

and saw something coming across the radar and panicked

or Mr. Reagan went sleep walking

and accidentally slipped on the button.

(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

I am making light of it because we have to laugh about it a little bit

because unless we laugh about it

we don't see the humour in the position that we've got ourselves into.

And okay I'm getting older and I've had some success in rock and roll

but I think to myself, if we allow Russian generals or American generals

or European politicians or international arms manufacturers

or science and research people,

if we allow them to determine what the future's gonna be,

then we're stuck with the consequences.

MARK: It's very easy now, sort of, more than 30 years on

to forget what 1984 was like.

You know, 1984 was, um...

It was Big Brother.

You know, people who had read George Orwell knew that 1984 meant more than 1984.

The cover of their album was apocalyptic.

Their songs were apocalyptic.

There were movies that were apocalyptic.

People feared the consequences of the nuclear arms race

and they were powerless and it wasn't really a political issue.

And even it was a bit naive at the time, I guess.

You know, we were only young fellows talking about nuclear disarmament

but, you know, really, when you look at it, it put the issue on the table

for both political parties

to the point where they had to actually have a look at this

because it did concern young people.

We are generally not interested in having nuclear wars on our soil

or certainly being part of anybody's territory for that matter.

(AUDIENCE CHEERING)

(SHORT MEMORY PLAYING)

After last night I decided we’d make this barn come to life easily, you know.

♪ A smallish man Afghanistan

♪ A watch dog in a nervous land

♪ They're only there to Lend a hand, short memory

♪ The friendly fire And dusty smile

♪ Wake up in sweat In dead of night

♪ And in the tents New rifles, hey, short memory

♪ Short memory, must have a

♪ Short memory

♪ Short memory, must have a

♪ Short memory

♪ Short memory, must have a

♪ Short memory ♪

NARRATOR: An issue hungry media has given Garrett immense exposure.

RADIO HOST: Twenty-six minutes to 7:00

and my guest in the studio is Peter Garrett

from Midnight Oil and would be senator.

NARRATOR: And that interest isn’t confined to Australia.

This was an interview for a Japanese television network.

Just one of several overseas media outlets

interested in what the NDP has to say.

Australians need to understand that they have to get active.

They need to understand if they want to have some say

over what happens in the next 10 or 15 years.

They've got to get out and get involved.

NARRATOR: As Garrett threatens to upset the established

political parties, it's not surprising

that he has been attacked for being emotional, naive

and for being a rock star.

Do you think that because you are well known that people will vote for you

because it is a trendy thing, and they know who you are rather than the issue

that you're standing for?

PETER: Everyone's vote is worthwhile.

Whatever reason they give it.

It is the same as people coming to a Midnight Oil concert.

I wanted my audience, who I knew felt strongly about the issue

even if they weren't articulate about it particularly,

to have an opportunity to represent that feeling.

I do...

STEPHANIE: I remember a few mainstream media individuals

who I guess were stars at that time having slight hissy fits

like, "Do you know who I am?

"I want to speak to Peter Garrett."

And in my head I'm going, "Well you never really wanted to speak to him before."

GIFFORD: But it was a difficult time because the band wasn't the band anymore

because Pete was gonna be in federal politics

and wasn't able to say "fuck" anymore or anything like that, you know,

so it was all, it was all a bit strange.

I guess in a way I was a bit more, you know, distant from it.

I probably saw it all with a great deal of suspicion really.

I was sort of, "Well, okay. Pete's doing this thing

"and there's all these people buzzing around him who are politicians

"and who have got something to say.

What I'll do, I'll stick to the music and I will, as long as I can do that

that's my job in the band.

I will be okay, you know.

I mean, I didn't want to get into waters that were very unfamiliar to me.

NARRATOR: This week Garrett and his band, Midnight Oil

are performing seven sell out concerts at Sydney's Horden Pavilion,

to no fewer than 50,000 fans.

And everyone we spoke to said they would vote for the NDP.

Yay!

He would be a good politician if he got into it, I reckon.

INTERVIEWER: Will you be voting for him?

Yes.

I'd vote for any nuclear disarmament party,

whether it was with Peter Garrett or not.

I, you know, just don't like nuclear weapons at all.

It is good that someone is finally standing up for it.

INTERVIEWER: Do you think it's just a young people's issue?

Definitely not. It's everyone's issue. Our lives are at stake.

INTERVIEWER: So what sort of a politician do you think he'll make?

