Beware the politican in a brand new hat and boots

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Filed under: Election 2010, Politics, Rural Australia

36 comments

In an election year many politicians including the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader will travel the nation hoping to impress the electorate and attract votes.

Click your heels together and repeat after me - I am really a city slicker

They will discover that Australia is divided into two groups - those in the bush who wear elastic sided boots as standard acceptable attire and those who assume they are missing out on something typically Australian and promptly buy a pair.

The Prime Minister Kevin Rudd wears boots all the time no matter whether the occasion is formal or informal. The Opposition Leader Tony Abbott wears them when dressed in jeans and casual shirt but he did not wear them when temporarily lost at Fossil Creek. Bill Clinton has two pairs and both George Bush and Arnold Schwarzenegger each received a pair as a present from John Howard during visits.

RM Williams started making elastic sided boots as tough and durable footwear for people in the bush in the 1930s following a chance meeting with an itinerant saddler named Dollar Mick. While the boots proved very popular with the bushies they have become trendy internationally and are exported as far as Japan and Europe.

The boots were made for outback conditions and enabled Australians to cope with the harsh Australian climate. They are now “must haves” not only for people from the bush but also for a long diverse list of celebrity shoppers including political leaders, actors, sportsmen and entertainers.

At the time of RM William’s death in 2003 both the Prime Minister John Howard and Queensland Premier Peter Beattie said that the bootmaker was an Australian icon. RM Williams lived a life that legends are made of and will be remembered for contributing to our unique Australian identity. By wearing black elastic sided boots perhaps Rudd and Abbott are also dreaming of icon status.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was pictured wearing his black boots while meeting President Barrack Obama at the G20 Summit in London in March 2009. After publicly expressing his annoyance at being downgraded to second tier status at the Summit he was greeted with a wave of ridicule by British media and dubbed as a boot wearing geek from Down Under.

Bush folk hold a cynical view of people who wear a wide brimmed hat and RM Williams gear hoping to look like a rural landowner and the cynicism surges if the boots are black and not tan. Such an outfit epitomises a city slicker most probably a journalist, a lawyer, a politician or public servant arriving to do business in rural areas. Bush folk know such arrivals have most likely never dirtied their hands on a hard-to-start tractor or on an obstinate generator, let alone ridden a horse.

How do I know this? I was a senior public servant who foolishly wore a wide brimmed hat and black boots and travelled to rural areas. I received a public reprimand on my manner of dress from an old bushie in the main street of Charleville on my first visit. Prime Minister Rudd and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott please heed this warning - do not pretend to be someone that you are not!

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36 comments

Show oldest | newest first

- acker says:
  
  06:41am | 09/03/10
  
  Laughing side boots are a lot easier to get on and off and don’t tend to cause discomfort across the top of the foot where the lace up shoes toungue is. I’ve worn them for years and reccomend them. My personal favorites are Redbacks with the shock proof souls.
  
  Reply
- dave says:
  
  07:10am | 09/03/10
  
  Great article. Loved it. Thanks Ian, for this wonderfully simple insight into the shallow and hypocritical acts of “seeming” engaged in not just by pollies, but wanna-be’s of all stripes. What I don’t quite get is this, however - why do pollies and these city slicker latte-sippers desire to emulate the country folk in ‘appearance’? After all, in general they sure don’t seem to rate bushies as equals, but as somehow “less” than they and their fellow concrete jungle dwellers. Perfect example, look at how Barnaby Joyce is ridiculed as an economic fool, even though he’s actually far better educated and qualified to oversee Australia’s finances than the entire Labor “economic” team, combined. Country folk are painted as backward and ignorant, yet the latte-sippers want to LOOK like them when the occasion calls for a dispay of a country ‘image’?! Superficial, hypocritical w*nkers, sad to say. No wonder they need to be told that you’re not fair dinkum if you wear black boots. Dead right Ian, it’s tan only.
  
  Reply
Coxy says:

11:07am | 09/03/10

Yeah well said Dave. I’m a farmer and do own a pair of RMs, but haven’t worn them for years since all the trendys started wearing them. It just didn’t feel right as I am anything but trendy. I considered burning them when I found out K Rudd wore them though. As for the Akubra thing just remember the old saying that we used to live by at ag college, and was very reliable- ‘the bigger the hat, the smaller the farm’
persephone says:

11:22am | 09/03/10

Coxy

He also wears shirts, ties and underwear.

