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Fly Ted Down Under Journeys through the land of Oz

Canberra

Contemplating Canberra on the roof atop Parliament House. I only had one question, where do they keep the boot?! It's one of their proudest traditions!

AUSTRALIA | Sunday, 13 March 2011 | Views [505]

Contemplating Canberra on the roof atop Parliament House. I only had one question, where do they keep the boot?! It's one of their proudest traditions!

In the Australian House, the Prime Minister and her Deputy sit at the left side of the big desk in the rolly chairs, directly across from the Opposition leader and his deputy (the opposition right now is the Liberal/National coalition, the deputy is thus the National Party leader). Thus the leaders don't sit on the front benches but at the actual table. Copies of Hansard line the table in the middle, and the brackets for the mace are at the bottom end. The smaller desk below is for the official recordist of Parliament, who in fact does not type every word anymore but monitors the voice recognition system, and every 12 minutes switches out with someone to double-check and publish the official record of every word uttered (insults included).

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The fine view from Parliament House roof down the national lawn to Old Parliament House, now the outstanding Museum of Australian Democracy, and past that to Lake Burley Griffin, Anzac Parade, the War Memorial in the distance and Mt. Ainslie. The arch before the lake is the stage set up for the big INXS concert that night (featuring Canada's own J.D. Fortune!).

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