It’s probably safe to assume that tomorrow’s talkback — especially the Neil Mitchell grumpfest — will swing to attack Victorian Water Minister Tim Holding, for you know, walking alone, in the cold, after dark.
The indignant callers will presumably turn on the Bullimore-like expense of the search and recovery. blah blah.
And there’s some point in all that. A single acronym for Tim: EPIRB.
Anyway, all that said and noted I’d just like to say how wonderful it is to have a senior politician in this state who takes some joy in a solitary embrace of wild nature. That to me speaks volumes for the man’s soul.
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Tim Holding is the new Chuck Norris. Chopper found him and told him to soften the f–k down.
He will be Captain Feathertop.
And at some point he’ll have to take a walk back up there (with an EPIRB, and one or two “public-interest” journalistic suckerfish, of course).
Holding the new Putin? Or Thoreau with a portfolio?
Mr. Green, your kindness instantly shamed me. I felt like a churl. But only briefly. When he went missing, I naturally hoped that dim Tim would be returned to his nearest and most expensive. But there are many unanswered questions: climbing alone in a snowfield in hiking boots; refusing help when offered; “falling” 100 metres but remaining uninjured; staying put just below the snowline for how long?; being “disoriented” (when and why?); no EPIRB; didn’t phone (coverage? battery?); saying he was going to walk to Harrietville, i.e. descend the mountain off-track.
Perhaps he’s just an obsessive fitness nerd with a superhero streak. He’s no Bullimore, but journos should now extract the full story without compunction.
Still, not a patch on John Stanhope’s stripped to the waist, helicopter pilot rescue. (looks quite a bit like Clark Kent he does)
Perhaps those who choose to walk alone (in the mountains, without crampons, snow shoes, snow rated tent pegs) without an EPIRB could/should contribute to their rescue costs? Tim should be very glad that none of his rescuers was injured while searching for him.
Imagine what a wonderful example Tim could have provided to tourists and others about the benefits of carrying an EPIRB. He could have been rescued for a fraction of the cost (to taxpayers) in a fraction of the time at much reduced risk and inconvenience to others.
I hope we can rely on the pipeline and desal plant planning being a bit more rigorous than the trip plan for Feathertop.
Perhaps this incident just demonstrates a lack of accountability by our leaders because if anything goes wrong, it’s not them that pay.
lindsayb, I personally think he did set a wonderful example of the benefits of carrying an EPIRB. He could have died.
Now all the kids will want to do it.