Series 02: Alan Gibson Stewart papers, 1987-1989 - Page 687
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you a PhD -- two out of the three examiners recommended against it."
"Is there anything that I can do?"
"Get drunk!"
First, I had to go to down to Manly for the meeting. A dozen local people discussed community welfare problems for two hours. I sat quietly and pretended to be lsitening, not able to tell them of the latest crisis in my own life. During the meeting there was a cryptic phone call from Barry Fox -- he had heard the bad news, and he would see me at home.
Afterwards, when the meeting was over and I had wearily returned home, Barry and Marilyn arrived. They had driven across the city from Kensington, with some bottles of good red wine. We drank and talked late into the night.
The examiners had felt that although the my thesis had been "well presented", the amount of research carried out had been insufficient. The original design of the project had included a variety of time-consuming field work. A great deal of background reading was alos required.
Once I had unexpectedly become an MP, there was simply not enough time to be fully involved in both science and politics.