walleah press
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GRAHAM ROWLANDS
Monumental
- Oh yes. It was a
landslide. Another landslide.
- A foregone conclusion
but it’s already a shambles.
- I knew it would be,
said it would. Haven’t you heard?
- Yes. The bottle of wine
on the Government jet.
- The Minister & Co
couldn’t resist the idea of
- wine on the way back
from the dry zone.
- I don’t know.
Cabby Savigong or something.
- They’ll all
vinegar to me. Creasoak. No bubbles.
- Yes, up North. The Land
Rights land. Aboriginal.
- No, only one bottle.
No, they weren’t drunk
- in the dry zone. It was
for the return trip.
- No, it wasn’t
taken out of the plane. Even
- so, as soon as the
wheels touched the ground
- they were in the dry
zone. Well, sort of.
- That’s the point.
Who knows who’s responsible.
- The airport might or
mightn’t be dry in the dry zone
- the tarmac might be
separate from the airport
- & once the bottle
of vino was taken on board
- it might have been up
to the pilot anyway.
- The Crime &
Misconduct Commission are conducting
- their usual enquiry.
It’ll be a whitewash.
- They know which way
their bread’s buttered.
- Whose idea? Well, who
knows whose idea.
- It could have been the
adviser to the Minister.
- It probably was.
She’s the one who took the rap.
- There’s no doubt
she took the wine on board
- but the others must
have known for sure-
- the pilot, the
Minister, whoever went along.
- It’s not as if the
Government jet’s a jumbo.
- The Minister denied all
knowledge & responsibility.
- She’d deny all
knowledge of & responsibility for
- someone sitting next to
her wearing a balaclava
- & carrying a violin
case. So guess what comes next.
- The Premier sacked the
adviser & then took off
- to apologise to all
& sundry in the dry zone
- at tax-payers’
expense, of course. $9,000. Yes
- the Minister tagged
along but it was his show.
- He can’t help
himself. 2,000km & back. Mr Apology.
- Finally, the adviser
decided she’d had enough.
- She hadn’t handed
out How-to-vote cards for nothing.
- So she leaked, blabbed.
She went to the police.
- Yes, she spilled the
beans on her own Minister
- & what does the
Premier do? He reinstates her.
- Would you read about
it? I mean, would you?
- Nothing much? Yes, of
course it’s nothing much.
- It’s an unholy
bloody mess. A total shambles.
- Talk about a stuff-up,
a monumental stuff-up.
- It’s a complete
& absolute disaster.
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Graham Rowlands' most recent book is his Collected Poems,
published in 2009 by Lythrum Press.
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