A very good politician.

INTERVIEWER: Are all your friends voting for him?

Yeah. I reckon.

I have even talked my grandmother into it.

(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)

You're not gonna get a song today

(AUDIENCE SIGHING)

but that's because I've spent the last two and a half weeks

talking to television and radio all the time

but I think it's a good idea for a surf club to get together

and for those people who haven't had the opportunity

to get work yet,

they've got to start thinking for themselves and working through...

ROB: I seem to remember Pete rushing in to rehearsals

and interviews or whatever, you know, with a huge folder of stuff under his arm

and doing what he had to do and then rushing out again.

I think the band was kind of worried at the pace he was going.

JIM: I mean, he was up in the morning

on Sunrise or whatever show it was in those days,

he was out there spruiking the NDP message.

And then he'd come in at night and play this cathartic rock show

and somehow be the one in the band who did the most work

and run around the most and be in a catatonic state

at the end of the night and then he'd get up and do it all again.

ALL: ♪ I can't get lost

♪ I can't get confused

♪ Something's misplaced

♪ Maybe for good

(SHIPYARDS OF NEW ZEALAND PLAYING)

♪ I can't get lost

♪ I can't get confused

♪ Something's misplaced

♪ Maybe for good

(AUDIENCE CHEERING)

PETER: ♪ I can't get lost

♪ I can't get lost Who's there?

♪ And something's misplaced

♪ Maybe for good

♪ Oh, I can't get lost

♪ I can't get lost ♪

(PLAYING RIFF)

(AUDIENCE CHEERING)

ROB: There was a lot of pressure within the band,

on the band and also we were playing at a peak,

we were experimenting, we were using harmonies

more than we ever had.

The music was complex, we brought out a lot of brass.

Jim was going from guitar to keys and back again.

There was a lot of energy but also quite a lot

of anxiety in the camp about how things would work out.

(GROANS)

PETER: I was trying to think through

what would happen if I did win.

How would we manage,

you know, the business of having a career with a band

and what would it mean for family life and so on.

ROB: Any more tea?

STEPHANIE: Ultimately, what Pete did impacted on the band.

Impacted on their careers. Impacted on the, um, album.

Impacted on the tour.

JIM: Pete wasn't so much hanging out with the band anymore.

I think he was sort of starting to...

Maybe he was questioning the whole thing about being a musician

and wanting to do more.

JEAN: It is not just the kids. Nor is it just the women.

It is right across the community,

right across the factions,

from working from the outside

and showing how strong the mood is

for an anti-nuclear Australia,

then we can really hurt them,

uh, in the only area they care about: their power.

JOURNALIST: Have you been able to use the Midnight Oil tour to do a bit of electioneering?

PETER: I am not confusing the two things.

I am a full time person working for a nuclear-free Australia

and I'll do that in whatever way I can.

If it means being a senator, then I will be a full-time senator.

ROB: Soon we realised the kind of spin

that politicians and some journalists would put on the situation,

but if they had done their homework,

they would have realised that this was a band that was talking political songs

from the very first one on the first album, Powderworks,

was clearly on the same topic.

That is, you know, the dangers of nukes and whatever.

'84, '85, we didn't suddenly jump into another boat

and start swimming a different way upstream.

PETER: Everybody expected it to crash and burn,

and us not to be able to run a campaign at the same time.

And then once the public opinion poll

showed that people were supportive,

then, ah, they started to take it a little bit more seriously,

but we were under attack the whole time.

(ROCK MUSIC PLAYING)

COLIN: I think it's possible that Peter Garrett

will be elected as well as me.

Being a senator in the balance of power situation

is a full time job, believe you me,

and I would like to see an under taking

from Peter Garrett here and now

that if he is elected to the senate,

he will resign, he will leave Midnight Oil

and he will drop his previous career

and he will devote himself full time to the job of being senator.

Now if he doesn't do that,

if he doesn't front the people to that extent,

then I think he should withdraw his nomination now.

(JIMMY SHARMAN'S BOXERS PLAYING)

♪ From the red dust North of Dalmore Downs

♪ Sharman’s tents Roll into town

♪ Twelve will face The auctioneer

♪ SHARMAN'S boxers Stand their ground

♪ Days are darker Than your nights

♪ But they won't be The first to fall

♪ Children broken From their dreams

♪ But they won't be The first to fall

♪ Fighting in the spotlight

♪ Eye's turn blacker Than their skin

♪ For Jimmy SHARMAN'S boxers It's no better if you win

♪ Standing in the darkness Lined up waiting for the bell

♪ The days are wasted drinking At the first and last hotel

♪ Why are we fighting for this? ♪ Why are you paying for this?

