Beijing Olympic Torch Relay
Media Conference, Canberra
ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope; ACT Chief Police Officer & AFP Assistant Commissioner Mike Phelan; and Canberra representative of Olympic Torch Relay Committee Ted Quinlan
Thursday 24 April 2008
Question: There’s been a lot of eye witness accounts, particularly with the journalists here, who’ve seen a lot of people attacked and assaulted once the torch has moved on by mobs of – particularly of Chinese nationals. Why were there not enough police to protect people once the flame had moved on?
ACT Chief Police Officer Mike Phelan: Look, from my perspective there were certainly enough police to look after not only the protection of the torch, the runners, but also the public at large. I have heard, you know, some of these complaints made mainly through the media, but I welcome any complaints that the public may have in relation to these particular issues, and we’ll look into it. So I would welcome that. No problems at all.
Question: Have you heard any complaints and are you aware of any injuries and any incidents that might have followed that?
CPO Phelan No, no complaints have been made to ACT Policing and I’m not aware of any injuries either.
Question: Can you just give us an update on how many arrests have been made and the circumstances of some of those arrests?
CPO Phelan Yes, throughout the event we’ve made seven arrests and there are people that will be appearing before the Magistrates Court at a date to be fixed, and they’ve all been charged with offences under the Major Event Security Act for interfering with the running of the torch. So you will have seen someone jump right in front of the – you know, about 15 metres or so in front of Rob de Castella and that person was quickly taken out of the way. So events such as that.
Question: What about assault? Has anybody been charged with assault?
CPO Phelan No.
Question: What penalty does that carry?
CPO Phelan Sorry?
Question: The maximum penalty for that charge?
CPO Phelan It’s an offence that carries a fine.
Question: Mr Stanhope, how would you sum up today?
Jon Stanhope. ACT Chief Minister: I think today was an excellent event – an excellent event – I think it was a success, an outstanding success. The ACT Government and the Canberra community I think generally or broadly are extremely happy with the torch relay, the success of the event, the opportunity to celebrate the Olympic Games, and through the Olympic Games, of course, the torch relay. In all of the conversations I’ve had, and I’ve been around the route today and in the park, the feedback and the responses to me by members of the Canberra community has been overwhelmingly positive. In fact, I have yet to receive any criticism or even a negative comment about any aspect of today’s proceedings. Today was a remarkable success, and of course, there were some issues, some incidents; there were some very strong expressions of nationalism by a large number of expatriate or Chinese – Chinese student residents within Australia, you know, a proud expression of nationalism. There was a protest by groups that wished to draw attention to issues in relation to human rights and a lack of civil liberties, and indeed other incidents of a democratic society or a humane society. And I think overall, having regard to the nature of the event, the level and size of the protest, the size of a very large contingent of expatriate or Chinese student nationals who expressed very strongly and proudly their nationalism, just as of course do all expatriate communities, particularly in relation to issues related to sport. I was reminded today in relation to some of the scenes of proud nationalism expressed or exhibited by the Chinese contingent at the games of Australians at the last World Cup where the scene, of course, was identical to the sort and form of nationalisms which Australians are famous for, particularly in relation to any – to any sporting event.
Question: Are you saying, Mr Stanhope, in regard to .....Chinese community ..... their behaviour was appropriate and you’re happy with their behaviour?
Mr Stanhope: There were incidents today and aspects of the behaviour that I thought were enormously regrettable but perhaps not surprising in the context of a vigorous difference of opinion in relation to – to views that were being expressed today. There were two, I think, strongly and passionately held views, or range of views, in relation to those that were protesting against China and those that were supporting China, there was a clash of view. There was a very strong view expressed by anti-Chinese demonstrators who were demonstrating against a loss of sovereignty and against abuses of human rights within China, and there was a larger group of strongly and proudly nationalistic Chinese who, of course, did not accept that particular point of view. And, of course, that’s what freedom of expression is about. But in the vigour of some of those exchanges, of course, there were incidents that were regretted and which none of us support in relation to abusive behaviour, or actually even from time to time perhaps scenes that left people feeling or concerned for their safety, and I, of course, don’t support or endorse that sort of behaviour at all. But let’s put it in some perspective, there was today at the event two large groups with diametrically opposed views, and those views were expressed loudly and plainly and at times certainly over-assertively and at times aggressively. I support the right to express those views, I don’t support the aggression, and I don’t support the threat that some of those views were expressed with.
