Overview
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has offered a state funeral for Graham Richardson, who died last weekend at 76.
- The Sydney Morning Herald editorial calls the offer an error of judgment that would reward alleged chicanery and devalue national honours.
- Richardson rose as a dominant NSW Labor numbers man, helping secure Neville Wran’s second term and backing leadership shifts from Bob Hawke to Paul Keating.
- His ministerial record includes securing protections for native forests and World Heritage status for the Daintree and Kakadu.
- Investigations by Kate McClymont recounted extensive corruption allegations that were never proven, and Richardson later left politics to work for media proprietors Kerry Packer and Rupert Murdoch.