( At no charge, except for a small donation to the Little Darwin staff iron lung , we offer this odd post to Savva for possible inclusion in her next gripping book about Australian politics. )
On yon Castle Hill, the dominating outcrop officially slightly short of being called a mountain , overlooking Townsville , in August 2013 , the trim West Australian Federal politician Julie Bishop staged an amazing media conference with the rotund Liberal National Party MP for Herbert, Ewen Jones, promising $650,000 for a soft, solar powered street lighting program for Castle Hill .
Morning , noon and night , a horde of people, some with dogs , walk, ride and run up the sealed road to the summit with its spectacular panoramic views ; there is also a rough path known as the " goat track" which is like a mini Kokoda for those like this stumbling blogger .
During the episode Jones declared lights were needed because "darkness comes down with a thud "... there is no twilight . If you use the top of Castle Hill as a kind of lovers' lane , you might not be worried by this, on the other hand you might be a nervous type and think it is somebody's dad with a shotgun .
After saying she was delighted to be in Townsville , Ms Bishop went on to give what sounded like a rolled gold guarantee that the $650,000 would be paid up and the lights would go on in the event of an Abbott Government being elected.
A troublesome journalist said the ALP candidate for Herbert , Cathy O'Toole , who is standing against Jones again at the forthcoming election, had said the cost of the lighting was more like $900,000.
This , said Bishop , was the ALP just having a whinge because the Coalition was promising the money. No, the reporter persisted, the ALP had been advised the cost would be higher.
Jones claimed it was an " airy fairy " ALP attack. Bishop repeated her rock solid guarantee , the people of Townsville could trust a Coalition government to deliver , the money committed to the project.
THE STADIUM /CONVENTION CENTRE
As a senior person in an incoming Coalition government , would she support the need for a $300million stadium in Townsville, she was asked. Bishop gave the impression she was sympathetic to the idea but no feasibility study had been produced as yet.
Over in Western Australia,she said, they were seeking to build a new stadium and looking for Federal funding. " There is a precedent for Federal Governments to support the building of stadiums in States around Australia."
In Townsville she went to see the mighty Cowboys Rugby League team training and had taken a photograph of the star player, Johnathan Thurston ..."he is now my screen saver!" One wonders what Bishop's current beau , developer David Panton , thought after he gained access to her screen saver and found this sweaty guy Thurston . Just this week it has been claimed Panton was the centre of security concerns because he had been able to peek at confidential documents while sitting next to Ms Bishop at the UN.
THOSE PROMISED LIGHTS / STADIUM FUNDS
Here we are , May 2016, and darkness is still falling with a thud on Castle Hill , the ALP apparently right when it said the lighting system would cost much, much more, the project seemingly canned .
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In letterboxes throughout Townsville Ewen Jones and Julie Bishop , through their joint sermon on the midget mount , are having a harsh, probing light shone upon them and the Turnbull Government as a whole , like rabbits caught in the headlights of a long distance transport driven by a spaced out truckie .
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And the just delivered Budget failed to contain any allocation for the Townsville stadium complex, Bill Shorten having already promised $100million for the project to match the Queensland government.
SAVVA SHINES LIGHT ON FOREIGN MINISTER
The Road To Ruin contains a fascinating account of angry Foreign Minister Julie Bishop being irked at the fact that she was back in Townsville purely to shore up PM Tony Abbott's standing before the spill against him.
The event announced the half baked approval for international flights to Bali , maybe New Zealand later. As in the disappearing Castle Hill lights event, Ewen Jones was present.
The body language of Abbott and Bishop looked strange in media footage .Niki Savva reveals why , page 162. She wrote Bishop, the Liberal Deputy Leader had been " compelled " to attend the Townsville Airport, even though it had no direct relation to her portfolio, except for the word "international" . However , it had been made clear to her by Peta Credlin, the PM's Chief of Staff , it would be seen as a vote of no confidence in the prime minister if she did not attend the city of elusive Min Min Lights.
While the airline flights to Bali went ahead, there is still doubt over who will pay for the upgrades needed for the basic building , and it has just been revealed in a Budget aside that no new funds have been allocated , just confirmation of last year's $26.2million over four years to establish a border clearance service in Townsville and the Sunshine Coast.
