21 March 2006

Farewell Ted

| Kerces
Join the conversation
14

This afternoon long-serving MLA Ted Quinlan will make his way along the corridors of the Assembly to Speaker Wayne Berry’s office to deliver a letter. That letter will contain his formal resignation notice.

Tomorrow Mr Quinlan will go into hospital for his second knee reconstruction — a souvenir from his time as an AFL player, a career which brought him to Canberra in the first place.

Mr Quinlan announced his retirement at the end of January. Some speculated this would bring an end to the reign of sanity in Canberra’s (small) halls of power.

He said at the time he hopes to spend his time working on his golf handicap (and having knee surgery, but hopefully not too often).

To mark the end of Mr Quinlan’s political career share your favourite memories, stories and rumours of the Quinlan era in the comments below.

UPDATE: Mr Quinlan has denied he was not tough enough on his colleagues’ spending, a question brought up by the ABC given he is leaving us with a large deficit budget.

Join the conversation

14
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest

cunning.

Bonfire – you forgot Mr Hargreaves, what’s he like?

i agree thumper – and so do qlds voters. although given the mess the alp is in up there, who knows.

i have never voted for any liberals in the assembly. nor have i voted for john howard.

interesting that you assume that because i dont fawningly acclaim the non-achievements and spin of your cult/party that i must therefore be A LIBERAL SUPPORTER.

you must just love adversarial politics. that way you can just oppose someones ideas because THEY ARE LIBERALS.

what if the liberals have good ideas ? do you say – hey great idea – or do you just shuffle obligingly like a sullen soylent green consuming sheep into attack of the opposition mode.

at least peter beattie pinches the good ideas of his opposition.

Interesting choice of words…Liberal supporter?
As to being invisible, what does the sand look like from your perspective…with your head so firmly in it, it must be difficult to see much else!

if i was feeling threatened id make demands that a certain gender or ethnicity receive special treatment.

if i was dubious, id point out that an ideologue with a vagina is just as inept as an ideologue without one.

id also point out that the current crop of alp female assembly members aint doing you proud.

my one word summary of alp assembly members:

berry – principled.
corbell – incompetent
gallagher – shifty
gentleman – invisible
macdonald – invisible
porter – befuddled
quinlan – tired
stanhope – icarus

im sure that the faceless men are preparing to assemble at the kingo to determine stanhopes new caucus.

with such a limited talent pool, perhaps the chief cabbage will pick up another portfolio.

do i doubt that women are up to the job in politics ? no – but the ones you currently have representing the alp in the act arent.

Is someone feeling threatened? Don’t worry there will always be a place in politics for men but it’s time that women were better represented. Katy does a wonderful job and is not afraid to take responsibility when it is warranted. Karin could only benefit the Ministry and the Canberra community!

oh yeah, katy gallaghers a shining beacon of capability and accountability. more wymmin please.

It is about time that Karin MacDonald was moved into the Ministry. She has worked hard for canberra on Committees and as Government Whip and we certainly need a second woman’s perspective on the Front Bench.

he did the right thing in leaving…pity nobody investigated his covering up of cooking the books during his time in ACTEWAGL to cover for his boss.

spare me.

if anything, this term of alp gummint in the act has been marked by lots of talking/planning followed by inaction and bizarre funding priorities.

What have they actually DONE ?

At least under Kate Carnell THINGS got done.

Which is what you want from a local council.

barking toad2:48 pm 21 Mar 06

Your call, Kerces, about the end of the reign of sanity in the council is unfortunately correct. I think Ted has seen the writing on the wall for a while about the direction of the council despite his efforts as Treasurer to bring reality to the spending of his colleagues.

His only failing was to be an Essendon supporter who has had difficulty dealing with 1990.

I’ll always remember Ted standing outside the Sydney Football Stadium after a particularly wrenching loss to the bloody pansies.

He calmed a lot of people down and probably prevented a lot of fights that night.

Bye Ted. The only Assembly member I’ve ever had personal issues with. Rude, arrogant pr1ck (in my opinion).

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.