Chief Minister Jon Stanhope dropped Minister for Multicultural Affairs John Hargreaves right in it on ABC radio (via AAP) by saying he wouldn’t have signed off on the Grassby statue … if he’d known about it.
As usual, it’s all about denying any personal responsibility for his own Government’s actions.
“I understand the point that is being made and if I had my time again or if I was involved in the decision perhaps the outcome would have been different,” Mr Stanhope said.
“Or perhaps if our processes had been more rigorous at the time and I acknowledge that they weren’t.”
Does it perhaps suggest that Stanhope tooks his eye off the ball during the run up to the budget because of the last-minute money squeeze?
He does seem to take his eye off the ball a lot.
You’ve gotta love the last line: The chief minister compared the controversy to the furore that surrounded the Whitlam government’s decision to buy Jackson Pollock’s work, Blue Poles.
Comparing Blue Poles with a crappy bronze of a mafia-linked spiv? Who does he think he is kidding?