♪ You pay to see me fall Like shrapnel to the floor

♪ What is the reason for this? There is a reason for this

♪ What is the reason

♪ They keep coming back For more?

♪ Why are we fighting?

♪ Why

♪ Why are we fighting?

♪ What is the reason

♪ They keep coming back For more? ♪

(AUDIENCE CHEERING)

Damn my hand and it is so sore.

JIM: Everything in the world could be going wrong, you know.

I mean your lead singer could be going into politics,

but you would have this thing, you know,

where it was your thing and you really loved it,

and I still love playing with Rob and Martin.

Once we all get in a room,

it is just this thing that starts

and it is just like a beautiful thing,

because we just love the feeling of playing together.

It is a very special thing.

It's... it's... it's like family.

Just feels like family to me.

ALL: ♪ John Laws is On the air again

(MUFFLED CHATTER)

♪ Heavy traffic, jacarandas

♪ Eye in the sky And foot on ground

♪ See a million Sand speck'd ants

♪ In mortal combat Hand to hand ♪

PETER: I was well supported by the band

and well supported by my wife and family and my mates.

You know, it meant such a great deal to me

to know that people were supporting

what we were doing and what I was doing.

I just had to get myself there.

You know, I had to get on to that stage

and, uh, on some nights after a long day’s campaigning

it was actually quite fun, you know,

because it was such a relief,

and the energy of the crowd and the band was fantastic.

(LUCKY COUNTRY PLAYING)

♪ Speed and this ♪

NARRATOR: In a more exciting election,

Garrett and his colleagues could have got lost in the wash.

Instead, they could create history

and a generation removed from politics

looks set to be reawakened.

(AUDIENCE CLAPPING RHYTHMICALLY)

♪ No conversation as you go

♪ There's so much space The heat moves you

♪ Terracotta homes

♪ Backyard barbeque And eucalyptus smell

♪ It's fine on the clothesline

♪ It's fast food and slow life And red roof

♪ My silence

♪ Comic interruptions

♪ Surely there's some relief From atomic art and the fragile State of world events

♪ With clowns who love The kings and power

♪ And the mutant media babes. Wanking on dreams and fashions And toilet paper flowers

♪ Don't talk to me In this backyard It's clandestine, it's nuclear

(SINGS GIBBERISH)

ALL: ♪ Lucky country

♪ Where the geckos are paid To live in the sun

♪ Lucky country

♪ There’s a ribbon of road And a mile to spare

♪ And a mile, mile Mile, mile, mile

♪ Lucky country

♪ Lucky country

♪ Lucky country

♪ Lucky country ♪

PETER: There is a 10,

there is a nine,

there is an eight,

there is a seven.

AUDIENCE: Six,

five,

four,

three, two, one.

(ONLY THE STRONG PLAYING)

♪ When I'm locked in my room

♪ I just want to scream

♪ And I know what they mean

ALL: ♪ One more day Of eating and sleeping ♪

(AUDIENCE CHEERING)

JOURNALIST: Across town, Mr. Hawke chose

to vote at Coburg State School in his electorate of Wills.

But even in Hawke territory,

there was the Nuclear Disarmament Party.

The Nuclear Disarmament Party was polling something like 7.7% of the vote.

So that is some sort of a pointer

to what we might expect to see in the senate later on.

Yes, when the campaigning began

some members of the Liberal Party

believed that they had an outside chance

of gaining a senate majority

but that hope seems to have evaporated somewhat

with the arrival on the scene of the NDP.

JOURNALIST: The NDP was formed five months ago

and still appears as a loose coalition of anti-nuclear groups

who've consistently demonstrated against the mining of uranium

and the existence of foreign defence bases in Australia.

Certainly the government was worried enough during the campaign

about the slip of support to the NDP

to push a strong line that a vote for Garrett or Meltzer

was a wasted vote.

Let's cross over now to Geraldine and our politician’s panel.

GERALDINE: I am going to ask Senator Gareth Evans

whom I know has been watching the senate poll

obviously with great interest indeed

whether you really do think that Peter Garrett

can score as we have been assessing here in the panel

an extraordinary number of primary votes

to actually get up?

