If the ACT Minister For Treating Ratepayers Like Idiots, John Hargreaves, was not a paid politician then he would be hard-pressed to find a job in the real world.
Just recently he defended the controversial public statue of Al Grassby (of which Hargreaves approved the purchase) by saying that the late federal politician, although accused, was never convicted of a crime so hey, Canberra, what was all the fuss about?
All this has gone before but has been resurrected by the recent television series “Underbelly: A Tale Of Two Cities”, in which the producers portray a not-unsubtle link between Grassby and certain illegal events that occurred in the Riverina during the late-1960’s/1970’s. Easy to do now, of course, as the man is dead.
(I wonder what would have happened in Chicago if the city fathers had ever decided to erect a statue of Al Capone in the middle of the city. After all, their colourful identity was only ever convicted of tax evasion, wasn’t he?!)
Hargreaves, in the meantime, displays his brilliant people-skills in his role of “Corrections Minister” (title is as quoted in the print media) as he continues to find reasons for the long-overdue opening of the new Maconochie Motel situated between Hume and Symonston.
What a shame that his title wasn’t Minister for Corrections, then he might be swayed into doing the right thing by the Canberra electorate and correct the fact that he was voted into power by resigning his position!
[ED – It has been pointed out to me that at the time of Grassby’s death quite a lot of senior liberals had very nice things to say about him.]