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Speaker 1: Five Double A Knights with Matthew Pantalas talking about the

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Speaker 1: sad passing of Leon Weiner today or over the weekend,

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Speaker 1: but the news breaking today. A man who dealt with

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Speaker 1: them often was the federal MP for the seat of

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Speaker 1: Adelaide these days. Steve Georgianas who is on the line, Steve,

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Speaker 1: good evening, Thanks for your time.

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Speaker 2: Good evening, Matthew.

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Speaker 1: It is a sad loss.

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Speaker 2: It certainly is heard the sad news today and it's

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Speaker 2: a real loss. Obviously, we all knew Leon. There's not

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Speaker 2: a single politician in Australia I think that hadn't had

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Speaker 2: a discussion with him about something. But he was obviously

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Speaker 2: he lived what his work was. It wasn't just worked

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Speaker 2: to Leon, it was his life. When I say it

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Speaker 2: was his life. He was so passionate about helping people

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Speaker 2: and it was truly to me. I think he was

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Speaker 2: the voice of South Australia. When South Australians couldn't have

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Speaker 2: their voice heard, he would ensure that their voice was heard.

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Speaker 2: And that's the role that Leon paid in our not

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Speaker 2: just the political system, but ensuring that those that were

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Speaker 2: perhaps downtrodden people that for whatever reason weren't being looked after.

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Speaker 2: Leon would ensure that their voice and their issue was

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Speaker 2: brought to the top of the list. And many times

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Speaker 2: he would ring me and talk to me about people

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Speaker 2: that needed help and assistance. So this is another side

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Speaker 2: that a lot of people didn't see the work that

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Speaker 2: he did off here as well, trying to help people.

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Speaker 1: And he would ring you about people who weren't even

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Speaker 1: constituents that you then helped, and that's just amazing in itself.

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Speaker 2: Correct. I would say to Leon, they're not you should

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Speaker 2: refer him to their member of Parliament and yes, but

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Speaker 2: I know if you take it on, it will happen,

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Speaker 2: you'll do something about it. So I was quite happy

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Speaker 2: to do it and more than happy to do it.

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Speaker 2: And that's the end game in all of this. Whether

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Speaker 2: Leon was the announcer, I was the MP. It was

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Speaker 2: about getting a result to those people that I just

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Speaker 2: spoke about. And as I've said, he was the voice

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Speaker 2: for South Australians. He gave them, he gave them a microphone.

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Speaker 2: I suppose to be able to have their voices heard

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Speaker 2: really important and I think and also big issues as well,

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Speaker 2: not just the individual issues. When you think of something

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Speaker 2: that most people may know or may not know robodebt.

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Speaker 2: Leon was one of the very first to raise it

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Speaker 2: on his program in all of Australia at a time

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Speaker 2: when no one was really paying much attention to it.

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Speaker 2: I'm talking we first started getting constituents coming to us

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Speaker 2: about robo debt in twenty sixteen, when I've just been

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Speaker 2: re elected twenty seventeen, when this new system came in,

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Speaker 2: and Leon took it on board then and continued way

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Speaker 2: before anyone else saw it as an issue, and a

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Speaker 2: lot of the Royal Commission and all those things that

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Speaker 2: took place giving it a giving it, giving robo debt

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Speaker 2: a profile, so people were aware of the injustice of it.

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Speaker 2: Leon was the one that was the conduit for that.

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Speaker 2: And I truly believe that because at the time I

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Speaker 2: was talking nationally around the country to people and Lion's

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Speaker 2: the only one that actually quite got it back then.

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Speaker 1: Wow, how about that, I reckon all of you. Though

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Speaker 1: you say there's not a politician he wouldn't have spoken to.

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Speaker 1: I think when he retired in twenty twenty two, you

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Speaker 1: probably all sighed a breadth of relief that he wouldn't be,

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Speaker 1: you know, hammering down your throat about whatever issue.

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Speaker 2: It was I missed him. I truly did miss him.