Well, it’s certainly looking that way, Geraldine.

Again we haven't seen any senate figures

come up but on the opinion polls...

PETER: I was announced at one stage

as having won the seat. (CHUCKLES NERVOUSLY)

Channel Ten announced we had won the seat.

MARK: The decision-making process

took such a long time,

uh, in which there were various moments

where we thought maybe he would get in

and other times where we went, "No, he probably won't get in."

That in the end it didn't really matter.

We were prepared for both outcomes.

And it was an interesting feeling,

because we didn't really know the result

until the New Year.

And people, things started to go back to normal.

We are in Australia. We’ve had an election.

(CHUCKLES) Let's get on with life.

(ROCK MUSIC PLAYING)

PETER: We sing a song for Christmas.

Um, what's that?

Oh, I have got it.

Santa voted for the NDP, did he? Okay.

STEPHANIE: There was a little bit of unease

about well what is next, you know?

What is going to be the outcome?

You know, if Pete gets in.

MARK: You see the band was prepared to lose everything.

They were as one in terms of the issue.

I mean my view was I wouldn't stop making music.

Um, but I wasn't quite sure how I'd keep making it.

Life isn't all depressing in politics.

There are times when you have just got to dance.

(POWER AND THE PASSION PLAYING)

ALL: ♪ People, Wasting away in paradise,

♪ Going backward, Once in a while

♪ Moving ahead Falling behind

♪ What do you believe What do you believe

♪ What do you believe is true?

♪ Nothing they say Makes a difference this way

♪ Nothing they say will do

♪ You take all the trouble that you can afford

♪ At least you won't have Time to be bored ♪

MARK: And when we came to the election,

the Liberal Party gave their preferences to the Labor Party,

and the Labor Party gave their preferences to the Liberals

as a way of keeping Pete

and the Nuclear Disarmament Party out of power.

(GUITAR RIFF PLAYING)

STEPHANIE: And then, at the end of it I remember going,

"How did he end up losing it?"

But there was also a feeling of relief,

and I am really, you know, sorry for Pete

but the other side of me, the music fan side of me

was like, "Phew," you know.

Good, we can continue on.

That was Pete’s first venture

into the sort of political arena.

I think he was glad that he didn't win it,

and we were all pretty relieved when he failed.

(LAUGHING) He didn't actually fail

but as far as to get the seat, yeah.

Pete didn't really want to be a senator.

You know, the issue was the most important thing for him.

He really wanted to see the issue on the front pages,

which we achieved fantastically.

Um, I think it would have been terrible

if he had gone to Canberra as a senator.

Um, but I think what he did

by having a red-hot go at it, um,

was achieve exactly what he and everyone else

in the nuclear disarmament movement really wanted,

which was to make the issue addressed

and taken more seriously.

NARRATOR: Like the Pied Piper,

Mr. Hawke led the children into a Parliament House committee room.

There was undoubtedly one common thread

running through the questions.

Why do you continue mining uranium

when we know it is used for nuclear bombs?

If there was a nuclear war what would happen to Australia itself?

Would you have a nuclear fallout shelter?

Mr. Hawke, you sell uranium overseas,

so how can you be sure that it will be used

in a manner that you want it to be used?

NARRATOR: Mr. Hawke told them about nuclear safe guards

and about Australia's efforts on nuclear disarmament.

NEWSREADER: Mr. Hawke had his problems

when he arrived for talks with Secretary of State George Schultz,

cooperate with the testing of the MX Missile

and be damned by his own party

or refuse and face criticism for letting down a major ally.

GEORGE SHULTZ: A decision has been made by the US

to conduct the MX test

without the use of Australian support arrangements.

BOB HAWKE: We as a government,

the people of Australia have played a part

uh, in the maintenance of systems to ensure

a world which, uh, is not threatened

with the nuclear holocaust.

NEWSREADER: The Prime Minister said Australia's cooperation with the United States

did not entail endorsement of the controversial

Star Wars weapons system.

He asked for and received an assurance

that the joint facilities in Australia would not be used

for anti satellite systems.

(THE DEAD HEART PLAYING)

(BAND VOCALISING)

♪ We don't serve your country Don't serve your king

♪ Know your custom Don't speak your tongue

♪ White man came, took everyone

(BAND VOCALISING)

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

ALL: ♪ We carry in our hearts The true country

♪ And that cannot be stolen

♪ We follow in the steps Of our ancestry

♪ And that cannot be broken

♪ We carry in our hearts The true country

GARY: And we are sort of coming up into you know 1988.

