11 May 2011

Reactions to Jon Stanhope's resignation

| johnboy
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We’ll update these as they come in.

First off the rank is The University of Canberra’s VC Stephen Parker:

I think it is appropriate that I thank Jon Stanhope for his service to the Territory as Chief Minister. In my 4 years as Vice-Chancellor he has shown a real and continuing interest in the fortunes of UC. We signed an MOU committing the University and the ACT Government to collaborating in a range of areas, and the early implementation of that has been encouraging. I extend my best wishes to him in the next phase of his professional life.


Simon Corbell has Tweeted:

Thankyou to Jon Stanhope for his leadership, integrity and compassion as Labor leader and Chief Minister


Andrew Barr has also Tweeted:

is reflecting on Jon Stanhope’s significant contribution to gay and lesbian law reform in Canberra. A true Labor Leader.


The Green’s Caroline Le Couteur on the other hand has had this to say on Facebook:

Juat attended Jon Stanhope’s resignation press conference. In his legacy he talked a lot about human rights but didn’t mention the environment at all.


Creative Canberran has sent in a screenshot of where the wiki wags are up to with Mr Stanhope’s entry. Let’s hope it’s not being done from an Assembly computer.

wikipedia edit

The Greens have collected their thoughts and made this statement:

The Leader of the ACT Greens, Meredith Hunter, today acknowledged Chief Minister Jon Stanhope’s service to the Legislative Assembly and the people of Canberra.

“I’d like to thank Jon Stanhope for his contribution to Canberra, and the passion and conviction he has brought to the role of Chief Minister. He clearly has a love for this city that shows in his dedication to his work,” Ms Hunter said.

“I think ACT politics will miss his passion and wit, particularly in the Legislative Assembly Chamber.

“The Chief Minister and I had a good working relationship which ensured that the Greens/ALP Parliamentary Agreement has been a success.

“Mr Stanhope’s ongoing and public commitment to The Agreement has helped us deliver stable Government for the Territory, as well as a great number of positive initiatives.

“Always a strong advocate for Territory Rights, Jon has steadfastly stood up for the Assembly and for Canberra on a Federal stage.

“We wish him and his family the very best in his new endeavours, and thank him for his years of dedicated service,” Ms Hunter said.


Liberal Leader Zed Seselja has bestirred himself:

Leader of the Opposition Zed Seselja has today congratulated outgoing Chief Minister Jon Stanhope on his career in ACT politics and wished him well for the future. “While Mr Stanhope and I differ greatly over the priorities of his Government, I congratulate him on his career and leadership of ACT Labor.”

“There is also no doubt that today the Labor Party has lost its strongest and best performer,” said Zed.

“This will leave a significant hole to fill. Time after time it was Jon Stanhope who carried his Party on his back and they will sorely miss that.

“One of the things he was able to do effectively was to hold together a fairly fractious group of people and differing Party factions. Only time will tell whether his departure will see the infighting come to light.

“I am sure many Canberrans will agree that whilst we wish Jon Stanhope all the best, it must be remembered that changing leaders does not change the Government. This Government will still be judged on its record over 11 years at the next election,” Zed concluded.


Member for Fraser Andrew Leigh has had quite a gush on his blog.


Member for Canberra Gai Brodtman is curiously recalling the fires as a particular highlight


Kate Lundy thinks our social welfare has been improved.


Have I missed you out? Email john@the-riotact.com . Or just leave something in the comments.

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ricketyclik said :

Very Busy said :

patrick_keogh said :

When the most serious barbs that his detractors can inflict are about taste in artwork or the cost and delays of the GDE (due primarily to the political bastardry of the fed Libs who forced the most expensive option on us for no reason other than to have a Labor govt look bad and the cost of due legal process from the nimby Save the Ridge group) then I’d regard that as a good decade of government.

You’re a bit out of touch here. The problem that Canberrans have with the botched GDE project was the waste of their money in building a one lane road, only to have it ripped up and done again properly in under 2 years. Effectively, this road will have taken 5 years to build. I shake my head!!!!

You’re displaying a lack of grasp of history there VB. The original alignment, which was on the books since the 1970’s, would not have alienated anyone (except, allegedly, for a certain property developer with strong Liberal Party links who wanted to extend his Bruce East fiefdom). [i]Someone[/i] raised the issue with the Federal Libs, who mysteriously gave the AIS a large cash injection not long after they raised concerns with the originally proposed alignment.

