The stench in this Parliament

The Stench in this Parliament is so great that I, as a citizen, cannot

stomach it any longer… Blind Freddy knows that crime is organised.
Why is it protected?
– John Hatton, 1994

The life-story of an honest politician. John Hatton AO was born in

poverty but by his indomitable tenacity served seven parliamentary
terms as Independent Member for South Coast NSW and brought about
the Wood Royal Commission which exposed endemic corruption in the
NSW Police Force.

They had tried to squash Hatton like a

worrisome fly over the Winchester murder.
Now it is his turn...

Mr Wran: ‘If you are a member of the Liberal Party, you are a crook; if
you are a member of any other party, you are a crook. The only person The STENCH
Parliament
who is not a crook is the honourable member for the South Coast
himself, this man as pure as the driven snow, this whited sepulchre
who is willing to make every possible accusation, however unfounded, in
however ungrounded, against anybody, anything, or any organization.’
– Hansard, NSW Legislative Assembly, 15/09/1982 p.759
this
The story of the Independent nobody who brought down a Premier

The Authorised Biography of John Hatton AO

John Hatton took on the Mafia, exposed the Underbelly of organized Ruth Richmond
crime and its links with corrupt police. Threatened with death, living in a
safe house John and Vera survived.

‘Secrecy is the tool of organized crime and corruption, disarmed only by

transparency in the bureaucracy and judicial system.’
– John Hatton, 2007

A$29.95 RRP
ISBN: 978-0-646-52183-1
RUTH
Ruth Richmond
RUTH RICHMOND RICHMOND
About the author
Ruth Richmond spent sixty seven years of her life, first
enjoying a country childhood in Mulwala NSW, then
training as an Infant Teacher in Melbourne. The following
years were devoted to the role of wife and business partner
to her husband Peter Richmond, becoming mother of
four children, Amanda, Jennifer, Stephen and Andrew,
grandmother to ten grandchildren, and great grandmother
to one. During this time she trained in various aspects of
the visual arts and taught scripture in schools.
At sixty seven, upon retirement from business in Vincentia,
she ignored the 80ks travel involved and enrolled full time
in the Master of Creative Arts program at University of
Wollongong. In 2003 she gained a Master of Creative Arts
with distinction. The work A Certain Man, written during
this time, received a Wild and Woolly commendation at
the Sydney Writers’ Festival in 2004.
When John Hatton offered her the task of writing his
biography another right hand turn led her into the labyrinth
of political research. Realising the project would require
skills she did not have she returned to the University of
Wollongong and was accepted full time into the Master of
Arts program. There she wrote the biography as a political
thesis titled The Little Bloke. After graduating in 2006 with
a Master of Arts Research Politics, she spent another three
years rewriting the thesis to form a biography for general
readership, titled The Stench in this Parliament…’.
At 73, with excellent health and a zest for life, her future is
full of promise and uncertainty.