PRIME Minister John Howard has defended a $100,000 refit of one of his air force jets that later had to be reversed.
Mr Howard rejected a Labor senator’s claim that the spending was a waste of taxpayer’s money.
…
The Prime Minister late today took the unusual move of issuing a statement to rebuff further claims the fit-out included a “makeoverâ€? with silk wallpaper that cost more than $9000 a roll…
Hat tip to The Ostrahyun
It must be an election year.
It is Craig and this is when this sort of extravagance is repaid by the voting public. So close to Bastille day too.
It’s nothing compared to the billions he’s pissed against the wall buying squadrons of obsolete Super Hornets.
Just wait till he meets the super hornets on voting day Christine.
The spending isn’t down to the Rodent. It’s the wife.
But, disturbingly, Ratty seems to have added this fact to all those others he has forgotten.
The Australian seems to have removed the Opinion writers from their on line site.
Is this:
(a) a stuff up?
(b) punishment to the blogosphere for being nasty to them?
(c) a dummy spit by the collectve opinion writers?
(d) because they have nothing more to say?
Anyone know?
Pork barreling Kirrabilli House isn’t going to win him the next election, wpd. You’d think he’d have that sussed, wouldn’t you?
WPD, when was his wife elected to spend taxpayer funds?
I’d suspect the answer to your question is (b), Growler. This could well mark the end of the GG’s flirtation with the 21st century.
Growler, after the week the Government Gazette has endure I’d say all of the above. Andrew Bolt is still hiding in Italy somewhere last I saw.
The real expense is not the silk – it’s the endless hours flying between Canberra and Sydney because the Lodge isn’t a fitting residence for Madame.
the Lodge isn’t a fitting residence for Madame.
Don’t blame John! It’s not fair. Blame the voters who, each election, have ensured that John and his wife could enjoy the very best that life has to offer for over a decade.
Every man has his price, you know. John comes pretty cheap!
I don’t think it is the voters who choose the lavishness of Howard’s surroundings, Daniel.
No, their opinion page is up: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/index/0,,7583,00.html
I agree it’s a beat-up in partisan terms.
The bigger story is how padded and wasteful the defence department and procurement is – not just here but in many countries. They exist in an inflated and captured market, cosseted by a conservative political correctness that ensures that budgets for defence hardware and toys are beyond serious external questioning.
I meant the writers like Shanahan et al.
You’re too kind Growler, more like propagandists really.
Steve, when voters vote they know what the P.M.’s perks are! Perhaps if P.M.s lived in penury we might end with some decent ones!
Daniel, would love to see a list of these perks that we all know so much about. Can you help me out here?
If only Ratty had come to me instead; I could have sold it to him for much cheaper.
Still, it’s an amusing thought that Ratty is flying around in his own cocoon.
That would make him a raccoon, I think silkworm
ArisistocRATic raccoon like his portrait suggests
Actually steve, the picture shows him dressed according to the dress-code for articled clerks at the suburban solicitors’ firm where he first entered the legal profession. Nothing AristocRATic about it.
Sorry to be so bANAL.
Gummo, I always thought that the career path was from Article clerk to Silk. Maybe he is still a lawyer at heart.
But is that Rudd’s head he has so sweetly spiked with his left hand? Me thinks he & the Missus need to hire Martha Stewart for the makeover thing to really swing… she gives good tips on gettin’ outta tight spots. The opportunity to co-ordinate tea cups across this wide brown land – all doulton & not a cheap IKEA mug to be seen…
That’s not silk he’s wearing in the picture, Steve, it’s carbon steel. Unless it’s his own hide underneath all that gussy stuff.
Worse still is that the silk for aircraft walls and expensive leather for the overhead fittings mark and damage easily and cannot be cleaned or patched, so must be replaced each time an accident or knock occurs.
He probably got the costume from the museum at Hotel des Invalides last time he went on a junket to Paris. the whole history of French warfare is there from life sized horses armour and knights armour through to a taxi that moved the front overnight in one of the wars..
How come I only ever see him dressed in an Australian tracksuit and joggers at home when he can be photographed in such splendor?
Sure Janette didn’t cobble it together from offcuts of silk and leather from the repair work on the Prime Ministerial plane, steve? After all – waste not, want not.