Voila, a court case about the new alignment that ate up much of the money budgeted for the GDE, meaning only a single carriageway could be afforded during that fiscal period. I agree that if you factor in the inconvenience to everyone then the overall cost is higher, but the fiscal reality is that deferred capital expenditure is a huge windfall, and the Legislative Assembly simply couldn’t afford it all in one hit, because of the aforementioned legal battle.

Lack of grasp of history has nothing to do with it. The overwhelming initial reason that the GDE was needed was to improve access in and out of Gungahlin. If the ACT Government had insufficient capital to complete the project in one fiscal cycle it should have looked at some alternatives. As it was the road did NOT serve its intended purpose right from day one. Access in and out of Gungahlin was still a nightmare, and has been ever since. Any fool could have predicted the inadequacy of the single lane road.

An infinitely better option which would have alleviated the congestion in and out of Gungahlin and would have removed the necessity for expensive work to have been ripped up would have been to initially build the section from Gungahlin to Belconnen Way. All of the Glenloch Interchange, Caswell Drive and the Bridges over Belconnen Way could then have been left as a stage 2 project.

This option would have helped to spread the Gungahlin traffic via Belconnen Way and Ginninderra Drive as well as the existing Barton Hwy option. Traffic may well have been a little slow moving on these routes but would have been much better flowing than the one lane bottleneck that was built.

This project WAS botched. It cost Canberra ratepayers/taxpayers dearly in both inconvenience and dollars.

patrick_keogh said :

Everything I know about John Stanhope says that he was and is a man of principle with a deep concern for fellow Canberrans and Australians. He often appeared to lack polish but that was also a lack of the glib opportunistic political sound bite.

I didn’t agree with every one of his decisions but I couldn’t fault the effort and morality that went into making them. When the most serious barbs that his detractors can inflict are about taste in artwork or the cost and delays of the GDE (due primarily to the political bastardry of the fed Libs who forced the most expensive option on us for no reason other than to have a Labor govt look bad and the cost of due legal process from the nimby Save the Ridge group) then I’d regard that as a good decade of government.

I will miss his approachability (eg. Friday morning talkback on 666), his ability to put his hand up when things went wrong and his ability to successfully build a minority government as real signs of his quality. I only wish that I was 20 years younger so that I could see the Arboretum reach maturity as his enduring legacy.

Hoping that our leaders for the next ten years can show the same moral fibre.

+1

thanks also to jon for all the support your government has given to the gay community in the ACT. the civil partnerships legislation was historic. i appreciated and admired his stand based on humanitarian principles of equality, democracy and independence of local representation, both back then against the federal government and which he continued recently in relation to progressing the cause of independent (on par with the States) ACT territory representation and law.

he wasn’t perfect but no one is, we all make mistakes. on the whole the ACT is thriving economically and is a great city so we really don’t have much to complain about.

Very Busy said :

patrick_keogh said :

When the most serious barbs that his detractors can inflict are about taste in artwork or the cost and delays of the GDE (due primarily to the political bastardry of the fed Libs who forced the most expensive option on us for no reason other than to have a Labor govt look bad and the cost of due legal process from the nimby Save the Ridge group) then I’d regard that as a good decade of government.

You’re a bit out of touch here. The problem that Canberrans have with the botched GDE project was the waste of their money in building a one lane road, only to have it ripped up and done again properly in under 2 years. Effectively, this road will have taken 5 years to build. I shake my head!!!!

You’re displaying a lack of grasp of history there VB. The original alignment, which was on the books since the 1970’s, would not have alienated anyone (except, allegedly, for a certain property developer with strong Liberal Party links who wanted to extend his Bruce East fiefdom). [i]Someone[/i] raised the issue with the Federal Libs, who mysteriously gave the AIS a large cash injection not long after they raised concerns with the originally proposed alignment.

Voila, a court case about the new alignment that ate up much of the money budgeted for the GDE, meaning only a single carriageway could be afforded during that fiscal period. I agree that if you factor in the inconvenience to everyone then the overall cost is higher, but the fiscal reality is that deferred capital expenditure is a huge windfall, and the Legislative Assembly simply couldn’t afford it all in one hit, because of the aforementioned legal battle.

catastrophic Carnell era

Catastrophic?

There’s a better word?

