12 January 2011

Chiefly fury on Green Southern Cemetery claims

| johnboy
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Jon Stanhope is in a right mood over the recent media release by the Greens’ Caroline Le Couteur who wants to substitute “natural burial” in favour of a new crematorium.

In a rare display of vintage Chiefly rage he’s giving her both barrels which we’ll repeat here in full because you wouldn’t want to miss this kind of display:

Greens’ claims on southern cemetery are false
Released 10/01/2011

The ACT Greens were playing cheap politics with claims made over the proposed southern cemetery, Chief Minister and Minister for Territory and Municipal Services, Jon Stanhope, said today.

“The ACT Greens have shown that they are prepared to make untrue statements about community sentiment and make false claims when it comes to the proposed southern cemetery,” Mr Stanhope said.

Mr Stanhope said that claims made by the ACT Greens’ spokesperson for Territory and Municipal Services, Caroline Le Couteur, that the residents of Tuggeranong did not support a crematorium at the proposed Southern Cemetery were untrue.

“It is estimated that 70% people of the people that die in the ACT each year are cremated and that this trend will continue,” Mr Stanhope said.

“Is Ms Le Couteur seriously suggesting that based on this the people of Tuggeranong, and Canberra more widely, would not want cremation facilities at a new cemetery?

“We also know from community surveys that there is strong support among residents for cremation facilities at a new cemetery. If Ms Le Couteur is proposing to ignore this then it seems that the Greens, the self-styled champions of consultation, are thumbing their noses up at what the community wants.

“It is also patently false of Ms Le Couteur to claim that the Government has not considered natural burials at the proposed cemetery.

“We know that both in Canberra and across Australia there is an interest in natural burials and this is being taken into account.

“I have been assured that a business case for the proposed cemetery, which is currently being finalised, clearly acknowledges the intention to incorporate natural burial into the proposed Southern Cemetery, as do the financial scenarios explored.

“I find it simply shocking that the ACT Greens have chosen to descend into cheap, shallow politics and falsehoods on this issue.”

(it came out yesterday but appeared to blow up the Chief Minister’s website)

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Don’t have a strong opinion on the location (and I live very close to the suggested new site) but I just wish they would hurry up and get on with it! In my work, I have cause to spend a lot of time at the current crematorium and the facilities there just suck! There is no incentive for them to improve them because there is no competition. The carpets and curtains are awful, the a/v system is woeful, it barely seats 100 and the overflow standing room is weather dependent. The doors create a terrible wind tunnel effect which is bad once there are more than 100 people and they need to remain open. Its true that Canberrans choose cremation over burial (although not in my “industry” LOL) so roll on competiton I say.

miz said :

Logically, the Greenway site would be the most convenient to all users due to its access to the Parkway.

Not so much.
Topography and land contours were one of the selection criteria.

Short of the hockey field, almost everywhere out the back of Greenway falls into “10% gradient” territory.

I’m not sure that even “a troupe of syphalitic monkeys” could be any worse than the incumbents.

Chop71 said :

Why does everyone whinge about the guy and vote him in every year. People in the ACT would rather have something to whinge about rather than to vote change and give the opposition a go.

It’s because we’ve experienced the opposition in government and we’d rather have a troupe of syphalitic monkeys than them again.

No Chewy, I reside in a different Tuggeranong suburb. However, the ‘preferred’ site is a buffer zone. I like it looking green and bushy and would hate it to look like a cemetery. It’s also a matter of principle – I don’t want MY buffer zones built on.

Further, the ‘preferred’ site is considerably less convenient than otthe Greenway site named in the following doc
http://www.tams.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/147169/Proposed_Cemetery_Fact_Sheet_Sites_and_Planning_Process.pdf

That TAMS paper states:

. . . potential cemetery sites . . .
include:
· Part of Block 1677 (corner of Monaro Highway and Isabella Drive)
· Part of Block 154 Jerrabomberra
· Greenway (west of Rowland Crescent between the Murrumbidgee
River and the Town Centre)
· Block 1676 and parts of Block 1677 Tuggeranong District (southern
side of the intersection of Mugga Lane and Long Gully Road)

Logically, the Greenway site would be the most convenient to all users due to its access to the Parkway.

Chewy14, no I do not live in Macarthur but I do live in Tuggeranong. And, yes, that land should remain horse paddocks ‘ forever’, as you put it, because it is a buffer zone. I did not invent its status as a buffer zone.
The southern cemetery proposal also proposed land near Tuggeranong Town Centre, which would be far more convenient for most Canberrans, both north and southsiders. See http://www.tams.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/147169/Proposed_Cemetery_Fact_Sheet_Sites_and_Planning_Process.pdf

miz said :

Talking of pot, kettle black: Mr S has his own half-truth when he says ‘We also know from community surveys that there is strong support among residents for cremation facilities at a new cemetery.’ Sure, we all want facilities – just NOT in the proposed location. This rather dulls the edge of his intended barb.