No that would be diverting public funds to private use and I don’t think that the Howards would leave themselves open to that accusation,Gummo. After all he was a solicitor and knows these things,
Steve, John is a master at playing parts. Like Menzies, he is an aristocrat at heart and loves pomp and ceremony while simultaneously claiming that he humbly represents the man in the street!
What a complete fraud! A bit like Keating really.
Daniel, what part does John play on Bastille Day?
Bastille Day
Yes. Not a bit like Madame Pompadour. More your Hyacinth Bucket, really.
Centrelink needs a new arm. One that “manages” funds available to politicians with the power to quarantine where necessary.
Bouquet, dear, Bouquet.
A pail appearance,
Steve, on Bastille Day (and most other days) John is the Arse-Licker! His kissing of Bush’s Bum is already legendary.
What’s the point of that when Bush is a certified lame duck president?
Kising a ducks bum requires exquisite skill!
So does keeping ahead in the polls but the requisite skills seem to elude him.
Greensborough Growler, that was funny, how though do you know?
Daniel told him!
Sadly, a cask of red and a slab of VB sometimes affects your decision making processes.
It was a bet and all the participants were consenting.
Let’s just say, I keep my non-core promises
It doesn’t seem to affect the writers at the Government Gazette, they’ve been the same drunk or sober,high or dry.
Too much information.
But, there’s a movement at the station if Alan Ramsey is to be believed.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/polls-apart-at-the-sausage-sizzle/2007/07/13/1183833770404.html?page=4
Notice Ruddy’s not too upset about a refit to the Prime Ministerial jet. And do we know if Rudd is planning to take up residency in de Lodge? Howard has set a precedent that anyone can now follow with relative impunity. Given the choice where would you live? Kirribilli House, or entombed in the austere funk of a cold, Canberran deco number?
$9,000 a roll, silk wallpaper does sound a little extravagant, in poor taste, (not to mention, kitsch). London to a brick, that’s what George has.
Besides, silk so lovely. It should be worn not plastered on walls.
GG, shame about the initials
so we know you go to motor cycle rallies, but bringing a participant duck , outstanding!. Where you at the ‘duck for cover rally’ in N.E.NSW?.I won’t admit that I was.( Stones Mac for the more seasoned )
I suppose you’ve got to find love when and where you can. Sometimes I bring a pot plant. But, I don’t expect anyone to understand.
Silk has been associated with matters magic and Mandrake. Evil forces maybe trying to psyche John out in Flight..perhaps they have a telephone card..are you on the other side Mandrake!? Tell me what is in store for our jetsetter PM.?
Oh, yes, we do.:)
Why wouldn’t Rudd live in Canberra – he was a student and diplomat there. Suitably sterile town for him.
That Howard both p*ssed on Canberra and snubbed the Lodge, as some of his first prime ministerial acts, showed that he’s not a traditionalist/conservative, but an opportunist.
I think Rudd has already pledged to move to Canberra and give Kirribilli back to the people, and all those charities who don’t get to use anywhere near as often as they used to.
But Rudd should make it very clear that he will not take possession of Kirribilli when elected. He should do it real soon.
I’ve been looking for silk wallpaper online that costs upwards of $1500 a roll and had no luck. Is there some sort of commission attached to the purchase for the decorator?
Howard and Jeanette should be frisked and passed through a metal detector when they leave the house by the harbour. You know, just in case there’s a bit of silverware that accidentally fell into their pockets.
Armed guards should be installed on that wine cellar. The Grange collection should be auctioned off for a children’s charity.
Thanks for the linko, Gummo.
Luv yer work Gummo…same goes Darryl et al…
makin’ our way out of the heart of darkness has never been easy…
the fear…in the primeval cave…the security…
side by side
they confuse…all in the mind…in the gene=tec memory
but
look at up at the sky
at the LIGHT
and you will find your answer
……………………………breathe the air
N’
Well yes. But the new government will still have to buy out the lucrative new lifetime contracts the catering and grounds staff were signed up to the day before the election.
Is it that the wallpaper was too expensive? I would expect the plane to be decorated in only the best. Would need to see the wallpaper before I would be passing judgment.