A few reminders:

Katie Bender
Canberra Hospital
Futsal slab
Bruce Stadium
Spray-painted grass

I didn’t think I could dislike a government more than the Carnell government but Stanhope has outdone her.
Well done on setting the bar even lower for representative government in Canberra and I’m sure Katy will continue your efforts in this regard.

patrick_keogh said :

When the most serious barbs that his detractors can inflict are about taste in artwork or the cost and delays of the GDE (due primarily to the political bastardry of the fed Libs who forced the most expensive option on us for no reason other than to have a Labor govt look bad and the cost of due legal process from the nimby Save the Ridge group) then I’d regard that as a good decade of government.

You’re a bit out of touch here. The problem that Canberrans have with the botched GDE project was the waste of their money in building a one lane road, only to have it ripped up and done again properly in under 2 years. Effectively, this road will have taken 5 years to build. I shake my head!!!!

Didn’t agree with some of his views about Canberra’s future, like his obsession with population growth, but I liked him.

He may not always have taken the right decisions, but the alternative could be worse. The liberals might get the budget back on track, but at what cost?

patrick_keogh said :

Everything I know about John Stanhope says that he was and is a man of principle with a deep concern for fellow Canberrans and Australians. He often appeared to lack polish but that was also a lack of the glib opportunistic political sound bite.

I didn’t agree with every one of his decisions but I couldn’t fault the effort and morality that went into making them. When the most serious barbs that his detractors can inflict are about taste in artwork or the cost and delays of the GDE (due primarily to the political bastardry of the fed Libs who forced the most expensive option on us for no reason other than to have a Labor govt look bad and the cost of due legal process from the nimby Save the Ridge group) then I’d regard that as a good decade of government.

I will miss his approachability (eg. Friday morning talkback on 666), his ability to put his hand up when things went wrong and his ability to successfully build a minority government as real signs of his quality. I only wish that I was 20 years younger so that I could see the Arboretum reach maturity as his enduring legacy.

Hoping that our leaders for the next ten years can show the same moral fibre.

Yeah. Not bad. I’d go along with that.

All you have to do is to look back at the catastrophic Carnell era to recall just how atrocious a government can be. By comparison, Stanhope was Jesus, Mohammed and Buddha all rolled into one.

PrinceOfAles6:33 am 10 May 11

Long live the chief. He has dedicated more than a decade of his life to governing this fine city and I for one will be sad to see him go.

I’m glad he’s leaving. I don’t think he did a good job at all.

patrick_keogh10:24 pm 09 May 11

Everything I know about John Stanhope says that he was and is a man of principle with a deep concern for fellow Canberrans and Australians. He often appeared to lack polish but that was also a lack of the glib opportunistic political sound bite.

I didn’t agree with every one of his decisions but I couldn’t fault the effort and morality that went into making them. When the most serious barbs that his detractors can inflict are about taste in artwork or the cost and delays of the GDE (due primarily to the political bastardry of the fed Libs who forced the most expensive option on us for no reason other than to have a Labor govt look bad and the cost of due legal process from the nimby Save the Ridge group) then I’d regard that as a good decade of government.

I will miss his approachability (eg. Friday morning talkback on 666), his ability to put his hand up when things went wrong and his ability to successfully build a minority government as real signs of his quality. I only wish that I was 20 years younger so that I could see the Arboretum reach maturity as his enduring legacy.

Hoping that our leaders for the next ten years can show the same moral fibre.

Pommy bastard said :

Well I’m no fan of John “I don’t know much about art, but I know what I like spending other people’s money on” Stanhope, but I have to say that the man has done his duty as a public servant for a good number of years, and I’m sure he did what he thought was for the best, and now he’s stood down we should spare him a little consideration due to that.

Horrifying to think of the other prospective “leaders”…

+1 on both counts.

bd84 said :

Goodbye Jon Stanhopeless. You have been a hopeless Chief Minister in a hopeless government that went stale about 8 years ago. If the people of the ACT actually had half a brain you would have been gone years ago, instead we are stuck with the many instances of your and your government’s incompetence which continue to waste our money. I shall take pleasure in seeing your former government being voted out in just over a years time.

bd84.

To get rid of a hopeless government they either have to be real clusters (like the last NSW Labor gov) or there needs to be an opposition worth voting in.

Whilst not perfect ACT Labor and Stanhope have done a good job of running the city under difficult circumstances, in particular the last vote which gave a minority party effective control of the government with their self centered green policies.

As for an opposition does anyone think ACT Liberal could run the place better? Not this little black duck, all I hear from them is complaints and general shit stirring for the sake of it, rather than offering and real alternative policies so no point in voting for them.

