Geoff Gallop has just resigned due to clinical depression.
More info when it comes to hand…
Update: Premier’s Press Release below the fold.
More from Kim Beazley
Update 3:
So far, caucus has been very well-behaved, in public at least. Alan Carpenter looks the favourite to be the Premier, but a more unpredictable and possibly ugly battle for the safe Labor seat of Victoria Park looks imminent.
Will Sue Ellery take another shot at a lower house spot after being defeated in her bid for the seat of Bassendean?
Go on, make your predictions and suggestions below.
Update 4:
Another resignation today, Environment Minister Judy Edwards, for personal reasons. It seems that more and more politicians are discovering that there’s much more to life than work. Does it reflect the current debate about work/life balance? Will it lead to a change in politics?
I doubt it.
All this will lead to is more factional bickering and the promotion of MPs of average ability and a not a lot of passion for anything but power.
Statement from the Premier of Western Australia.
It is my difficult duty to inform you today that I am currently being treated for depression.
Living with depression is a very debilitating experience, which affects different people in different ways.
It has certainly affected many aspects of my life. So much so, that I sought expert help last week.
My doctors advised me that with treatment, time and rest this illness is very curable.
However, I cannot be certain how long I will need. So in the interests of my health and my family I have decided to rethink my career.
My commitment to politics has always been 100 per cent plus. I now need that time to restore may health and well-being.
Therefore I am announcing today my intention to resign as Premier of Western Australia and Member for Victoria Park in the State Parliament.
It has been an enormous privilege and pleasure to serve this State and witness the wonderful progress that is being made.
I would like to thank the WA public for bestowing on me the immense responsibility and thrill of leading this great State for just under five years; and my colleagues for giving me the honour of leading the WA Labor Party for the best part of 10 years.
I would particularly like to thank the residents of Victoria Park for the support they have given me for nearly 20 years.
In fact, what has made this announcement all the more difficult today is that I love being Premier, I love the work, I love the State and I love its people.
In order to do the job, you need the support of your staff, the Cabinet and your Parliamentary colleagues. They have all been magnificent and I will always cherish the times I have spent with them working on ideas for a better future.
Even though change of the sort I announce today will bring its challenges and will be disruptive in the very short term, I am confident that the Government will continue its excellent work.
The State Parliamentary Labor Party at its earliest possible convenience will decide my successor. In the meantime, Eric Ripper has kindly cancelled his scheduled leave to continue to act as Premier.
I hope you will appreciate the pressure my current condition has placed on my family, who have been a tower of strength and a source of great support.
I now need the space required to start the process of full recovery and for this reason I will not be taking questions nor doing any further media interviews.
I thank you for your co-operation and I wish you all well for the future.
Thanks Anna. A shock and a terrible shame. I know Geoff. Always liked him at the personal level. I wouldn’t have picked him as a depressive. I always remember him with a big smile, which combined with his slick black hair to sort of make him look a little like Reggie in old Archie comics. Glad he got help and hope he gets well soon. Gees, seems there’s a lot of this going around these days!
Wow, that’s big news!
I have every sympathy for Dr Gallop but wander what sort of message his decision sends regarding depression and the ability to work. I hope Andrew Bartlett won’t mind my quoting him in this context:
Conversely, as with Steve Rogers’ sad and untimely death, it does prove that depression can strike people no matter how successful they are, and should hopefully improve community awareness of what can be a debilitating illness.
I remember seeing a study recently that showed that people who take time off work because of depression may actually exacerbate their condition. However, politics would have to be one of the most stressful occupations around.
I think Brogden has served as a lesson to MPs about how damaging the job can be.
It is very sad - I like him a lot, too.
I’m not looking forward to the search for a replacement, either…
Especially when it involves the WA Branch of the ALP!
I empathise totally having suffered from major depression myself. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.
Best of luck to him. It’s true that people suffering depression can work as effectively as anyone else, but it also takes a strong character to admit that sometimes work is part of the problem.
We are more than our jobs.
Well said, Liam.
A fairly shocking development. We’ve had a hat-trick of major breakdowns in the last year or so (Latham, Brogden, Gallop), and serious questions need to be asked about the demands placed on figures in public life.
Both Churchill and Lincoln suffered from Depression and still were able to do their jobs well.