We have just come out of the 1970s

with the referendum for giving Aboriginals the right to vote

and so you have got this sort of book ending kind of period

where the Oils emerge

and out of that came this kind of music dynamic

between the whole western desert and top end.

STEPHANIE: I think it gave a bigger perspective

to what the band was doing.

Experiencing what so many people

in Australia will never experience first-hand.

ROB: That song opened up a whole new way

of approaching our sound,

and we gradually started to write songs with space.

Started to see the band in a different light.

(THE DEAD HEART CONTINUES PLAYING)

(BAND VOCALISING)

MICHAEL: I can still remember a night at the Zenith in France.

They started Beds Are Burning,

which has got a very distinctive beginning.

The French audience just took over Beds Are Burning

and sang the whole song. The band stopped singing.

But it was word perfect. It was clear.

The clarity was perfect,

and you couldn't help but be moved.

I can still remember the feeling.

I get a little bit tingly now thinking about it.

Just the memories of them jumping up and down

singing the words about Australia

written by Australians.

It was a proud moment.

JIM: Well, when the band finished it was a bit of a shock.

It was a struggle in some ways to adjust to the real world

because I think being in the band it is like,

a bit like adolescence or childhood.

When the band ends, that is when you actually have to grow up.

Because people are telling you where to go

and they are giving you the passports

and they are giving you the food, the hotel,

but after that ends

you have to kind of figure it out for yourself,

and, um, you know, I have actually enjoyed...

I enjoyed the band, but I enjoyed not having the band, too.

PETER: For me at least there was a sense

that we would go round in circles

if at least I didn't break out and do something else,

and I think everybody had thought about it at one point or another,

but I was the one that went.

(PLAYING GUITAR RIFF)

ROB: I understood the need for breaks,

because I think that was actually why we survived

for all that time was we did take breaks from each other.

So why not take a longer break.

You know, why do we have to call, quit, the whole thing quits.

So I didn't get it.

Because I, um,

I didn't feel that the band was ready

to say goodbye to anyone.

Including each other.

(PLAYING TIN LEGS & TIN MINES)

♪ I'm gonna wait For the moment to come

♪ I'm gonna wait Till we all stop from running

♪ Boxed in like candles Polar bear pride

♪ Turning to terror As the script is read out

♪ Unwilling actors

♪ Accomplished protractors Will shout

♪ I'm gonna wait Till we reach for the sky

♪ Tin legs and tin mines Anyone’s cry

♪ Cry in the hope That there'll be tomorrow

♪ Waiting around There must be a sound

♪ Time to start thinking And working it out

♪ Come with me now

♪ Try with me now When I'm laughing

♪ All right

♪ Oh, yeah

♪ Make sure you share

♪ Who's running the world today?

♪ Right now Yes, I'm alive

♪ You all know

♪ Who's running the world today?

♪ And I'm gonna wait Till they knock on my door

♪ I'm gonna wait Till they dig up

♪ The floorboards

♪ Poland in Disneyland Wet dream control

♪ Super computer The new contraband

♪ I'm gonna wait And I must make a stand

♪ Come with me now

♪ Try with me now one more time

♪ All right

♪ Oh, yeah

♪ Your brazen echelon

♪ Who's running the world today?

♪ Is he ever gonna start

♪ Making a wave?

♪ There's enough time

ALL: ♪ Who's running The world today?

♪ Hey, hey

(VOCALISING)

ALL: ♪ Who's running The world today? ♪

(AUDIENCE CHEERING)

(AUDIENCE CLAPPING RHYTHMICALLY)

(PLAYING BEDS ARE BURNING)

AUDIENCE: ♪ How can we dance When our earth is turning?

♪ How do we sleep While our beds are burning?

♪ How can we dance When our earth is turning?

♪ How do we sleep While our beds are burning?

♪ The time has come To say fair’s fair

♪ To pay the rent now To pay our share

♪ The time has come A fact’s a fact

♪ It belongs to them We’re going to give it back

♪ How can we dance When our earth is turning?

♪ How do we sleep While our beds are burning? ♪

(AUDIENCE CHEERING)

PETER: Thanks very much everybody.

It is time for us to say good night.

Be good to one another and take it easy on the way home.

We will see you in some disguise

in 1985.