29 August 2006

Toy Terrorists in a ghost-towncentre

| Ntp
Join the conversation
17

At 2pm today the Anti-terrorist exercise held in Belconnen was scheduled to be concluded. In fact it was all over by noon, the roads reopened and the offices and shops having been reopened for hours.

Having spoken to a few of the police and emergency service personal manning various road blocks I got the impression that it was a rather dull way to earn 8 hours overtime at the Federal Govt’s expense (because there is no funds left for OT in the ACT police budget). A ABS staffer I spoke to stated he wished he turned up to work a little later to avoid a painfully slow “non-critical evacuation” which sounds like a poorly organised 1/2 hour smoke-o in the car park to me.

By 11 am the mall seemed to have been reopened for some time, having run their own evacuation earlier and although the lower level car parks were mostly full the upper level was disserted as was Myer and most of the mall until you got to the food court. Even then the few people eating was a far cry from the din usually coming from there.

So what was you Belconnen day of Mock Terror like? Did you get evacuated? Have the slowest trading day on record? Stay away from the shops because you didn’t want to get caught up in the hooha? Have a laugh at the AFP special effects budget (one smoke machine)?

Let us know and if you took any photos, send them in (mine were useless).

Join the conversation

17
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest

I’m an old Navy helicopter man, so the SeaKing, Wessex and Squirrel were my thing, but we did belt around occasionally in the 1 of the 2 Iroquois for a bit of fun. They were re-painted Air Force ones, but great work horses

Southcare fly (the last time I flew in it) a Bell 412, which is essentially a 4 bladed updated version of the UH1 type Huey.

They have the necessary night instruments to do that sort of thing….well the sort of thing that inconveniences poor souls who would wail and moan the absence of such a service if/when they needed it

once a year boomacat?

how do you do with split ends?

Is the above post intentionally random ?

Akiles, glad you were able to get your haircut at Belco without an appointment, I only ever get my hair cut once each year, just before Christmas when they have that open 24 hours nonsense, as I too can’t be arsed with appointments.

Probably the GG heading for the snow – the season’s almost over.

Absent Diane8:17 am 30 Aug 06

cranky – I hate you and your type. Anyone who whines about any form of noises in the night.

Northside Girl7:44 am 30 Aug 06

It was very unexciting and predictable, we saw ABS go out at about 950 and all started wandering down in the elevators about the same time to avoid having to go down the fire stairs. DIMA went out at 1001. Then there was the ‘suspicious package’ that WASNT part of the exercise – turned out to be an empty cardboard box.

The news tonight (not sure which but my mum keeps repeating it) apparently said they were not so much interested in seeing if they could evacuate 6000 people, but rather in working out what they would do with 6000 people if they had to evacuate them.

I can appreciate that Southcare supporters feel they have to (unfairly in my opinion) promote the service against individuals who feel inconvenienced by the noise of Southcare

Southcare supporters?

You mean people who think having a rescue helicopter in the region is a good idea?

God save us from such devious perverts! Let there be an end to such madness!

I think it’s great that they undertook the training. I feel safer now. God bless Australia.

(My sentiments have nothing to do with the fact that I was able to get a haircut at the mall straight away without an appointment because everyone stayed home.)

VG
I’m not sure where your coming from. Can you confirm that Southcare had a situation just south (and I mean within 1 kilometre) of south Woden at 4am this morning? I can appreciate that Southcare supporters feel they have to (unfairly in my opinion) promote the service against individuals who feel inconvenienced by the noise of Southcare. I ask again, if this was Southcare, please confirm. If not, who was it?

Didn’t upset me in the least, just made yourself look quite petty. Southcare travels as low as it has to, it usually travels quite low when it lands

Good Grief,
Sorry to upset you VG. If you can verify it was Southcare, I stand corrected!
Thing is, it was heading SOUTH from the hospital, and had the spotlight on full beam. It was a hell of a lot lower than Southcare normally travels. It did not sound like Southcare.
I can handle Southcare. No arguement. I await an explanation of who it was.

Cranky

No it wasnt, but God forbid your sleep was disturbed by the Southcare helicopter heading out to save someone’s life.

I’m sure they are deeply contritious about the 5 mins of inconvenience you suffered and hopefully will forward you a pack of ‘harden up’ pills to see you right

heres hopin they dont wrap up early tomorrow, id be keen to drive past GDHS and see whats goin on
maybe tie a towel around my head and see if i can sneak into the imddle of the building… heheh

Was the (very) low flying helicopter with the (very) bright searchlight overflying Farrer at 4am this morning part of this nonsense?

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.