PM Gillard accidentally stakes claim to Elgin Marbles. International Backlash.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) September 12, 2010 -- Canberra is on diplomatic collision course with London and Athens as Prime Minister Gillard accidentally stakes claim to Elgin Marbles.

Less than a week after the government struck a deal with Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott, a miscommunication between one of the independents and Prime Minister Julia Gillard has triggered its first major crisis.

Responding to a note from Windsor reminding the government of the conditions for his continued support, Gillard moved yesterday morning to reveal that Australia had staked a claim to the disputed Elgin Marbles.

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PM Gillard accidentally stakes claim to Elgin Marbles. International Backlash.

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The announcement drew immediate fire from Britain and Greece, the two governments involved in the two hundred year dispute over ownership of the ancient relics, with both threatening to urge the European Union to initiate punitive measures against Australia.

The Elgin Marbles are a collection of sculptures depicting life in the ancient city-state of Athens that for more than 2,000 years adorned buildings such as the Parthenon and an ancient fish and chip shop in The Plaka area at the foot of the Acropolis

The 1803, the British ambassador to Ottoman controlled Greece, the syphilitic and delusional Lord Elgin, decided the marble carvings would compliment his collection of stuffed natives. After receiving permission from the Turkish authorities he removed them and sent them back to London.

Greek authorities have sought their return ever since and Australia’s surprise bid has only served to add to frustration in Athens.

However it appears that Gillard’s move was based on a miscommunication.

Speaking to Vote Smart Windsor agreed that he was thinking of something else when he wrote the words, “Claim the Elgin marbles” on the list of political demands he submitted to both the ALP and Coalition.

“What I meant to say was that the federal government should claim the right to regulate the importation of foreign bananas,” conceded Windsor.

Despite the error he rejects claims that he is to blame for the crisis.

“If the ALP want my support then they are going to have to learn to read my mind. I’m a busy man. I’ve got hundreds of issues on which I have to pontificate. I can’t be expected to be 100 per cent right 100 per cent of the time. This whole fiasco is entirely the fault of the ALP.”
But Windsor’s admission will have little impact in Europe where Britain and Greece’s neighbours are rallying to their cause.

Sources who spoke exclusively to Vote Smart from Brussels confirmed that an emergency meeting of the EU Sanctions Committee had been called for 11.00am tomorrow morning to discuss imposing sanctions against Australia.

This is likely to include a ban on imports of Australian beef, lamb and emu meat and restrictions on the purchase of a range of Australian cheeses, wine, and high end manufactures such as ugg boots.

On the diplomatic front the EU will begin lobbying against Australia’s bid for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council, a key plank in Labor’s foreign policy agenda, while the British government of David Cameron has announced it will begin deportation proceedings against expatriates such as Rolf Harris, Peter Andre, Clive James and Germaine Greer.

The prospect of Greer returning to Australia after almost 40 years of self-imposed exile has caused widespread panic in Canberra with several states, including her home state of Victoria, threatening to secede if the curmudgeonly geriatric indicates she will seek residency.

However it is retaliatory actions by the Greek government of George Papandreou that could generate the most difficulties.

In a nationally televised address Papandreou told Greeks that Athens was tired of being insulted by Australia.

He pointed to the refusal of the ALP and Coalition to consult with anti-gambling independent Senator Nick Xenophon during recent political negotiations and the failure to present Order of Australia awards to George Donikian, Nick Giannopoulos, and Mark Philippoussis as examples of deep-seated anti-Hellenistic sentiment in Canberra.

Papandreou told his audience that Athens would no longer ignore such overt acts of provocation and had responded to Gillard’s claim against the Elgin Marbles by launching a counter claim to Uluru and Don Bradman’s baggy green cap, which is currently housed in a private museum in the home of former Prime Minister and failed candidate for the International Cricket Council John Howard.

More importantly, from a longer term perspective the incident might have placed Gillard in a no-win situation.

Not only has the bid raised the prospect of severe economic sanctions and a public backlash triggered by the return to Australia of a handful of odious self-obsessed parvenus, but if the bid is successful the erotic nature of some of the carvings is likely to draw the ire of conservatives.

Outgoing Family First Senator Steven Fielding said that the depiction of naked men and women on the ancient carvings was a “clear case of pornography” and would corrupt the minds of youth.

He speculated that looking at the carvings had caused “the epidemic of homosexuality” that brought down the Athenian state.

Catholic Cardinal George Pell agreed, saying that he would personally lead a campaign to stop the depiction of “naked Greek women” from any public places.

He admitted he was more sanguine about the depiction of naked Greek men as “they were less offensive on the eyes than women and less likely to tempt viewers into sinful activity.”

Photo" Lord Elgin with Greek assistant.

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Elgin Marbles     Family First     greece     Julia Gillard     nick xenophon     Politics.