Forestry
and Conservation Minister Ian Macdonald is not happy with Crikey – in
particular our story on Monday which reported his media release encouraging
forestry workers to get stuck into protesting greenies on the NSW south coast
forest.

He smells a conspiracy, and reckons we’re liaising
with envrionmentalists to besmirch his name. The Minister told the
Senate yesterday that the protesters and “their mates at Crikey.com
criticised me for referring to them as ‘the bong brigade’. For
Crikey.com’s benefit, I say the facts speak for themselves, and I rest my
case.”

“Crikey.com went on, rather unkindly I have to say, to describe me
– and incidentally they could not spell my name correctly – as ‘a
low-profile minister in the Howard pecking order in charge of forestry
and conservation.'”

“Crikey.com, you are probably right. I am a
low-profile minister. I just try to do my job, and do the right thing for the
people of Australia.”

Senator Kay Patterson interjects: “You are a
minister, that is the important thing.”

Macdonald: “As you say,
Senator Patterson, I am a minister in the national government, more than Hugo
Kelly will ever be. I say this to Crikey.com: I may be low-profile, but
Crikey.com is super low profile in my electorate of Queensland.”

“That
is the electorate that has returned the Howard government a majority in this
Senate with the election of Russell Trood to the fourth Senate position from
Queensland in this parliament. Perhaps Crikey.com owe me some reward for
quadrupling their profile in their home state of Queensland.”

As
Churchill might have said: a humble man, with much to be humble about.
Sadly we can’t give the minister a free subscription under our subs-for-mention
offer because he didn’t get our name right. Subscribers with ideas about what
reward we should offer Minister Macdonald should send their suggestions to
hugo@crikey.com.au