Richo’s sins are washed as the Love Boat, Gold Coast and other scandals fade into the mist

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They travelled from near and far to bid farewell to the former Senator for Kneecaps, solemn and humble in the presence of greatness.

Esteemed members of the legal profession sallied across Queens Square, state politicians brisked down from Macquarie Street, and the highest public officers in the land flew in from the nation’s capital to attend the state funeral of Graham Richardson AO, honoured for his singular talent in wielding political influence.

The crowd spilled onto the street after Graham Richardson’s funeral.

The bells of St James rang out across town.

It was not an easy path that brought mourners to this place and time.

The ceremony was to have been held at St Mary’s Cathedral in accordance with Richardson’s Catholic faith, but the church reportedly declined to honour the family’s wishes for the coffin to be draped in the Australian flag or the St George Illawarra Dragons flag.

A compromise had to be made. What would Richo do? What would Henry VIII do?

Inside St James’ Church ahead of the state funeral for Graham Richardson, with the Dragons flag as part of the service.

Fortunately, as Richardson’s widow Amanda would later tell the congregation, the Prime Minister’s department was endlessly accommodating. A venue switch was made to the nearest Anglican church.

And so it was that the Kingmaker ascended into heaven with several hundred mourners singing, “Guide me oh thou great redeemer, pilgrim through this barren land”.

Watching the livestream from home, a tear slowly slid down the cheek of corrupt former minister Eddie Obeid, who won his spot in parliament after paying a fee to Richardson, later to be convicted and jailed for misconduct in public office.

His sins were washed, and the Love Boat scandal, the Marshall Islands affair and the Gold Coast prostitution ring evaporated in the mist.

Richard Wilkins and Ben Fordham were in attendance.

The front pew of the church was filled with Richo’s regular lunch companions at Lees Fortuna Chinese restaurant, 2GB host Ben Fordham, entertainment journalist Richard Wilkins and former police commissioner Mick Fuller, who once shared jolly stories about their scrapes over dim sum.

Daily Telegraph editor Ben English was a pallbearer, carrying the coffin on the day that he detailed his friendship with Richardson in his own newspaper’s pages, describing him as “relevant and sought-after to the end”, accompanied by a picture of a cane toad that was wrongly captioned as Richardson.

Paul Whittaker, who won a Walkley award in 1995 for his two-year investigation into the Gold Coast prostitution ring and allegations of corruption against Richardson, offered a vignette that omitted mention of that period and went heavy on Richo’s political antennae as a presenter on Sky News.

It fell to the prime minister to offer a eulogy (“What a sorrowful privilege”), though there was also a place for the former prime minister Tony Abbott to offer a tribute (“It’s a thrill to add a bipartisan note”).

Sky News Australia chief executive Paul Whittaker speaks at the state funeral.

Richo was, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said, as much a Sydney landmark as the Harbour Bridge, perhaps mistaking the bridge for the Cross City Tunnel, which was maligned during its construction for the nature of the commercial deal that funded it, and after its opening, for being poor value for money.

“He lived and loved all of what politics can be,” Albanese said. “Service, calling, art and craft.”

Richardson’s youngest child, D’Arcy Richardson, also spoke. But there was no mention at all of the children from his earlier marriage, employment lawyer Kate Ausden and Sydney barrister Matthew Richardson, SC, nor his grandchildren, and none attended the service.

After the service they poured onto the steps of the church and squinted into the sun as the priest swung the paschal candle to shroud the hearse in incense. Ministers, bootlickers, prime ministers, lickspittles, media titans, philanthropists, public figures, disgraced and otherwise, and those who have defended them. What was it that Richo used to say? The only virtue is loyalty.

Mourners leave St James’ Church after the state funeral.

The mourners watched as the flag-wrapped coffin was eased into the hearse without losing the white bouquet on its lid, averting their eyes from the corpse of a rat that might have been flattened by the same vehicle on its way to the church.

Five police officers strapped on their helmets and swung astride their motorbikes in unison. They revved their engines.

It was Wilkins who first started to clap, a forlorn beat that soon became a symphony of applause, as the crowd united in respect for the man in the coffin.

The other side of the road was lined with the working press, who were strangely uninterested in the coffin and the hearse. Their cameras were trained on the crowd.

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