Goodbye Jon Stanhopeless. You have been a hopeless Chief Minister in a hopeless government that went stale about 8 years ago. If the people of the ACT actually had half a brain you would have been gone years ago, instead we are stuck with the many instances of your and your government’s incompetence which continue to waste our money. I shall take pleasure in seeing your former government being voted out in just over a years time.

bd84.

“2003 fires”

Yes very big failure there……….loss of lives and homes on which could have been avoided. He was responsible in every way in protecting the safety of the community….Maybe he can retire and maybe his memory will come back

perhaps he hasn’t really resigned and this announcement is actually an incredible virtuoso piece of installation art, to demonstrate his acuity and so competence for assigning public monies to public art in the first place.

i thought the attire spoke of the reference to power of white men in a landscape described by centuries of indigenous inhabitation, and so the overt message is to be seen in his reference to cliches and petulance that bespeaks the craft of politics, and hence the craft of the artists commissioned, yet still embedded in the tangle of wires and spokes of the machinations of power and the human inclination to escape this web and fly into the blue skies of unfettered idealism.

or it could just be a good thing and ciao jon, thanks but don’t look back…

seriouslyswift3:27 pm 09 May 11

KaptnKaos said :

JessP said :

WWWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

+11ty billion

Mr Evil said :

Well, although I am not sad to see this tool go, it is the possibility of an even bigger tool being made Chief Minister that scares the hell out of me!

+11ty billion – Gallagher, Barr, Corbell – shudder, shudder, shudder, pack the car Ma, we’re movin.

for me “NO DEAL”

creative_canberran2:36 pm 09 May 11

johnboy said :

sidereal said :

Are you seriously publishing screenshots of Wikipedia vandalism which was live for under 20 seconds alongside actual serious commentary? Given that the vandalism came from an ANU IP address, the screenshot contains ANU bookmarks, and was taken somewhere inside that 20 second window, have you considered the possibility that the person who took the screenshot was the one who vandalised the article?

Is that all that’s required to get a run on the site? If so, let me know, I’ve got plenty of hilarious jokes I’d like to make on Wikipedia articles.

Well, the novelty’s bound to wear off…

It wasn’t me making the edits.
It was the less than subtle twits crowded around a nearby computer that tipped me off.
I actually submitted a request to a moderator to have the page semi-protected form unregistered users.

Amusing though it may be, the media do use Wikipedia as a source.

sidereal said :

Are you seriously publishing screenshots of Wikipedia vandalism which was live for under 20 seconds alongside actual serious commentary? Given that the vandalism came from an ANU IP address, the screenshot contains ANU bookmarks, and was taken somewhere inside that 20 second window, have you considered the possibility that the person who took the screenshot was the one who vandalised the article?

Is that all that’s required to get a run on the site? If so, let me know, I’ve got plenty of hilarious jokes I’d like to make on Wikipedia articles.

Well, the novelty’s bound to wear off…

Are you seriously publishing screenshots of Wikipedia vandalism which was live for under 20 seconds alongside actual serious commentary? Given that the vandalism came from an ANU IP address, the screenshot contains ANU bookmarks, and was taken somewhere inside that 20 second window, have you considered the possibility that the person who took the screenshot was the one who vandalised the article?

Is that all that’s required to get a run on the site? If so, let me know, I’ve got plenty of hilarious jokes I’d like to make on Wikipedia articles.

Pommy bastard1:51 pm 09 May 11

Well I’m no fan of John “I don’t know much about art, but I know what I like spending other people’s money on” Stanhope, but I have to say that the man has done his duty as a public servant for a good number of years, and I’m sure he did what he thought was for the best, and now he’s stood down we should spare him a little consideration due to that.

Horrifying to think of the other prospective “leaders”…

oh and…

Juat attended Jon Stanhope’s resignation press conference. In his legacy he talked a lot about human rights but didn’t mention the environment at all.

Christ on a pogo stick!! Should “the enviroment m-a-a-a-n..” be compusory to be mentioned in every sodding speech? the idiot greens will be the death of rationailty in politics.

PBO said :

Maybe he is quitting because there is an uproar about the public “art” and there should/could be an investigation into corrupt approvals of tenders.

Now that is interesting!!!!!

Mr Gillespie1:31 pm 09 May 11

My prediction is, one idiot will be replaced by another.