It’s going to be a big bonfire!
matt (a farm boy...) says:

12:20pm | 09/03/10

Coxy,
Glad to see you’re so committed to your principles that you’ll stop supporting Australian businesses (let alone stop being comfortable) simply because the Prime Minister wears them. (And don’t be a fool and call him KRudd like it’s a term of abuse. Whatever else he’s earned the title, so respect that, if not the man.)
With that sort of logic, I reckon you’ve been in the shed with the superphosphate again.
Coxy says:

01:38pm | 09/03/10

Persephone. Who said I wear underwear, let alone a tie? You might have me on the shirt though.
persephone says:

01:46pm | 09/03/10

I assumed no tie, but no underwear??

Don’t you get itchy? Isn’t there a risk of hairs getting caught in the zipper?
Coxy says:

02:02pm | 09/03/10

Persephone. Nothing like freedom my friend.

Matt, what do you mean he’s earned the name KRudd? How does someone earn a nickname which is an abrieviation of their name? And how does using it show lack of respect? Does that mean I’ve earned the name Coxy and my mates don’t respect me because they call me that? I’m confused. Fair enough if his nickname was Big Balls or something, then he would have earned it. And you think I’ve been inhaling super.

Anyway I’d better go and do some work, its stop raining now. I’ll put my Aussie Blunnies on and get into it. Don’t think Kevin’s (happy matt?) got into Blunnies yet.
Robert Smissen of Rural SA says:

02:32pm | 09/03/10

Coxy I’m with you, I stopped wearing Driza-bone for the same reason I didn’t want to be embarrassed by people thinking I was some try hard latte drinking tosser
- persephone says:
  
  07:27am | 09/03/10
  
  I always liked the way Howard slapped on an Akubra every time he ventured out of Sydney’s suburban fringe.
  
  Patrick Cook once wrote that it made him look like ‘a small ornamental shrub’.
  
  But the funniest one I saw was a National party Senator, who wore a leather Drizabone.
  
  The locals here cacked themselves.
  
  Reply
Tails says:

02:48pm | 09/03/10

What about the bullet proof vest? You’ve got to have one of those too remember.
William Crane says:

09:55pm | 09/03/10

From memory the style of Akubra that he wore was for the women, I think it’s still on their website. No joke, the running story is that Akubra contacted him and offered to replace it, but he declined… Or so the story from a forward Howard staffer goes…
- Daniel says:
  
  07:32am | 09/03/10
  
  Mps that get about in those old skool Aussie brands really are taking the p***. Especially when they are selling out Australia from underneath us.
  
  Reply
- acker says:
  
  08:04am | 09/03/10
  
  By the way people in the bush do not wear black boots.
  
  I suggest you buy Tan or Chestnut “RM’s” if you want to look the part.
  
  Reply
- John A Neve says:
  
  08:06am | 09/03/10
  
  Shame on you all, fancy taking the p*** out of your elected leaders!! They are doing their best, at least they are trying to look the part. Part of what you ask? Good question, to which I don’t have an answer.
  
  But come on give our pollies a fair go, look what they do for us. Do you have to wear a suite every day? Or sit listening to some idot waffling on? Our kissing babies? Being asked to drink weak tea and eat heavy scones, while saying how nice they are?
  
  All this for only $130,000 per year plus perks.
  
  Would you do it?
  
  Reply
Rover says:

12:36pm | 09/03/10

Wearing a suite could be quite difficult, unless it’s a small lounge suite.
- AFR says:
  
  09:14am | 09/03/10
  
  The irony is i don’t know a single farmer who wears RM Williams boots for the simple reason that, at $400 a pop, they can’t afford them!
  
  Reply
- DT says:
  
  09:36am | 09/03/10
  
  I think that the prime minister’s black R M Williams suit him, especially the high heels and extra lift soles. More use of an Akubra hat might also improve his image, that hair needs more than wige glue to keep it in check.
  
  Reply
persephone says:

10:07am | 09/03/10

I always thought Howard blacking up his eyebrows made him look ridiculous, too.
- Max says:
  
  09:36am | 09/03/10
  
  I wear black boots. It’s fairly simple; thousands of Australians go to work every day in areas with documented hazards. We wear steel capped boots because we have to, but we’re often also expected to wear business shirts and slacks. Are you suggesting we’re try hard idiots because we don’t want to wear a long sleave business shirts, black slacks and tan boots?
  
