20 April 2007

Stefaniak rides to the defence of the Pratt

| johnboy
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Steve Pratt has been mouthing off to TV and radio this week defending his weekend vandalism of public art, but he’s been strangely quiet on the media release front. Today Bill Stefaniak makes a half arsed attempt to justify Steve’s big stuff up (caused it seems by checking the register of approved street art and not the register of public art, a big tip for new players there).

“Mr Pratt issued several media releases warning that he was going to remove the piece if the ACT Government did not and Mr Hargreaves failed to warn him that the piece was an approved work. Had he done so, it’s clear Mr Pratt would not have proceeded.

“Having looked at this matter, I am confident Mr Pratt exhausted all reasonable avenues to check whether this was an approved legal graffiti art site. He checked the several relevant web pages and he checked with the roads and bridges area of Mr Hargreaves’ department.

So lets get this right, it’s the Minister for Municipal Services’s job to read all of Steve Pratt’s media releases and warn him when he’s about to do something stupid? Who would prefer the Minister to spend such a vast amount of time elsewhere?

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“he’s saying that Government should get out of a lot of things it currently has its grubby paws in”

I 2nd that its a major problem in this country way to much govt costing us a fortune and telling us how to live our lives down to the smallest details.
And to top it off we have federal ministers trying to ram religion down our necks. FFS we have stem cell research being banned because of some guys belief in some fairly tale god. Likewise we have so called mature men trying to tell women what they can and cant do with their body’s with regards to abortion. Give us a break.

West_Kambah_4eva8:25 am 23 Apr 07

“I’d like to see you running in the next election to show them how to run a city.”

Oh man, I wish it were that easy. But i also know that the system is set up so that only wankers have sufficient wankatude to make it to the top of politics.

Johnboy isn’t saying that Government should be centralised, he’s saying that Government should get out of a lot of things it currently has its grubby paws in…………well at least that’s what this young libertarian hopes he means.

I’ll make that point anyway.

That’s why I’m talking about the height of the pile, not who’s on top of it.

Depends on how you perceive “static”.
It was static in the Soviet Union 1920-89, and in China 1949-present.
Maybe a popular uprising is called for here, to see power flow back to the people.
But then, no doubt some other dikwit will rise to the top.

Power is either flowing to the top or diffusing back to the population, it is never static.

I think we’d do well to see the flow reversed.

In other words, just one concentration of power?
Pol Pot, Stalin & Genghis Kahn spring to mind.

In general I’d prefer if there were fewer concentrations of power to be had.

Well, what alternative would you suggest, JB? Giving power to people who don’t seek it?

That’s a bit melodramatic. I know the point you’re trying to make, it’s a valid one too. I just think that there is a lot of whiny bitching about politics.

What a load of crap.

We’re ruled from both sides by inadequate power freaks trying to justify their own lives of failure by enacting control over us.

It’s a disgrace.

West Kambah, if you really think that the ACT Liberal Party is full of wankers, let me take a wild guess here, you also think the ACT Labor Party is full of wankers?

I’d like to see you running in the next election to show them how to run a city. Otherwise, I guess you still have your vote on election day.

Honestly the amount of pointless political bitching on this site is sad. A lot of the time there is intelligent discussion/arguments, other times pointless bitching. Just a burden of democracy I guess.

Pratt by name – pratt by nature!

perhaps actually *sending* the releases to CM’s office asking for comment, rather than *just* ‘releasing’ them… and this guy runs the place??

West_Kambah_4eva4:59 pm 20 Apr 07

How about we reverse this so that it refers to Pratt painting a mural, rather than destroying one. It reveals clearly was a worthless c*nts Stefaniak and Pratt are. No, I take that back. That’s an insult to worthless c*nts.

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“The police should perhaps also investigate Minister John Hargreaves if they are to investigate Mr Pratt in the matter of the painting of graffiti art near Woden cemetery by Mr Pratt last weekend, according to ACT Liberals Leader Bill Stefaniak.
“Mr Pratt issued several media releases warning that he was going to paint the piece if the ACT Government did not and Mr Hargreaves failed to warn him that the piece was not an approved work. Had he done so, it’s clear Mr Pratt would not have proceeded.

“Having looked at this matter, I am confident Mr Pratt exhausted all reasonable avenues to check whether this was an approved legal graffiti art site. He checked the several relevant web pages and he checked with the roads and bridges area of Mr Hargreaves’ department.

“Mr Hargreaves stated on ABC radio yesterday morning that he knew the work was not approved. Mr Hargreaves said, ‘This particular community art work was not approved by the government through the proper channels.'”

In the same interview, Mr Hargreaves also said that he had spoken to the media & ‘on the weekend before the issue was to happen, and suggested that perhaps this was not a legal site and that perhaps there may have been a problem with legal liability as well.’

“If this is the case”, Mr Stefaniak said, “Mr Hargreaves, it seems, knew of Mr Pratt’s intentions. Why didn’t Mr Hargreaves pick up the phone and call Mr Pratt to give him this information?

“Former MLA, Louise Littlewood, phoned into the same ABC program and stated that she was & ‘surprised that Hargreaves mentioned that he, in fact, had an inkling that this was going to happen. If that was the case, why didn’t he contact Pratt and say ‘hey you’re about to make a mistake’? Because it was an opportunity to set him up I suppose.’

“At the end of the day, the real point here is that the Stanhope Labor Government has again failed to give proper attention to issues that are important to the people of the ACT. It simply doesn’t care about the things that cause people concern and angst. It should clean up the city’s eyesores”, Mr Stefaniak said.

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“End of the day”??? END OF THE DAY?!?!!! I don’t like Stanhope, but this REALLY makes me feel for him with these two Liberal pieces of sh*t writing absolute drivel like this…

West_Kambah_4eva4:44 pm 20 Apr 07

Mr Hargreaves has not not warned me that it’s not ok to murder Steve Pratt. He has FAILED to warn me. If he does so, it’s clear I won’t proceed. But I’m not hearing anything so far…

In addition to everything else, the fact that Pratt spent five hours scrubbing to destroy a piece of art that would have taken 10 minutes to paint over (and leave the wall looking half decent) says the guy has no brains at all.

What a dick.

I hope they throw the book at him.

I would just like to remind everyone that due to the wonderful Hare-Clark system, Southsiders will have four other Liberals to vote for instead of Steve Pratt. I strongly hope they do so.

i agree lg.

but the alp split thing wil fester and resurface.

and pratt is unlikely to to perform any more stunts…

No justification – but at least you can give Pratt minor kudos for attempting to find out if it was approved art (he’s still a fool though..)

Talk about a get out of jail free card for the Labor Party… why can’t the Liberals behave themselves… they could have had endless mileage of the Stanhope / Corbell & Berry split.

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