Money, class and power [Widescreen]

Episode number 3 of Series “Australia: beyond the fatal shore [Widescreen]”.
Art critic Robert Hughes reflects on his relationship to Australia, 35 years after leaving the country. Contemplative after his near fatal car accident, Hughes reflects fondly on his childhood in Australia with an appreciation that only came from questioning his mortality. Episode three questions the illusion that Australia is a classless society. During the program Hughes goes to that great leveller of classes - the races - with former Prime Minister Bob Hawke, visits Werribee Park, a mansion founded on the success of sheep, and speaks to the creators and first residents of the resort community Sanctuary Lakes. He goes to the opera with Melbourne establishment figure Lady Susan Renouf and visits the home of nouveau riche Jeannie Pratt. The concepts of mateship, good luck and gambling are touched on, as is the power wielded by media magnates Kerry Packer and Rupert Murdoch. Hughes also visits the “underclass” of Sydney and makes the journey over to Perth which witnessed a boom in wealth and real estate in the 1980s and saw the rise and fall of Alan Bond.