  Elastic sided boots are not purely the domain of farmers.
  
  Reply
Kim says:

02:33pm | 09/03/10

Come on Max, you know that you only have to wear the steel capped boots when you’re in the documented hazard zones, along with the goggles, hard hats, greaves, gloves etc.

And, I have yet to see a pair of steelcaps with elastic sides. The steelcap boots have to be totally enclosed leather.
- Barry says:
  
  09:54am | 09/03/10
  
  John - great comment. A pollie taking crap day in day out for $130k - forget it. Sack half of them and increase there pay so we get some quality.
  AFR - I don’t know where you farm but it can’t be in rural NSW. Farmers don’t wear RM’s - are you kidding..??? They don’t wear them day to day - Redbacks and the like have replaced that function. But every farmer has a pair stashed in his cupboard and only brings them out for special occasions, what else goes with his moleskins and a blue shirt..?
  
  Reply
- Seano says:
  
  10:59am | 09/03/10
  
  “The Prime Minister Kevin Rudd wears boots all the time no matter whether the occasion is formal or informal.”
  
  So do I.
  
  Reply
- luke09 says:
  
  12:01pm | 09/03/10
  
  The way Kevin Rudd is failing our country(worst PM ever), it wouldn’t suprise me Kevin Rudd wear boots all the time because he doesn’t know how to tie his own shoe laces.
  
  Reply
Moggy says:

12:14pm | 09/03/10

Because of this article Rudd will have to start wearing lace ups otherwise we’ll all be looking at his feet! Only thing is he’ll have to get his missus to tie the friggin’ laces!
John A Neve says:

12:25pm | 09/03/10

Luke09,

How can you possibly say “worst PM ever”, are you that old?

It wouldn’t surprise me if you wore thongs all the time, because you wouldn’t know how to put shoes on.

Believe me Luke09, the whole world does not love smart asses.
Lana says:

12:57pm | 09/03/10

Hey John A Neve…are you a card holding member of the ALP?? I voted for Rudd…but anybody who can defend his inability to do anything except talk talk talk talk & get his photo taken, has to be a one eyed ALP member. If we were all swinging voters I believe that our pollies would try a lot harder to do the job they were elected to do. And as for the immense waste of money on abanoned schemes in Canberra, it’s something that some bloodhound journalsit needs to look into.
John A Neve says:

01:19pm | 09/03/10

Lana,

What a strange comment, where have I “defended” any one?
As for waste, tell me a government that hasn’t wasted money?
Robert Smissen of Rural SA says:

02:37pm | 09/03/10

He could always get his butler or his son’s nanny to tie them for him, i understand you need an IQ of at least 10 to tie shoe laces. NEWS FLASH! ! I just realized why so many city dwellers wear thongs! !
Tom says:

02:44pm | 09/03/10

Lana: ” I voted for Rudd…”

That claim is always the surest sign of a Liberal party stooge.
- luke09 says:
  
  12:50pm | 09/03/10
  
  John A, what are thongs, more importantly what are shoes?
  
  Reply
John A Neve says:

01:00pm | 09/03/10

Luke09,

Sorry I cannot help you, I’m lousy at drawing pictures.
luke09 says:

01:39pm | 09/03/10

John A, thanks for trying, but you need not worry, I just googled ‘shoes’ on the internet. What a brilliant idea.
John A Neve says:

01:45pm | 09/03/10

Luke09,

I am pleased for you, it just shows, we never stop learning.
- Freetime says:
  
  08:32pm | 09/03/10
  
  1. Rudd spent his early years (11) on a farm
  2. He rides horses (occasionally)
  
  All of which is completely irrelevant to whether or not anyone chooses to wear riding boots, but it does highlight how facile this article is.
  
  And if Coxy is a real farmer, I’m the prime minister.
  
  Reply
- Robbo says:
  
  04:30pm | 30/03/10
  
  “And, I have yet to see a pair of steelcaps with elastic sides. The steelcap boots have to be totally enclosed leather. “
  
  Redback steelcap and elastic side, Kim. On my plates of meat at the moment.
  
  Robbo
  
  Reply