Question: Exactly what sort of behaviour did you see that you thought was regrettable?
Mr Stanhope: Just some of the assertiveness and some of the inherent aggression in that exchange of views. I must say, I didn’t see any incidents of violence at all myself, but I certainly saw a very vigorous exchange of views that I guess for a group of protesters that were significantly outnumbered by a much larger group of pro-Chinese or nationalistic participants within the relay. You know, there was a significant difference in number, and I would have imagined for those that were protesting against human rights abusers or against China that at times they must have felt quite intimidated, but it’s the nature, of course, of the right to freedom of expression, and at the end of the day one of the other great successes of the relay today was the opportunity it presented for those that wished to make a point, to express a point of view about China, they had the opportunity, they had the forum to express strongly and stridently to the world their particular point of view about China, and I applaud the fact that they had that opportunity.
Question: Could you give us an estimate of how many pro-Chinese demonstrators you saw?
CPO Phelan Pro-Chinese, probably around about 7,500. Some of the estimates go up to ten [thousand]. But as I said, and I think I aluded to it yesterday, that was well and truly within the estimates that we had as part of our planning exercise.
Question:
What about the crowd as a whole – crowd numbers as a whole?
CPO Phelan Perhaps if I could leave crowd numbers as a whole to Ted [Quinlan].
Ted Quinlan, Canberra Torch Relay Representative: Well, it’s a bit difficult to say. There isn’t double-counting in this, but estimates I have received: Reconciliation Place, 20,000 people; Parliament House, 15,000 people; if there was any swift of foot, they might have made it to both. War Memorial, 3000 – they would be a separate crowd. And then Stage 88, up to 40,000 people, but again most likely you would have some double-counting there. So quite a lot of people came out to support it, some came out to protest, but we couldn’t actually give you – because we’re counting numbers in various spots and people are mobile – we couldn’t actually tell you down to the last 10 how many people were there.
Question: Can I just clarify about the arrests? Were they all charged and were they given notices to appear or were they detained for a period of time and .....?
CPO Phelan No, no, they’re still in custody was my last . . .
Question: So they’ve all been charged and they’re still in custody?
CPO Phelan That was my last information.
Question: Were there others that were detained and then . . . ?
CPO Phelan Some people, yes, some people were detained and then others were let go as well.
Question: At the beginning of the relay there seemed to be some stern words from the AFP officers running alongside the torch to the flame attendants. What was the issue there?
CPO Phelan In the beginning there was a slight communications misunderstanding between the bus and the flame attendants, but as you saw it was quickly sorted out. And as you saw right from the beginning, the numbers were exactly as we said yesterday, and to that I really need to publicly thank the Chinese Ambassador here in Australia and his staff for all the great work they did to work with BOCOG officials, and at the end of the day, I mean, you’ve only got to look at the footage of the overall relay compared – from a security point of view – compared to what we’ve seen overseas, and, you know, I echo the words of the Chief Minister, it was an outstanding success from that point of view.
Question: What was the misunderstanding? What was the misunderstanding?
CPO Phelan Just simply technical communications about how far back and so on.
Question: How far the flame attendants should be from the runner?
CPO Phelan Yes, how far back and so on like that. And then once it was clearly articulated, it was not a problem. And as you saw from what, out of, what, sixteen and half – fifteen and a half kilometres of a sixteen kilometre run it went – it went quite well.
Question: Do you believe that the blue tracksuit wearing Chinese acted appropriately at all times today? We’re aware of an allegation that one of those people actually assaulted a Tibetan.