Yeah, I guess representing a party supposedly trying to promote social equity in the face of corporate/capitalist demands in return for some crumbs of media support must be very depressing…
Not sure what your point is, BBEP. There’s nothing in the press release or anywhere else to indicate that the issue was whether or not Gallop could continue to do his job well. The issue was staying alive and healthy. (Also, unlike Churchill and Lincoln — since whose time the world has, erm, changed rather a lot — he wasn’t in the middle of a war.)
Your post implies, even if you didn’t mean it to, that you think there is somehow something reprehensible in Gallop’s choice to resign instead of stubbornly soldiering on. Is this really what you think?
Nothing much to read into it.
both Churchill and Lincoln had very stressful jobs.
They could cope with Depression.
Geoff can’t.
That is the way of the world
So did Anthony Eden, and look how he ended up!
I’d say that undertaking treatment and doing the necessary life adjustments is an excellent step toward “coping” with clinical depression, and one that takes considerable courage - it could not be easy to walk away from a successful career in politics.
My understanding is that Abraham Lincoln’s depression was rather mild - more in line with what I would take to be a ‘depressive’ personality in the sense Melanie Klein meant, ie sensitive and empathetic and more than usually aware of the sufferings of other people, but still quite able to function at a high level, and indeed temperamentally inclined towards reparative gestures. People with mild psychological disorders often turn their symptoms to practical use. Not to be confused with so-called “coping� with a life-threatening illness.
I wish Dr Gallop the best, he is a good man inspite of what CS says (joke).
How contagious the depression actually is depends very much on who the successor is. If it’s Liliana, expect an epidemic.
Depression occurs more to introverts.
No Lincoln’s was pretty bad.
of course Geoff won the Gallup poll!
Taking responsibility for your health should always be applauded. There is such a lack of understanding about depression in our culture. For a man of such position and status to stand up and say so in public is extraordinary. Lets hope this helps other men who have felt that they have no choice other than to “soldier on”. There is always another way in which to live your life.
I am taking responsibility for my health and wish all those underachieving labo(u)r premiers quit.
Will I be understood and applauded?
Definitely. My brother happened to speak to Brogden’s father last week and while he said that Brogden was slowing recovering, the best thing he will ever do is to never have anything to do with politics again.
I think the public ‘vision’ of people in the limelight who do appear to be ‘coping’ will do wonders for the recognition of depression and mental illness as illnesses that need greater understanding and funding.
Not to nitpick but cs’ statement that
is a very common viewpoint - people who are depressed do put on a ‘face’ and these public figures are the first step into recognising the need for more funding and understanding of depression.
Homer, you’re missing the point, and being a bit patronising. The way of the world, as you put it, is that people are made to think they have to ‘cope’ with stress and illness at the same time, and that’s not helpful. If someone can work through depression, they should. If they feel—or are advised by their doctor—that their job is part of the cause, some time out is the best thing.
I happen to agree with every sentence of Currency Lad’s post on the matter:
Homer
They could cope with Depression.
Geoff can’t.
That is the way of the world
Where’s that Christian spirit you usually show. I would have liked to see the guy slapped over the head at the polls but not go out like this. Kind of sad at a human level. He wasn’t a bad kind of lefty either.
look fellas it ain’t a criticism but a fact of life.
some people cope with depression and some can’t.
It is surprising the people who do get depressed and can’t cope at least to me.
It is far more common than most believe although few have to resign from work and try to resolve it.
This merely shows how bad Gallup has it and how he can’t cope with it.
Some people cope with sadness, others get clinical depression. Your lack of understanding, Homer, shows that you’ve never suffered from depression - so you are very lucky. Also, few people have jobs as stressful and all-consuming as being the Premier of a state.
Congratulations Anna you have got almost everything wrong!
There is a need to differentiate between clinical depression and manic depression now known as bi-polar disorder.
There’s a good post by Andrew Bartlett on pollies and depression.
Homer’s compassion and understanding for what was probably a very difficult decision is, as usual, outstanding.
As a one-time sufferer of clinical depression — and I know exactly what it is, thanks — I think Gallop made the right decision. Individuals vary greatly and his resignation isn’t a sign of not being able to cope, it’s a sign of him putting priorities on something beyond his job as Liam said.
Personally, I applaud him for admitting it — especially given the macho culture of Australian men, who don’t generally look after either their physical or mental well-being.
