Minister for Multicultural Affairs, John Hargreaves, has declared the 2009 Multicultural Festival to be a success.
Even better the popularity of BAMOASD apparently justifies both the entirety of the festival and his multicultural policies in general:
- “Despite the heat, the Festival proved to be the destination of choice over the opening weekend for more than 75,000 people,” Mr Hargreaves said.
“It demonstrates just how important multiculturalism is to the people of the ACT. We are all proud of our multicultural way of life and everyone loves to celebrate it.”
The video is of Minister Hargreaves at the launch of the 2009 Fringe Festival. Long time Hargreaves watchers will probably find it amusing.
UPDATED: Cool! The video appears to be a mild hit, picking up the following honours so far:
- #57 – Most Discussed (Today) – News & Politics – Australia
#41 – Top Favorited (Today) – News & Politics – Australia
#76 – Top Rated (Today) – News & Politics – Australia
JB it’s a shame you missed the colourful part – your youtube ranking would be well up!
Maybe his contribution to our multiculture is ockerishness? It’s as valid a culture as any.
Well I switched the camera to video mode after a particularly interesting passage and he never quite re-scaled those heights to the end of the speech.
If not for the swaying and stumbling at the end I might have just deleted it.
I saw Hargreaves open the Fringe about two years ago and he was on fire in typical Hargreaves style. This year he seems to have unfortunately been more subdued.
And yet oddly enough Jorian and the audience come through crystal clear.
You’d better upgrade the microphone on your video camera, JB. That recording makes it sound like Hargreaves is slurring an awful lot.
R. Slicker said :
Or that attending Summernats indicates you have an interest in cars……
Claiming that our attendance at the BAMOASD indicates support for multiculturalism is like saying that attending the Food and Wine Frolic in years gone by indicated support for fine dining and the arts.
AG Canberra said :
What happened?
No it doesn’t John – it symbolises that we like to drink different beers and eat different food. Really embracing multiculturalism is something far greater – and as we saw on Aus Day this country has quite a way to go….
BAMOASD should be BAMOASW – changing day to week, or failing that, a weekend.