CPO Phelan I haven’t seen that allegation at all. I haven’t heard that one. So that’s news to me, certainly, and if there is information, you’re most welcome to bring that to our attention and we’ll have a look at it, but it would be difficult for me to comment on it if we haven’t heard about it before here.
Question: Have those officials always acted within the guidelines?
CPO Phelan The ones that we saw and the information I have from all my people is, yes, they did.
Question: The communications issue that you referred to must have been pretty serious and pretty chronic because the Federal Police seemed to be pushing .....
CPO Phelan Sometimes it’s difficult when – particularly over a language barrier . . .
Question: There was push and shove.
CPO Phelan Sorry?
Question: There was push and shove.
CPO Phelan I know, I saw it on – I saw it on the video myself, you know, but, look, it was really a minor issue and once it was sorted out very quickly, we moved on and we had a great relay.
Question: Wasn't that sort of thing sorted out well in advance .....
CPO Phelan Look, it was. You’ve got remember these people – the Chinese flame attendants – only came in on the plane yesterday. You know, prior to that, the arrangements were made yesterday for the three [attendants on the ground] and three [in the bus following]. That was clearly articulated yesterday afternoon. And then this morning when we got on and off the bus and so on it was the right number, all those sort of things. What we had thought was instead of one person running forward, because the relay was moving so slow, as you saw, they took one person away, which was the previous flame attendant, and then they didn’t sprint right up to the next one, they just ran off to the side along the relay. So all we were doing was making sure that they stayed within the security envelope, and once that was clearly articulated to them it wasn’t a problem.
Question: Mr Phelan, there was I think one episode just outside – out the front of Parliament – where a young man sat down with legs crossed in front of the runner. I think we mentioned this a moment ago. He was very effectively picked up and bundled across the barrier by the police who were running with the runners, but then another policeman arrived and leapt on his back and seemed to push him very firmly down onto the ground. Do you feel that what happened there was appropriate? He did not seem to be any sort of threat to anyone.
CPO Phelan I saw it and I thought it was appropriate, given that that person was blocking the route and he was taken into custody and it was a way to effectively put him into custody. And you saw – if you’d followed on a couple more minutes you would have seen – or a couple more seconds – you would have seen that he was well and truly up and walking and no issues at all, and he was put in the back of the van.
Question: Mr Phelan, you had your own – AFP – had their own video surveillance along the route. Will that be used in court cases from now on? And what was the purpose of that?
CPO Phelan The purpose of that is like – well, like anything else, we like to learn from what we do. There are future events that we will have to maintain similar to this, similar planning, and these things here help us as part of a planning tool. It’s standard operating procedure. We do that – that’s nothing special.
Question: And used in court cases?
CPO Phelan I don’t know. It depends whether or not any of it’s actually of an evidentiary value.
Question: Do you think there was enough security behind the barrier for the crowd? I know you’ve spoken of this before, but I was on the northern side of the lake and I noticed at least half a dozen skirmishes, some were of a reasonably serious nature. The police – the police had a very sort of slight presence on that side compared to the other side. I’m just wondering, if all the effort was ongoing .....
CPO Phelan No. There were people deployed to the torch; there were people deployed on traffic duty; there were people deployed to venue security; and also mobile forces. Now, I was in the police operations centre throughout the whole operation and I know some of the skirmishes that would come out, they would come out and they were broken up pretty quickly once we were able to get police to them. And, you know, we’ve got to remember how many square kilometres we were looking after here, and I thought it was more than appropriate to be able to get our people to them, and they did a great job.
Question: Mr Quinlan, Ron Clarke has said that the Canberra had conducted itself well . . . Is that a matter of pride?
Mr Quinlan: Sorry? Is that a matter of pride? Absolutely. And thank you for the first positive question I think we’ve had so far . . .
Mr Stanhope: Yes. thanks, guys.
