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Substance found at PM's office (John Howard - evacuation at Parliament House, Canberra)
news.com.au ^ | 21st December 2006

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 ...


TOPICS: Australia/New Zealand; Breaking News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: australia
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Hopefully (and I daresay probably) nothing serious.
1 posted on 12/20/2006 8:16:43 PM PST by naturalman1975
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To: naturalman1975

God preserve that man! Advance Australia Fair!


2 posted on 12/20/2006 8:21:13 PM PST by Pyro7480 ("Give me an army saying the Rosary and I will conquer the world." - Pope Blessed Pius IX)
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To: naturalman1975
AN unidentified substance has been found at Prime Minister John Howard's Sydney office building

They found leadership. It's unidentified because most people don't recognize it anymore.
3 posted on 12/20/2006 8:24:38 PM PST by July 4th (A vacant lot cancelled out my vote for Bush.)
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To: naturalman1975

Amazing- the (still unsolved) anthrax attacks of 2001 still trigger all out panic.


4 posted on 12/20/2006 8:29:49 PM PST by chet_in_ny
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To: July 4th
They found leadership. It's unidentified because most people don't recognize it anymore.

Bravo. Prayers there is nothing (else) to this.

5 posted on 12/20/2006 8:30:27 PM PST by cgk (I don't see myself as a conservative. I see myself as a religious, right-wing, wacko extremist.)
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To: naturalman1975

Prime Minister Howard is exemplary and exceptional. Don't you people of Australia let anything untoward happen to him now, hear?


6 posted on 12/20/2006 8:32:00 PM PST by SierraWasp (For Republicans, the Reagan Conservatism Movement was the LIFE of the Party!!! We need it back!!!)
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To: July 4th

That's where I was going before I saw you got there first!


7 posted on 12/20/2006 8:35:34 PM PST by Solamente (Let all the poisons that lurk in the mud hatch out...)
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To: naturalman1975

Someone spilled the creamer.


8 posted on 12/20/2006 8:45:18 PM PST by Lunatic Fringe (Say "NO" to the Trans-Texas Corridor)
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To: naturalman1975; WhistlingPastTheGraveyard
Chemical scare at PM's office

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

9 posted on 12/20/2006 8:46:13 PM PST by cgk (I don't see myself as a conservative. I see myself as a religious, right-wing, wacko extremist.)
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To: cgk

Thanks for the update.


10 posted on 12/20/2006 8:52:21 PM PST by blam
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To: Pyro7480
God preserve that man!

I second that sentiment.

11 posted on 12/20/2006 8:54:06 PM PST by KJC1 (Right when you think you're really good is when you need to pay the most attention)
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To: naturalman1975
Probably this:


12 posted on 12/20/2006 9:30:54 PM PST by Bosco (Remember how you felt on September 11?)
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To: naturalman1975

John Howard has more gravitas in his pinkie finger than any US politician save few. Best wishes for fair Australia!


13 posted on 12/20/2006 9:38:59 PM PST by RushCrush (Reporting live from the holy city of Chicago)
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To: naturalman1975

God bless Howard and the Aussies.


14 posted on 12/20/2006 10:27:00 PM PST by AliVeritas (Even if a mother forgets the child of her womb, I will not forget you.)
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To: Bosco

Vegemite? Amazing there weren't any casualties.


15 posted on 12/21/2006 12:30:35 AM PST by Majic (Only a true American could be dissatisfied with a country like America.)
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To: Pyro7480
Ummmmmm Isn't Howard the guy who GRABBED ALL OF THE AUSSIES FIREARMS and had them crushed into scrap metal? Isn't he the guy whom Sara Brady and chuckie schumer wish in their black and evil hearts to emulate? 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?

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.

16 posted on 12/21/2006 2:08:16 AM PST by ExSoldier (Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on dinner. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.)
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To: ExSoldier
Ummmmmm Isn't Howard the guy who GRABBED ALL OF THE AUSSIES FIREARMS and had them crushed into scrap metal?

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.

17 posted on 12/21/2006 2:21:21 AM PST by naturalman1975 ("America was under attack. Australia was immediately there to help." - John Winston Howard)
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To: naturalman1975

When Howard retires from his post in Australia, America would like to borrow him.


18 posted on 12/21/2006 4:06:53 AM PST by HonestConservative (We make war that we might live in peace.)
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To: naturalman1975; WhistlingPastTheGraveyard
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.

Well, well. I believed that lie too! Thank you VERY much for setting the record straight!

19 posted on 12/21/2006 5:13:20 AM PST by cgk (I don't see myself as a conservative. I see myself as a religious, right-wing, wacko extremist.)
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To: naturalman1975

"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?


20 posted on 12/21/2006 5:27:02 AM PST by DBrow
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