The ACT Labor government is the architect of the Great GDE F***up, squeezing population extras into tiny blocks of land in Gungahlin, a luxury “jail” for criminals (even the psychopathic ones with no hope of rehabilitation have a room with a view), and a bunch of other useless “reforms” we don’t really need, in relation to “climate change” and gay marriage.

The only positive reform out of the ones listed is legalising abortion. The rest is rubbish.

Maybe he is quitting because there is an uproar about the public “art” and there should/could be an investigation into corrupt approvals of tenders.

creative_canberran1:27 pm 09 May 11

KaptnKaos said :

JessP said :

WWWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

+11ty billion

Mr Evil said :

Well, although I am not sad to see this tool go, it is the possibility of an even bigger tool being made Chief Minister that scares the hell out of me!

+11ty billion – Gallagher, Barr, Corbell – shudder, shudder, shudder, pack the car Ma, we’re movin.

To where?

NSW: Well they got rid of Labor there but now O’Farrell has a decades worth of mess to shovel.
Vic: Government and Police practically in a civil war, inept Government also facing years of damage needing to be fixed.
QLD: A government that hasn’t done that great and an opposition breaking all the rules of Westminster government by having a defacto leader. That and they’re still wringing out the carpets.
Tas: Nice scenery, nice to retire too.
WA: Miners, hookers and a right wing nutter in power.
NT: Sewage in the water because Darwin is the last capital not to fully treat its sewage, 20yrs after all other started.
SA: Roll out the barrel… sorry, poor taste.

My point is while the ACT has problems and you’re right, those names may well not have the right stuff to fix it, nor the opposition, I doubt you’ll find a place much better.

creative_canberran1:22 pm 09 May 11

Very Busy said :

2003 fires

To an extent, but the failures for that go back a long way under successive governments. Right back to Carnell and even Follette in terms of fuel load management and agancy structures.

The big failure there, either by him or the minister at the time was why ESB wasn’t equipped and trained properly. They didn’t have proper maps FFS. It’s ridiculous to read in the coronial report that many fire crew were using those Cartoscope Tourist Maps to plan fire fighting when they had poor scale and no topography markings.
Even worse that the chopper crews were so incompetent that they misjudged the size of the fire my thousands of hectares.

So you had a structurally and functionally defective emergency services with inept managers advising the CM and a CM who played to role of passive overseer instead of saying “Hey folks, burnt leaves in Civic, WTF?”

JessP said :

WWWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

+11ty billion

Mr Evil said :

Well, although I am not sad to see this tool go, it is the possibility of an even bigger tool being made Chief Minister that scares the hell out of me!

+11ty billion – Gallagher, Barr, Corbell – shudder, shudder, shudder, pack the car Ma, we’re movin.

2003 fires
GDE
Hume Hilton
Effective revenue cameras
Ineffective safety cameras
Paid parking around Tuggeranong and Belconnen shopping centres
Huge rates increases
Public art
Tharwa
School closures
Taxpayer funded advertising
Costly flip flop pay parking at Canberra Hospital
Utilities tax
Drive n text UB next
Thoughts on world issues
irregular mowing of neighborhood ovals

Thanks for the arboretum though!!!!!

Well, although I am not sad to see this tool go, it is the possibility of an even bigger tool being made Chief Minister that scares the hell out of me!

And who’s offered him a cushy job somewhere?

Swaggie said :

If we get Barr I’m leaving town

me too

tonkatuff82 said :

At least as far as we know he never killed anyone

The day isn’t over yet.

This has something to do with his trip to Spain last year. Perhaps he had a “Cervantes” moment while cycling on his pilgramage? This could mean either more tin-pot public art, lot’s more useless wind generators or lots more of Spanish type public debt. Probably all of these.
Is he only resigning as CM or his he bailing out alltogether in which case who will be his replacement under the impossible Hare Clarke system?

If we get Barr I’m leaving town

At least as far as we know he never killed anyone

I wouldn’t celebrate too much. For all Stanhope’s shortcomings he still knew and understood what was going on.

I’m not sure you can say the same for gallagher.

+1 on that!!!

Not a minute too soon. Perhaps now we can have a Chief Minister who is focused on the important issues around this town. Wait, for that to happen we would need to get rid of Gallagher too. Looks like we might be waiting a while then…

colourful sydney racing identity12:02 pm 09 May 11

I wish him well, I think he has done a pretty good job in his time as Chief Minister, I give him a B-

WWWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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