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Speaker 2: For me, it was also part of my work. I

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Speaker 2: knew that if I wanted to raise an issue and

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Speaker 2: I just couldn't cut through the bureaucracy or whatever, I

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Speaker 2: knew that by getting it the story on Leon's program,

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Speaker 2: we'd have some form of knock on effect, and so

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Speaker 2: I be bluntd I absolutely use the program as much

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Speaker 2: as I could have the issues that I felt were

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Speaker 2: important to my constituents to have a voice, and Leon

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Speaker 2: was able to do that, not all of them, of course,

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Speaker 2: he would judge each and every one of them, make

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Speaker 2: sure that there was justice involved, that it was authentic,

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Speaker 2: it had witnesses, and many times he'd say to me,

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Speaker 2: if I raised the story, OK, can you get mister

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Speaker 2: and missus so and so on the progrem so he

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Speaker 2: could hear firsthand or someone from the bureaucracy that could

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Speaker 2: verify what we were saying. So he didn't just take

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Speaker 2: stories on board, he actually affect checked them as well.

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Speaker 1: Wonderful Steve, Look, thank you. I know you're busy at

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Speaker 1: the moment and you're about to have a meeting. I

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Speaker 1: appreciate your time. Thank you very much. For that lovely

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Speaker 1: living tribute and as you say, he will be missed. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and l good on your Steve, Thank you, Thanks Steve.

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Speaker 1: Georgiana's federal member for the Seed of Adelaide, Frank Pangello

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Speaker 1: is of course an Upper House Independent MP at the

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Speaker 1: moment running for the seed of Weight for the Liberal

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Speaker 1: Party at the upcoming state election, and he was regularly,

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Speaker 1: particularly in his role as an ssay Best upper House

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Speaker 1: MP and then an independent regularly on Leon's program. We've

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Speaker 1: got Frank on the line. Hello, Frank, A sad loss today.

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Speaker 3: Good evening to your listeners tonight, and I'm sure they'll

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Speaker 3: all be sad to hear of the passing of Leon.

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Speaker 3: I knew that he wasn't in the best of health

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Speaker 3: in recent months and tried to reach out to his

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Speaker 3: family to see how he was, and I didn't expect

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Speaker 3: that we'd hear this tragic news. But you know, looking

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Speaker 3: back on his career, you know, sixty years in the

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Speaker 3: media and he's achieved so much. He of course was

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Speaker 3: an Order of Australia recipient only last year. But you know,

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Speaker 3: I would my association with Leon goes back actually to

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Speaker 3: the early seventies when I was a newspaper reporter and

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Speaker 3: I came across him when he was a DJ at

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Speaker 3: five KA, and you know, he was a very good

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Speaker 3: broadcaster then. And you know, the thing about Leon is

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Speaker 3: that he had a photographic memory. Mostly he did a

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Speaker 3: lot of research. He was a workaholic. The other thing

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Speaker 3: I think that I remember about him, you know, mostly Matthew,

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Speaker 3: is that he really worked at his craft. So whether

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Speaker 3: he was spinning forty fives, or whether he was taking calls,

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Speaker 3: or whether he was doing interviews in Hollywood or here

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Speaker 3: with celebrities, he would do his work. He would do

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Speaker 3: his research.

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Speaker 2: He knew his.

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Speaker 3: Topics well and he was always keen to get onto

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Speaker 3: a topic and then see it right through the end.

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Speaker 2: You know.

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Speaker 3: Look, i'd rat him as one of our best talkback

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Speaker 3: broadcasters in South Australia. You know he was a real

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Speaker 3: crusader for the underdog and a social justice champion.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's absolutely fair. What do you remember him? Let's

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Speaker 1: go back those days, Caids Franklin. You knew him back

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Speaker 1: then as a as a DJ, and I was a kid, right,

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Speaker 1: I can remember Binkie Bimer on the radio. He'd have

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Speaker 1: a range of different characters that he would do at

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Speaker 1: his show.

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Speaker 3: He would he did do that and a politician, Yeah yeah,

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Speaker 3: and that was part of the entertainment. And I think

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Speaker 3: that's how he honed his craft. He came from into

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Speaker 3: State and look normally was able to work in that

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Speaker 3: capacity as a you know it, as a disc jockey,

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Speaker 3: I guess, I mean, and a lot of them have

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Speaker 3: come from that back The Big Bob came from that

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Speaker 3: as well, and they started that way. But you know,

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Speaker 3: Leon was also able to work successfully into State. He worked.

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Speaker 3: I think he took over from John.

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Speaker 2: Laws as well.