Mr Quinlan: . . . In this press conference, because look, compared to what has happened around the globe, this has been a tremendous success. It is in large part due to the willingness of the groups that came to abide by their commitment, to support or protest positively, to the AFP for the job that – the fantastic job that they did, for all of the volunteers and all of the staff that worked on it, and I think that Canberra and Australia should be very, very proud. And I’ve spoken to members of the AOC and the IOC today and they are stoked that in fact something that was – looked like going down the tubes may have been turned around by the job that was done by so many this day, and leading up to this day.
Question: Mr Quinlan, can you guarantee that only journalists were given media passes?
Mr Quinlan: No. Well, I didn’t see the Chaser about, if that’s the import of the question.
Question: There are allegations that Department of Immigration officials were carrying media passes and were photographing people in the crowds today. Also, last night outside the Chinese Embassy there were blank media cards around some people’s necks who were photographing and videoing the crowd. Can you guarantee only media operatives were given media passes?
Mr Quinlan: No, I can’t, because in fact the media accreditation process was handled through the AOC, so that’s a nice little duck shove I can give, but – so I cannot guarantee that those people – that everybody that had a media pass didn’t, as an extracurricular duty, take a few photographs of a crowd.
Question: Were you surprised by the level of organisation in bringing in bus loads of people from interstate . . .
Mr Quinlan: I have to say that we heard reports of potential numbers coming to Canberra, and – as it often happens – those numbers don’t materialise so I was surprised that so many came, that so many came so early, it placed pressure on our facilities, but let’s say, all of that being said, the job by everybody involved was still done in an exemplary fashion.
Question: Just how relieved are you that it well off so well .....?
Mr Quinlan: Well, I’m relieved that it’s over, but I – you know, it’ll be over tomorrow when it’s reported on, when it’s analysed, and when we say: “Yes, there was this incident or that incident” but in the overall context Australia has shown the world again that we can organise an event better than anybody, and that’s not just one of the organisers talking, that’s talking on behalf of all the people that sweated blood to do this, because they’ve had to do the job two or three times as the atmosphere changed, and it’s to the credit of the people that worked in Jon’s department, Michael’s people, as I said, volunteers – 500 Canberrans in a volunteer choir, the Aboriginal dancers, the smoking ceremony – which was just so impressive. Please, I implore you, report on some of that.
Question: Mr Stanhope, there’s some speculation that the Chinese Embassy helped bus in Chinese supporters. What is your knowledge of that?
Mr Stanhope: Well, in the context of the number of Chinese – I think Chinese students or Chinese nationals that were – that were present today, and Chief Police Officer Phelan has just indicated that his estimate is there was somewhere in the order of seven and a half thousand to ten thousand. Now, I might say in answer to the earlier question, that is entirely consistent with ACT Policing’s intelligence; ACT Policing was prepared today for in the order of ten thousand Chinese students or Chinese nationals attending this relay today and we planned for that contingency. And I think that’s one aspect of the relay and the planning and the policing that was part and parcel of the relay today and its great success. It was as successful as it was because intelligence through ACT Policing and its intelligence contacts was essentially correct. ACT Policing and Chief Police Officer Phelan has pointed to somewhere in the order of 10,000 Chinese nationals, and somewhere in the order of 2000 pro-Tibet or anti-Chinese demonstrators. And that intelligence actually was almost spot-on.
Question: ..... Did those at the embassy help to do this?
Mr Stanhope: I have absolutely no doubt, and the ambassador has indicated that, you know, he was in contact with certainly representative Chinese organisations and groups, most particularly in Sydney and Melbourne. I don’t know the nature of the linkages or the organisation that came from the embassy, but I know there certainly was contact between – as you would expect – between the embassy and Chinese representative groups and organisations perhaps throughout Australia, but I don’t know of the degree or level of actual physical support or resourcing or organisation that came from the embassy, but certainly there was contact by the ambassador.
Question: Do you believe that was to counter the pro-Tibet rally?