(Churchill was also a bit of an alky, wasn’t he? And the latest theory is that Lincoln was gay.)
congratulations Kate on finding a criticism where there is none.
you might be told the post-modernist club for being so judgemental.
Just for the record I have had a few friends who have suffered from clinical depression.
some could cope some couldn’t.
Homer, don’t be disingenous.
Would you take it as a criticism if you were told you ‘couldn’t cope’ if you resigned your job due to depression?
Get it through your head. He’s resigning in order to cope.
[cough]
…disingenuous…
Some can cope with a bloke publicly coping with depression, and some, or at least one, it seems, can’t.
Liam.
as you get older you will find you have friends who suffer from depression. some will cope some won’t.
some will have to resign to cope with it because they can’t cope with it at work.
if you thought it was a criticism then you haven’t had friends who have suffered from depression.
Homer, are you really being disingenuous? I think the point we’re all trying to make is that it isn’t a question of ‘coping’ or ‘not coping’ — that’s a word that implies either success or failure, and Gallup’s situation just is not an issue of success and failure. You need a different word. To say he ‘isn’t coping’ is kind of meaningless. When Jim Bacon resigned, did you think ‘Poor chap, just can’t cope with cancer’? I bet you ten bucks you didn’t.
Liam.
as you get older you will find you start to write in semi-coherent sentences. you will begin to patronise those younger than you. some will cope. some won’t.
Also - in breaking news, another resignation. Environment Minister Judy Edwards.
Fun times ahead for WA Labor…
you will find my ever so judgemental but sooo post-modernist friends one on the main probably major reasons why most people can’t cope at work is that they cannot make a decision.
This is a direct result of clinical depression.
but just remember don’t ever say they can’t cope!
Trackback:
http://paulwatson.blogspot.com/2006/01/geoff-gallop-depression-and-taking.html
Homer, just because I happen to comment under my own name doesn’t mean you can make assumptions about me or my friends. Please don’t patronise people like that, it’s rude.
As for “judgemental”… Who’s the one making up reasons for why or why not people suffering depression can or can’t work? All we’re trying to tell you is that ‘coping’ is a loaded term which expresses things you probably don’t mean.
Liam,
people who cannot make decisions, which is part of the problem of people who suffer from clinical depression, are people who cannot cope.
This isn’t a criticism it is a fact of life.
Glad that’s all sorted out.
Meanwhile, any tips surfacing on the new premier?
Wow, this was shocking news to receive by SMS yesterday evening! Having been out of the loop on Aus goings-on it was a real surprise. The WA we return to will be very different.
Geoff Gallop was a good premier and more importantly a decent man who I’m pleased is doing what he thinks is in the best interests of his health and his family. Depression affects different people in different ways, and as Liam said above, it takes a strong person to decide to give away a successful political career.
Re: a replacement. My first reaction (albeit from the other side of the world and completely out of the loop) was Alan Carpenter, and Peter van Onselen agrees.
I’ve added a few updates to the post, cs. I’m with Rob - it looks certain to Alan Carpenter. About the only thing his opponents seem to have come up with so far was a wierd comment in The West today about him not being convinced about daylight savings! Great to see a focus on the big issues!
His main opponent would be Jim McGinty, Attorney General and Health Minister, but as a “factional powerbroker” (LHMU) he has as many enemies as friends, so I think Carpenter will be seen as a less controversial and divisive choice. He’s not in a faction.
It’s the battle for the Premier’s old safe seat that looks to be the bigger fight.
Anna - a report today suggests that McGinty will only seek the top job if he can have it by “consensus” and without a ballot.
Tks Anna and Rob (and I was wondering where Jimmy McGinty was in all this).
From what I’ve heard, that senior member is Brian Burke, which would explain why he’s practically conceding already!
Another reason why Jim McGinty won’t be elected is the fact that he is related by Marriage to Bob Kucera and the Libs will use that to attack him over the “shares affair”
To clarify my post, I should add that the “marriage” link is that Jim’s daughet married Bob’s son (or is it the other way around) Rob will confirm it
Jim McGinty has withdrawn from the race, and given his support to Alan Carpenter: http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200601/s1552164.htm
Looks like he’s certain to be Premier now.
Michelle Roberts is almost certain not to get in, following her performance yesterday, plus she carrys considerable baggage from when she was Justice Minister and the “Great Escape”.