It is far more sensible for a new cemetery to be located in a more Canberra-central location, eg, in greenfields Molonglo, or Tuggeranong central near the Parkway, instead of a traffic nightmare on the corner of Monaro Hwy and Isabella Drive with delightful views of the tip (and, currently, an impressive ‘eau de tip’). Honestly, derrrr, Mr Stanhope. Find another horse paddock for your dumb proposals.

Do you by any chance live in Macarthur?
The whole idea of the crematorium is it’s meant to be located in Southern Canberra, where there are no current facilities.
Name another area for this facility near Tuggeranong that isn’t either already slated for development or worth a whole lot more money.
I suppose you want this land to be kept undeveloped for ever?

Follwing the money:
Funeral & Allied Industries Union ==> Australian Council of Trade Unions ==> Labor Party in the various states and territories.

Also, there’s massive money to be had in the funeral industry (the sector had over $1 billion in FY 08/09 turnover).

Small point, but why spend massive money preserving a corpse and putting it in a lined box if you’re only going to bury it?
Either let it do the natural thing and decay abck into the ecosystem, or do the whole shebang and build a shrine and put the corpse on display like they have for Ho Chi Minh.
(Otherwise you’re just delaying the inevitable)

His Chieliness is smokin’

#11 said: “Yeah, he’s not real impressive. But the opposition are…they’re…ummm…the opposition…they…they…errrmmm….they’re….well, let’s just say they’re even less impressive.”

That four-legs-good-two-legs-bad argument is why we still have Stanhope and friends.

Chop71 said :

Why does everyone whinge about the guy and vote him in every year. .

Yeah, he’s not real impressive. But the opposition are…they’re…ummm…the opposition…they…they…errrmmm….they’re….well, let’s just say they’re even less impressive.

Why does everyone whinge about the guy and vote him in every year. People in the ACT would rather have something to whinge about rather than to vote change and give the opposition a go.

Talking of pot, kettle black: Mr S has his own half-truth when he says ‘We also know from community surveys that there is strong support among residents for cremation facilities at a new cemetery.’ Sure, we all want facilities – just NOT in the proposed location. This rather dulls the edge of his intended barb.

It is far more sensible for a new cemetery to be located in a more Canberra-central location, eg, in greenfields Molonglo, or Tuggeranong central near the Parkway, instead of a traffic nightmare on the corner of Monaro Hwy and Isabella Drive with delightful views of the tip (and, currently, an impressive ‘eau de tip’). Honestly, derrrr, Mr Stanhope. Find another horse paddock for your dumb proposals.

While at work I am constantly required to prioritise the list of tasks before me in order to give my immediate attention to the matters that will ensure the best outcomes for my employer and my staff.

I would expect that our leaders, lawmakers, administrators etc would do the same in order to ensure the best outcomes for the residents of the ACT.

I can only conclude therefore, that we must be living in paradise, because the highest priority on our Chief Minister’s list of tasks today was arranging the promulgation of a rant about a matter of apocalyptic inconsequentiality. If that’s truly the biggest issue facing us today, we can all just relax, kick back, and skin up a little doobie. No worries, anyone!

In future I expect to see rants about far more important matters, such as the appropriate shade of white to use in road markings, the most pleasant air freshener scent to be provided in public toilets, and the volume of the muzak in the lifts of ACT government buildings.

don’t forget that one of his staffers or a member of his Department will have written this press release. so maybe the author was in a bad mood!

Grumpy Old Fart5:47 pm 12 Jan 11

If you make a bed and invite strange bedfellows into it you get what you get. Pity it takes dead people to get some passion out of the guy what about standing up for the living in Canberra or will you just to continue to rollover to your Federal colleagues…….

What is it with Stanhope and “cheap politics” whenever he encounters opposition or even questioning.
I guess the Greens will always be cheap unless they can make themselves more useful to developers. (nudge, nudge, wink, wink)

Stanhope accuses the Greens of descending “into cheap, shallow politics and falsehoods ..” on an issue. Pot meet kettle.

He does seem to have a bit of steam built-up, doesn’t he? Maybe he didn’t get what he wanted for Christmas… and judging by this little tantrum, I suspect what he wanted was the death of Ms LeCouteur. She’s probably holding out for a natural burial plot to become available. Quite a stalemate, really.

Will the new crematorium be offering carbon neutral services?

Why is he shocked at their cheap, shallow politics? Was he one of those who believed the fairy-in-the-bottom-of-the-garden image? (And I know, that was a term originally used for the Australian Democrats but they only have Darren Churchill left.)

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