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      The T.V. reporters were quite open abou their view of the campaign.   One of them told me that he had spent the previous day following the Leader of the Opposition.   According to him, Coleman was a poor performer and was now in a hopeless position: Wran was the star -- he would "cream" Coleman.

      They regarded Cox with respect.   Transport had emerged as the most positive issue that the Government had going for it.   This was a reversal of the traditional political situation, where successive governments had been blamed for the inefficient public transport system.   The quiet, avuncular Cox was considered to be the architect of the winning transport policy.   He had been working methodically on it for years, when in opposition and now in government.

        The hydrofoil docked and Cox stepped across the unsteady gangplank as the rain started.   He was wearing a cheap plastic raincoat over his ministerial suit.   I greeted him briefly and we hurried under the roof of the wharf.   As the cameras took over, David Hurley cursed"   "Christ, I'm always telling him not to wear that coat."

        The minister was accompanied by his permanent head, the Chief Transport Officer, Allan Reiher.   A bland, affable bureaucrat, Reiher had been brought in by the Askin Government as a "Supremo" to sort out the transport mess.   His performance had not been

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