Posted on 12/20/2006 8:16:41 PM PST by naturalman1975
AN unidentified substance has been found at Prime Minister John Howard's Sydney office building and in a building near his courtyard at Parliament in Canberra.
Two mailroom workers found the substance at the Phillips St building just after 10am (AEDT), a NSW Fire Brigades spokesman said.
Superintendent Jason Clough said the two workers, the only people evacuated from the site, had been cleared of contamination.
"Our assessment is that these workers have not been affected, and no one else in the building, or no other areas of the building have been affected," Supt Clough said.
He said the building was also cleared of any contamination threat.
Details of the substance and what it was in were being withheld, he said.
At Parliament House in Canberra, parts of the ministerial wing adjacent to Mr Howard's courtyard were evacuated following a security scare.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
God preserve that man! Advance Australia Fair!
Amazing- the (still unsolved) anthrax attacks of 2001 still trigger all out panic.
Bravo. Prayers there is nothing (else) to this.
Prime Minister Howard is exemplary and exceptional. Don't you people of Australia let anything untoward happen to him now, hear?
That's where I was going before I saw you got there first!
Someone spilled the creamer.
by Stephanie Peatling
December 21, 2006 - 2:00PM
Emergency crews were called in over chemical scares today at the Prime
Minister's Sydney office and the Foreign Minister's parliamentary office in Canberra.
Up to 50 firefighters and hazardous materials teams were on site at the Phillip Street offices of Prime Minister John Howard in Sydney, where two workers had to be decontaminated after finding a package with an unknown substance in the mail room about 10.30am.
The two were cleared of contamination and allowed to go back to work, said Inspector Jason Clough of NSW Fire Brigades.
"No other workers have been evacuated,'' Mr Clough said. "We are now working with the police in this matter.''
A spokesman for Mr Howard would not comment on whether security around the PM had been increased.
Meanwhile, fire crews raced to Parliament House in Canberra after the discovery of white powder in the office of Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer.
Part of the ministerial wing was cordoned off after the substance was discovered in Mr Downer's office.
Mr Downer is travelling back from London and is expected to fly straight back to his home in Adelaide for Christmas.
A fire truck pulled into the Prime Minister's courtyard shortly after midday and the ministerial entrance to Parliament House was closed.
Fire and rescue personnel with breathing apparatus were already in place.
It is not yet known whether the substance is dangerous or how it entered the building.
The office of the Treasurer, Peter Costello, also had a similar incident in April 2002.
The package, containing mustard coloured powder, triggered a quarantine and decontamination alert.
About 35 staff, police and security officers had to be decontaminated at Parliament House and some staff were locked in their office for up to seven hours until the scene was cleared.
with Jamie Pandaram and AAP
Thanks for the update.
I second that sentiment.
John Howard has more gravitas in his pinkie finger than any US politician save few. Best wishes for fair Australia!
God bless Howard and the Aussies.
Vegemite? Amazing there weren't any casualties.
If so, he sounds like a politician with Clinton's gravitas and the other Clinton's ability to schmooze the truth as they see it from both sides of the mouth. And do it all so well that they've got freepers suckered. Tell me I'm wrong. Tell me this guy is a champion of gun rights Down Under. I kinda doubt it.
Um, no, he's not.
I'm an Australian and I'm a gun owner. It's perfectly legal to own firearms in Australia, though there are some fairly strict rules that have to be followed. For their own reasons, many US gun lobby groups have, deliberately or otherwise, misrepresented the state of gun ownership in Australia. There are millions of legal firearms in private hands.
Isn't he the guy whom Sara Brady and chuckie schumer wish in their black and evil hearts to emulate?
If so, it's because they believed the lies as well.
Isn't he a UN lackey on global gun control and disarming the world (especially the United States) so that peace on earth will reign?
No, he's not. John Howard does support a certain degree of gun control - more than I like, certainly. But he doesn't support disarming the world by any means, and he certainly isn't a UN lackey.
When Howard retires from his post in Australia, America would like to borrow him.
Well, well. I believed that lie too! Thank you VERY much for setting the record straight!
"It's perfectly legal to own firearms in Australia"
So if I wanted to buy an AR-15 in .223 with a 30 rd mag, that's OK? And what if I already owned one- what procedure do I follow to keep it?
Or a Beretta 9mm handgun and a concealment holster, and carry it for self defence, no problems there?
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