When I found out that Peter Garrett had joined the ALP, I was in shock. I am so disappointed. If you had asked me which political party I believed he was most likely to join I would have said the Peter Garrett Party. Because surely such an opinionated man would not bow to one of the big guns? Obviously I was wrong. I have always admired Peter Garrett's strength of character and opinion. I have admired his forthrightness in expressing disdain at political decision making and the treatment of environmental matters by government.

Now apparently we are to believe that it was all for the sake of music. Today's Sun-Herald reports Mr Garrett as saying "The funny thing is that people are treating Midnight Oil like they were a policy unit of some kind. They are song lyrics, they are not political policies. Sometimes they were written by other members of the Oils, I've always sung them, but they're not political policies for 2004. They are rock'n'roll songs that were produced over a range of 25 years."

I suspect the whole Peter Garrett/Labour venture is an attempt to score the votes of a generation of oils-lovin folk, whose age would span the range of 20's to 50's. In light of the fact that Little Johnny has the backing of the US govt who are making not-so-veiled threats pertaining to the fact that our country's best bet in the battle against terrorism is to keep bush-arse-licking Howard in power, Labour most likely figures that desperate times call for desperate measures. Perhaps Garrett thinks it is worth flushing his former moral convictions down the toilet to assist in saving the country from yet another term under John Howard.

I don't know the reasoning behind it all, I just know that I am very, very disappointed. That someone who once held a nation of fans in awe of his anti-political anti-war pro-environmental stance can so completely and suddenly backtrack in the name of politics utterly astounds me. It is a world gone mad.