11 May 2011

Reactions to Jon Stanhope's resignation

9 May 2011 | johnboy

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.

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@region.com.au . Or just leave something in the comments.

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Very Busy11:59 am 12 May 11

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.

toriness7:21 am 11 May 11

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.

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.

ricketyclik8:35 pm 10 May 11

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.

D211:18 am 10 May 11

catastrophic Carnell era

Catastrophic?

There’s a better word?

A few reminders:

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

chewy149:35 am 10 May 11

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.

Very Busy9:19 am 10 May 11

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!!!!

Watson8:32 am 10 May 11

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?

Deref7:14 am 10 May 11

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.

Mysteryman11:59 pm 09 May 11

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

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