Page 76 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 28 February 2007
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attack the heart of our community. I was staggered, full of disbelief and outrage by what he had to say in the Canberra Times on Sunday, 21 January 2007:
I’m surprised that four years later we’re still churning on questions of whether or not the government’s response was appropriate or sufficiently generous. I believe it was.
Therefore the community is supposed to accept this from a Chief Minister who disappeared when it mattered most; from a Chief Minister who appeared to have lost his memory when it mattered most, yet others who suffered far greater trauma can recall every sordid detail of that horror; from a Chief Minister who said on 20 January 2003, “If you want to blame someone, blame me,” despite the Chief Minister today now wanting this to be portrayed as meaning something completely different.
Let us take a closer look at part of his statement: “still churning”. How insensitive and cruel for the Chief Minister to make these comments about a community who are still reeling from the effects of the bushfires. This approach shows utter contempt for the people of Canberra and indeed utter contempt for the coronial inquest and its findings. Whether he likes it or not, the Chief Minister cannot expect people to just wipe the event from their memories—unlike how he seemed to wipe out much of the information from his memory. As much as he would like them to forget and move on, for some it will never ever happen.
I am stunned that our Chief Minister fails to accept just how anxious the community was and how much that still hurts. He continues to be affronted by the very fact that people continue to dare mention that somebody has to be held accountable—namely him. So out of touch is this Chief Minister that he thought the 2007 anniversary should just pass without a special memorial. In his opinion the community did not want a memorial every year; the community was not willing to remember those who lost their lives and those who suffered untold loss and trauma. Obviously, as the Chief Minister, he does not want to be reminded of the event on that fateful day and his inability to take full control and full accountability when it mattered most.
He very conveniently misses the point: the issue for the community is his inability and unwillingness to do the right thing and resign. This debate today must go right to the heart of ministerial responsibility and a want of confidence in Jon Stanhope to remain in this place, in this city, as Chief Minister.
The Chief Minister is incensed by the very fact that we dare ask questions of him, like: where were you when it counted? What were you doing on the Friday night and Saturday morning? What were you thinking? Why didn’t you warn people? What caused the cabinet to have an urgent meeting on 16 January 2003? Seventeen major issues were discussed at this specially convened cabinet meeting, attended by not junior bureaucrats but senior officials and the full cabinet. Did you ever ask any of the people, Mr Stanhope, giving you advice: “Are you sure?” or “Is there more I need to know about?”
For those in the community who only saw glimpses of the horror, the coroner’s report gives clarity to the facts, and that is what they are: facts presented to her in great detail on the magnitude of the firestorm, the losses suffered and, very frighteningly, how
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