Mr Stanhope: Well, today was the only leg of the Beijing Olympic torch relay in Australia, and I can imagine that if this had been an Australian torch relay in any other national capital anywhere around Australia, the Australian ambassador and embassy would have been, I’m sure, facilitating attendance at an Australian torch relay, say, in Beijing, of Australian expatriates that were at the time living in Beijing or in China. I would have thought that was a very usual or normal incident of an embassy’s role in any country. Just imagine if this had been the Australian torch relay in some other foreign capital. I’m sure the Australians residents in that particular country at the time would have flocked and would have perhaps expected or anticipated some support from their embassy. So I think it’s a quite reasonable thing to do. But as for the motivation, I would have thought it was to facilitate national pride in an event, the Beijing Olympics, of which the Chinese government and the Chinese people, are enormously proud.
Question: [inaudible]
Mr Stanhope: Well, look, I can hypothesise or guess, as you can, but I’d direct those questions to the Chinese Ambassador or to the Chinese Embassy. I can’t answer for the Chinese Embassy. I have absolutely no idea where any of that material was from or how it was provided or the arrangements for its provision. I can guess, as can you, or surmise.
Question: [inaudible]
Mr Stanhope: Well, I’m sure there was some – some central organisation of the appearance but I have no detail of that.
Question: You say it’s a reasonable expectation because so many people have turned out for the only stop in Australia. The other stops have also been the only stops in those countries. The level is far above. Do you think it’s above average?
Mr Stanhope: Well, I’m not sure of the basis of the evidence that you make that particular assertion. Certainly, the level of organisation and the level of success – actually, we’re the 14th stop – and I think this is pertinent – this is the 14th stop of the Beijing Olympic torch relay on its 22 or 23 city route around the world and it’s the first successful relay that’s been run. I think we need to reflect on that today as we celebrate this great success by the national capital and by Australia in showing those fourteen cities that preceded us that it is possible through some organisation, some deep thinking, and some attention to detail, particularly by one’s domestic police force, that you can actually achieve all the aims or all the ends that you would seek to achieve through sponsoring or facilitating events such as we have today. It was an outstanding success. It didn’t go to custard like it did in London despite the fact that they had two to three thousand police. It didn’t go to custard as it did in Paris. It didn’t go to custard. We didn’t have it go onto buses. It wasn’t shuffled off into warehouses. It wasn’t truncated or abandoned after two kilometres. It ran its full course, it was peaceful, there were seven minor incidents. The people of Canberra enjoyed it enormously. It was a matter of enormous pride to Chinese nationals that are currently resident in Australia. A group of up to two thousand people with serious concerns around human rights issues who wished to voice were not in any way trammelled or harassed, officially or by officialdom. They were protected equally with all other people resident throughout the event by ACT Policing, who today through this particular event in relation to their attention to detail, their access to intelligence, the lessons that have been learned from observing fourteen or thirteen disastrous attempts at conducting the relay in every other major city of the world to date that the ACT police force has come out of this as a police force of whom I, as Chief Minister of the ACT, an enormously proud, who the people of Canberra are proud to claim as their own, and who have shown the highest level of professionalism or a higher level of professionalism than the 14 police forces that preceded them in the organisation of an Olympic torch relay. It’s an outstanding success by our police force, by everybody involved in this particular event.
Today was a spectacular success. I’m enormously proud. I’m thrilled. I’m absolutely chuffed at what we’ve achieved in terms of presenting to the world a country that does understand the notion of diversity and of the right to freely express an opinion, and that the infrastructure of government will respond to the right to demonstrate, to express a view, to tell one’s friends in an international sense that, no, we won’t accept some of the behaviours that they would like to see in relation to – for instance, the role of flame attendants. At the end of the day, whilst, as the Chief Police Officer indicated, there were or was an unfortunate moment, it occupied five seconds of a three hour relay, a jostle between a member of the ACT Police force, of whom I’m enormously proud for his attention to his particular duty in a very difficult circumstance dealing with a foreign national in relation to an issue over which over the last month, as you all know, there have been almost daily discussions or consultations with the Chinese Embassy and Chinese officials, at the end of the day ACT Policing and the ACT Government held firm on a position in relation to the appropriate role of the flame attendants, a matter that has attracted enormous attention by the media, and rightly so, but at the end of the day the ACT Government’s position was enforced, it was adopted and enforced and carried through, and at no stage as you saw during this particular relay were there more than two flame attendants on the ground accompanying the flame. It was the position that we put at the outset to BOCOG and to the Chinese officials. It was the position which prevailed.
