A great spread in The Sydney Morning Herald on the weekend following Friday’s yarn
about the socially undesirable elements that infiltrated the NSW ALP in
the seventies and early eighties – elements like Graham Richardson (oh,
yes, and Tom Domican).

Domican said “I’ve got no knowledge of such a thing,” when he was asked if he once pulled a gun on Richo.

Indeed,
we’re told he’s been misrepresented. He’s not the hard man at all. Look
at this yarn a veteran of the NSW Labor Party wars of those days sent
Crikey:

Your piece today and the SMH brought back memories
of the ALP in the inner city in the early 1980s. I joined Marrickville
East ALP weeks before Peter Baldwin was bashed — still remember the
late HT Lee being gleeful about grabbing the books that proved Enmore
had been infiltrated by people transferring over from the rotten
Rozelle branch.

In the aftermath, one of the curious incidents
was when Tom Domican fronted up at a branch meeting to ‘assist’ in the
membership application of over 40 people (most of whom thought they
were joining a travel club). He was scary aggressive except that the
ALP assistant secretary was a new mother, and in the middle of Domican
muscling up, her baby cried so she whipped open her top to breastfeed.
With her cascading red hair and pale skin it was a classic Madonna and
child vision. Domican couldn’t handle the sight of the nursing mother,
and left.

There was also another incident just after Baldwin was
bashed. There was a big meeting (I think at Marrickville Town Hall) to
protest about the bashing, the violence, the rorts. The meeting was of
course dominated by the usual suspects of high flown revolutionary
rhetoric. In the middle of it, dead silence. Domican strode down the
middle of the room. The man really has a presence, very intimidating.
The brave lads of the left shut up, scared. Then Jennifer Seberry,
maths professor, a large middle aged woman who dressed like everybody’s
mum, stepped forward. She told him, simply and directly, that he was
not invited to the meeting and he must go. He turned and went with his
tail between his legs.

Like many bully boys, Domican must wilt under pressure.

Either that or some Ronnie Kray issues about women.