In the first of an occasional series of Australian Story specials, Midnight Oil frontman Peter Garrett sits down for an intimate and wide-ranging conversation with Leigh Sales.
The activist, singer and former politician, who turned 70 last year, looks back over the highs and lows and of a life well lived.
“I’ve served in high office, I’ve been in an amazing band,” he says. “I got kissed on the arse by that rainbow, no question. Occasionally I’ve been booted as well.”
He talks about losing both his parents when he was young and how that instilled in him a desire to always keep moving forward and creating.
“Once stuff’s happened, you can’t change that”
he says.
“There’s nothing that I think about the past that’s going to change what happened in the past. So, I really do tend to concentrate on the mo.”
Garrett looks back with pride on his decades with Midnight Oil, explaining the unique chemistry that made them one of the biggest bands in the world, embraced by the mainstream while sticking uncompromisingly to their political beliefs.
“We were just ferociously determined to prove to ourselves that what we were doing had some worth and some value, and that it was OK to sing about politics, which is part of life.”
“And if the record company didn’t like it, well, too bad.”
He also talks about the importance of family and especially his relationship with his wife of nearly 40 years, Doris.
“She’s more important than anyone could know;” he says of the woman who has fiercely guarded her privacy while her husband became a household name, first as a musician and then as a federal politician.
With a second solo album, The True North, released last week, Garrett shows no sign of slowing down.
“I don’t really analyse myself much. I’m not very introverted and I don’t spend a lot of time gazing at my navel. I just go off and do.”
To watch previous episodes of Australian Story on ABC iview, watch here: https://iview.abc.net.au/show/australian-story
Producers: Caitlin Shea and Greg Hassall