Question: Mr Quinlan, on a number of occasions there were situations where the crowd of Tibetans were vastly outnumbered by the Chinese and asked to move on, asked to move away, for their own safety and told that they were at risk and that they must move away, particularly in Commonwealth Park. Were there strategies the police had in place to deal with potential mob behaviour?
Mr Quinlan: The situations on the ground were dealt with according to the circumstances at the time. So there were a number of contingencies around keeping groups separated, keeping them apart a fair distance and so on. But, you know, because this is a free democracy, people were allowed to go wherever they wanted to go, but certainly friendly suggestions were made as to where the best place to occupy was. And I’ve got to say that the groups themselves were fantastic in terms of asking us where they wanted us to put them, or where they wanted to go, and that was the pro-Tibetans as well as pro-Chinese supporters as well. They were both asking and both liaising with ACT Policing, and that’s why you saw largely no – no major scuffles at all throughout the whole process because everybody co-operated very well.
Question: Chief Minister, are you any closer to arriving at a final cost for the event?
Mr Stanhope: Our expectation is that the final cost will be somewhere in the order of two million dollars, almost all – actually, I think all of that additional cost. It hasn’t been – you know, we haven’t actually sat down and computed that, but I imagine on some estimates that I’ve received is that in terms of essentially police overtime we are a small police force and of necessity, you know, we have – we have a police force of somewhere in the order of seven hundred, half of those, as the Chief Police Officer indicated, essentially have done double shifts, so we have – and there has been some training, and sort of significant involvement of all of those police officers in preparations for today, and essentially there’s a significant overtime bill. But at the end of the day, I have no real concern about that particular sum. I was more concerned about ensuring that the peace was maintained and that everybody that attended today was safe and secure, not just the participants in the relay but everybody that attended, whether they be residents of Canberra, Chinese students or nationals, or people wishing to express a point of view or to protest, and ACT Policing today achieved that aim, you know, exceptionally well.
Question: Will there be any financial help from the Federal Government?
Mr Stanhope: Pardon?
Question: ..... from the Federal Government?
Mr Stanhope: No. Look, I have to say it’s not – it’s been – in terms of my list of priorities it’s been about priority ten thousand and twenty. I’ll get down to it now that other issues that have been occupying my mind a little more particularly over the last month, but I guess I’m saying I’m not – I don’t wish to sound frivolous about an additional million dollars but in the context of the Olympic torch relay, its management, its arrangement, ensuring the security and safety of everybody in Canberra today, I haven’t really had much regard for the fact that, yes, we’ve racked up an overtime bill, it just has not been an issue for me. Whilst I’m always – or every mindful of the expenditure of public funds, but I had one priority today, that was a successful relay, displaying Australia and through it its national capital to the world, and we’ve succeeded beyond my wildest expectations in doing that. But Canberra, the national capital of Australia, a sublimely beautiful city, displayed today at its best in the full bloom of autumn, has today been showcased to the world, and I have to tell you I would have spent 10 times the $2 million we’ve spent to achieve what I’ve achieved for the national capital today.
Convenor: Just two more questions.
Question: Now that the relay is over, can you tell us how many . . . .
Mr Stanhope: Sorry, Megan?
Question: Now that the relay is over, how many – can you tell us exactly how many police were involved and how many came from interstate?
CPO Phelan Yes, sure. We had about 550 AFP officers that were involved in the whole operation, approximately 350 from ACT Policing, and the balance were made up of some officers from Sydney, about 40 from Sydney, and the rest were from AFP national resources based here in the Territory.
Question: How many of those?
CPO Phelan Five hundred and fifty, minus, what – 300.
