War Room

A cynic might query the timing of the announcement - as a devastating tsunami hits the Pacific, news sneaks out that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is spending $35 million on a White House-style “situation room” or war room.

It will certainly come in handy when New Zealand finally declares war on us. And if you’re going to devote yourself to a life of sacrifice in public office, it seems only fair that you get your own room with big maps and lots of pins in it, so you can chart the performance of the ADF along the eastern front running from Dubbo to Orbost as our boys repel the Kiwi invaders.

But maybe it’s just a huge waste of money. It’s certainly a lot of money. Seventy times more than the $500k John Howard wanted to spend on expanding meeting space in the PMO, which he was hounded over in estimates by John Faulkner and Robert Ray. 

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  • Mary says:

    09:56am | 03/10/09

    Jay - thats a laugh! all we ever hear about is how hopeless the oppositon and Turnbull are….I rarely read anything about Rudd and his Government putting a foot out of line. Although there doesn’t seem to be enough time for reporting on Rudd as all the focus is always… Read more »

  • Terry Barnes says:

    07:41pm | 02/10/09

    A Situation Room?  It sounds like the ideal place for a secret romantic “situation”, and being next to Rudd’s office easier to find than Parliament House’s legendary Meditation Room, of which the locals say the meditation is mostly of the tantric variety. Get real, Kev.  If Hawke, Keating and Howard… Read more »

 

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