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Speaker 3: Sadly we've lost in this week. And John was another

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Speaker 3: guy that I got to know when I was in

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Speaker 3: Sydney working for Today Tonight. I'd often go out with

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Speaker 3: kilm Stories and I'll be a film producer out there,

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Speaker 3: and I got to know him, and I got to

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Speaker 3: know him when he came to Adelaide and I remember

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Speaker 3: doing a footy tips segment on Today Tonight with John

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Speaker 3: Laws and it was hilarious. So we've lost really two

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Speaker 3: very effective communicators, people that were really had their finger

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Speaker 3: on the pulse of what was happening in their community

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Speaker 3: in their state. You know, Leon was the sort of

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Speaker 3: guy Matthew that he could get into the minds, the

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Speaker 3: backyard of people, backyard of the human mind, I like

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Speaker 3: to call it. And he knew what people were thinking,

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Speaker 3: what people were worried about, you know, what people felt

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Speaker 3: about the world around them, the politics. He just had

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Speaker 3: that common feel of what made news, what was interesting.

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Speaker 3: And look, it was very very good on radio. When

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Speaker 3: it came to making sure that politicians were kept to account,

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Speaker 3: he would he would certainly put him in their place

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Speaker 3: and would do that again. He would do it in

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Speaker 3: a in a in a very eloquent sort of way.

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Speaker 3: Believe I wasn't the sort of nasty broadcaster, you know,

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Speaker 3: the shock drop type of bloke. You know, he was

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Speaker 3: quite moderate in his comments. But I always remember, you know,

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Speaker 3: and he would call me incessantly, even when I wasn't

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Speaker 3: in politics, when I was working at Today Tonight, he

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Speaker 3: would call me and I always enjoyed his calls. And

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Speaker 3: you know, he was either bringing me to pick my

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Speaker 3: brains about something and or to share a story with

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Speaker 3: me or look at doing a story that we had done,

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Speaker 3: either on Today Tonight or when I was in Parliament.

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Speaker 3: Constant calls, and you know, I always enjoyed. Particularly on

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Speaker 3: weekends he would have have a yak and and you

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Speaker 3: know we'd go over the news of the week, the

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Speaker 3: news of the day, what I thought, you know, would

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Speaker 3: would be interesting to listeners, what he thought, and you know,

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Speaker 3: we had a really good relationship and really sad to

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Speaker 3: see him go. Look, I saw him a few months ago.

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Speaker 3: I bumped into him at at Pasadeli. He was he

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Speaker 3: was a regular there and we had we had a

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Speaker 3: coffee and look, he missed radio after he left five

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Speaker 3: Double Au. There was a there was a big hole that,

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Speaker 3: you know in his life because he loved working there

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Speaker 3: and you know, you work with him, you know what

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Speaker 3: what a you know, uh, you know his work ethic

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Speaker 3: was and and and people loved him on radio as well.

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Speaker 3: You know, they loved his commentary, they loved his views.

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Speaker 3: They called him for help and he helped people, particularly

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Speaker 3: with Center League issues. He was strong on that, or

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Speaker 3: housing trust and social housing that social justice issues were

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Speaker 3: strong with him. You know, it's hard to find, you know,

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Speaker 3: people of that caliber these days, who you know their craft.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely right, Frank, thank you for that tribute. That's

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Speaker 1: a lovely, lovely words there.

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Speaker 3: And I know, thank you for having me on, Matthew,

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Speaker 3: And look, you've worked with him, you know, I'm sure

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Speaker 3: you would share the same sentiments. You know, sort of

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Speaker 3: person he was. He was a great black and just

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Speaker 3: you know, the last time I was talking to him,

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Speaker 3: he was devoted to his two dogs. Yes, they almost

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Speaker 3: were part of his life after he left radio. But

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Speaker 3: I knew that he missed radio. You could just you

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Speaker 3: could just tell that pool that he just wanted to,

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Speaker 3: you know, get back on the airwaves and do something.

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Speaker 3: But a sad day, a sad day. But we'll remember,

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Speaker 3: we'll remember Leon Buyer AM as you know, one of

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Speaker 3: our finest broadcasters and talk back presenters.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely, Frank, thank you for that tonight. Enjoy the rest

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Speaker 1: of your night.

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Speaker 3: Thank you very much, Matthew.

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Speaker 1: Frank Pangello, Upper house MP. These days former journo, of course,

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Speaker 1: how could we forget