Question: {Inaudible]
CPO Phelan Sorry?
Question: Was it 1000 all up or . . .
CPO PhelanNo, no, no. About 550 all up, total.
Question: There seemed to be private security as well. Are they included as well .....?
CPO Phelan We used no private security.
Question: There were people wearing private security .....
Mr Stanhope: They would have been staff. They were staff employed by the ACT Government, particularly for issues around security for the concert.
Question: Commissioner Phelan it was said that along Anzac Parade between 50 and 100 people were running along and they followed the torch all the way around and down Northbourne Avenue harassing others . . .
CPO Phelan They would have been pretty tired, wouldn’t they?
Question: ..... Were you getting those sorts of reports? I mean, are you getting .....
CPO Phelan No. I thought I answered that just before. I’ve had no specific reports from anybody about that, but I do welcome them, so if people want to make those complaints to ACT Policing, we’re more than happy to have a look at it.
Convenor: One last question . . . .
Mr Stanhope: I might just say, the ACT Government, my office, has not received a single complaint from anybody in relation to the events of today. We’ve received nothing but fulsome praise.
Question: Chief Minister, when does the torch leave Canberra? And what advice do you have for your Japanese colleagues?
Mr Stanhope: [My advice is] to try and actually entice [Operations Commander] Shane Connolly and Mike Phelan away from Canberra for a while. It’s quite obvious today that there is one police force in the world that understands how to run a major event, and that’s the ACT police force. That might sound just a little over-egged, but if one has regard to how the relay has progressed – and we learnt from this, Chief Police Officer Phelan will tell you this – there were lessons to be learnt, there always are, and it was obvious from reviewing the way in which the relay was sought to be conducted in London and in Paris and in San Francisco, in other places some very fundamental mistakes were made. They were learnt from, they were observed, and they weren’t repeated here. It is no accident that we achieved today a peaceful, wonderful celebration of the Olympic Games and a fantastic celebration, and a day and event for the people of Canberra. The people of Canberra are essentially incredibly pleased and thrilled and proud of what was achieved today by, most particularly, the organisation, the taskforce, ACT Government officials, and most particularly the planning that was undertaken by Commander Shane Connolly and Chief Police Officer Mike Phelan to ensure the outcome that was achieved today. It wasn’t achieved by accident; it was achieved through detailed planning with all contingencies taken into account, with detailed intelligence, with an eye to detail, and with a willingness to learn from the mistakes, the quite obvious mistakes, that other cities have made. And so it’s not really silly to suggest that if Nagano want a similar result, they really should consult with ACT Policing about the contingencies and the planning that went into today’s event. It was a fantastic achievement by a most professional police force.
Convenor: I think we should wrap up – last question, Brendan, thanks.
Question: As a prominent civil libertarian as well as the Chief Minister, would you have any concerns with organisations like Immigration with their media passes on actually filming or photographing people in the demonstration?
Mr Stanhope: Well, yes, I would, I would have significant concerns in the first instance that media were being misrepresented, or that people who weren’t media were representing themselves as media, you know, a very serious misrepresentation in the first instance, and I would be concerned about, if they weren’t media, who they were and what function it was that they were performing. So, yes, I would have serious concerns, and . . .
Question: Were you checking on these people?
Mr Stanhope: Well, as Ted Quinlan has said, all media accreditation was undertaken by and was the responsibility of the AOC, it wasn’t undertaken by the ACT Government or by the Beijing Olympic Games taskforce. It was undertaken by the AOC, but certainly now that - now that the allegation has been made I’m more than happy to pursue it. But, you know, those sorts of incidents are serious, and to the extent that you or your colleagues have evidence, as always of course, ACT Policing, or more particularly perhaps the Australian Federal Police, and I would think it was a federal police matter, not an ACT Policing matter, if it – that they would perhaps be pleased to receive your statements.
Convenor: Thanks very much, ladies and gentlemen. Good luck with your stories.
MEDIA CONFERENCE CONCLUDED