Page 2033 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 6 May 2009
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emergency services personnel. The refurbishment of the club and dedication of the Lady Gowrie hall recognise, in the words of the club president, Vince Pannell APM, “without doubt a person of great character, integrity, compassion and drive and her extensive contributions to the Australian community”.
The club is a little something that we in the community can support and give in return to those in the services who have given and continue to give so much. Those in the community who have supported the improvements to the room include the AFP Association, the ACT Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Australian Industry Defence Network, Aristocrat, the Australian War Memorial, BA Plumbing, Bradley Allen Lawyers, Buxton Painting Services, the Canberra Times, Canberra Sand and Gravel, 2CC/2CA radio, Chemworks, Clubs ACT, Coca-Cola, the Commonwealth Bank, David Turner Electrician, Eric Martin and Associates, Finance Solutions 24/7, Fini Frames, Fosters Group Ltd, Lieutenant General Peter Leahy, Macquarie Editions, Montaignes Removals, Mr Noel Ryan, Mr Steve Dickinson, Mr Terry Emery, the National Library of Australia, Paragon Printing, PhotoAccess, Plume Graphic Design, Service for Art, T OK Carpentry and Partitioning Pty Ltd, the United Firefighters Union, Workin Gear and Yarralumla Nursery.
Congratulations to Vince Pannell APM and the board of directors for steering the Canberra Services Club, congratulations on the dedication of Lady Gowrie Hall and I look forward to a bright future for the club.
Facebook website
MS GALLAGHER (Molonglo—Treasurer, Minister for Health, Minister for Community Services and Minister for Women) (5.49): Tonight I want to talk about honour in politics—not just the honour that is bestowed on each of us as representatives of our constituents, but the honour and dignity that should form part of how we conduct ourselves as politicians.
I want to talk about how this opposition have no honour and no dignity in the way they choose to conduct themselves over the fraudulent Facebook site created by persons unknown but with some very clear links to the Liberal Party. The site contained material that was highly offensive. It depicted me as the proverbial dumb blonde. It ridiculed my relationship with my partner. It misrepresented my political views. And it disparaged me as a woman. This impostor then created a second Facebook page inviting a whole range of prominent national and local Liberals to join it—and many did.
Given that the person impersonating me clearly had so many reliable Liberal Facebook friends, it appeared to me a fairly straightforward leap to presume that, if the Facebook site was anti-Labor, the site had prominent Liberals as friends and the site had a picture of the Leader of the Opposition on it, the person behind it was highly likely to have Liberal links. We called for the Liberals to investigate.
What did we get from the Liberal Leader of the Opposition? Cowardly silence. Did we hear any denunciation of the views expressed on the fake Katy site, any vague message that this sort of politics is not on or even mild disapproval? Nothing. He did not see fit to put on the public record that he did not support this approach to politics.
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