Drinking in the midnight oil without a safety net

The great Australian rock band Midnight Oil is reuniting after not playing for seven years (except for a one-off benefit), for a series to aid victims of vast bushfires in Victoria.

Problem is, former lead singer Peter Garrett won't have time to rehearse because he's too busy as a member of the cabinet of Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

I was lucky enough to see Midnight Oil perform three times back when they were touring the US. We won't be lucky enough to see much of this reunion beyond the inevitable YouTube clips.

Peter Garrett tours Europe without Midnight Oil

His days of rock stardom are behind him, but Peter Garrett, former headman of Midnight Oil, has a new kind of notoriety. His first months as environmental and cultural minister in Australia have not always been smooth from dealing with sensitive dredging, to protecting aboriginal artifacts when the locals are more worried about the dingoes, along with banning plastic bags and raising concern for aging artists .

Now, Garrett is an environmental ambassador, and demonstrating to the larger world, that the US may be the last holdout in global cooperation.

Wouldn't it be great to have a cabinet member like Garrett in the next administration. Maybe Pete Seeger, or Neil Young, or Sheryl Crow or Patti Smith.

Okay, an excuse for some classic Oil

How do we sleep while our bags are burning?

Now if only we could have an environmental minister who would tackle huge problems with simple, practical, efficient solutions. And if only we had more rock and rollers who took their message more seriously.

Peter Garrett, former lead singer for Midnight Oil, and now Environmental Minister in Australia, is aiming to rid that continent of plastic bags.



Garrett and band playing a protest in front of Exxon headquarters in Manhattan after the Exxon Valdez debacle.

My country right or wrong?

(Update below)

It appears as if Austrailian MP Peter Garrett, and former Midnight Oiler, has gotten his wish. Australians have shed their Bush lap-dog, pro-war, anti-environmental Prime Minister John Howard, and have elected Kevin Rudd, along with enough seats in Parliament to guarantee a Labor controlled government which will be anti-war, pro-environment and less likely to try to make the American president happy.

UPDATE: There is some speculation that Garrett may lose his current seat on the cabinet for environmental, arts and heritage affairs. Neither he, nor Rudd were willing to speculate for the press.

Beds are Burning

Imagine Peter Garrett as your Senator.

Won't happen mate. He's Australian, and he's already an MP, and the Labor Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment, Heritage and the Arts. He's not running at the moment, but he's campaigning for the Labor candidate for Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd. We don' t have anyone in our federal government quite like Garrett. Pity.




Maybe, like me, you remember him fondly as the charismatic lead singer for Midnight Oil. They managed to score a top ten hit that had people singing and dancing about the environment without always knowing it. Clever lads.