Paddy 'UNREPENTANT' McGuinness

His rebellious nature was only on the intellectual plane - I cannot remember his ever being caned for skylarking and other mischief boys get up to. In fact I don’t think I have ever seen him running. Later he certainly enjoyed to the full the liberation that the university gave; this seemed to consist mainly of the freedom to drink liberally. I do not recall his being conscripted for military service as most of us were; he was probably deemed a security risk.

He was never taken in by the Communist Party - he immediately saw through their demonic desire to have and wield absolute power. He never fell for their so-called democratic centralism; if anything he was more an anarchist.

In fact one of his early projects was to dilute the influence of the Bolsheviks, as he sometimes called them. They rigidly controlled the university’s Labour Club, and Paddy decided to inflect a monumental defeat on them. He persuaded a number of us to join, and when the Bolsheviks rammed through some predetermined motion, he led a walk out. This was followed by the immediate formation of a larger and more significant ALP Club.

He gravitated, as free thinkers did, to the pubs where the “push” drank. And soon he was off to Europe, long before living overseas became a mandatory stage in life.

Paddy’s years overseas and his return are well documented: suffice to say he continued his personal quest for the truth. His output was extraordinary, and that I think was a factor in causing those misguided journalists at The Age to go on strike when he was appointed there.

It wasn’t only that he was prolific. It was the range of subjects and the complete and total independence of his mind when he addressed them.

At one point he even took up film criticism; the quality of his reviews was superb. Then he did some legal study, and soon mastered the fundamentals of the law. He gave lectures for me in International Economic Law at one stage; they were formidable.

Although he was a strong republican, I was gratified that he immediately saw the flaws in the 1999 model. His belief in effective checks and balances prevailed over the republicanism ingrained in him almost from birth.

Not long ago he refused to publish an article in Quadrant correcting an erroneous reference to King Edward VIII. “You bloody monarchists are all obsessed,” he shouted down the line to the author. But he relented. Perhaps he remembered Milton on truth: “Let her and falsehood grapple; who ever knew Truth put to worse in a free and open encounter.”

He was not only prepared to open Quadrant to such encounters; he welcomed them.

He never once operated as a conservative censor. He was always open to different views. His only condition was that they should be put eloquently and with intelligence.

I last heard him speak at a dinner to discuss WorkChoices, defended that evening by Tony Abbott. Paddy could not have been more scathing about the legislation, and with all true federalists, disappointed that the High Court upheld it.