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Cheney's Tassie Jaunt - No More Than A Fishes' Rumour?


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Cheney's Tassie jaunt - no more than a fishes' rumour?

Betty Jones of North Hobart can relax. "Don't shoot!" she wrote in a letter to the Tasmanian press. "PLEASE assure us that Dick Cheney is coming to Tasmania to fish and not to shoot."

The good news for Betty Jones is that the US Vice-President, who arrives in Australia on an official visit next week, did plan to go to the island state for a spot of fly fishing, not hunting.

This was also good news for Tasmania's furry and feathered wildlife, not to mention Mr Cheney's companions, given the unfortunate incident last year when the man who is just a heartbeat away from the world's most powerful office mistook his 78-year-old shooting partner for a quail and peppered him with buckshot.

Now, as doubts emerge over Mr Cheney's fishing plans, maybe even Tasmania's famous brown trout can relax, too. Or can they? The story, which remains a bit fishy, goes like this.

Mr Cheney arrives in Sydney on February 22 to thank Australia for its contribution in Iraq and Afghanistan. He will attend a meeting of federal cabinet's national security committee and hold talks with Prime Minister John Howard.

After two days of onerous meetings, Mr Cheney was due to fly south next Saturday, where he had booked two nights at London Lakes, in Tasmania's Central Highlands, Australia's only international-standard fly fishing lodge and a favourite for VIPs.

Mr Cheney, who takes his hunting and fishing very seriously, knew of the lodge's reputation and had fished in the US with its former owner, Jason Garrett.

London Lakes boasts of the solitude it offers guests, but Mr Cheney wasn't travelling alone. His party booked out all 20 beds at the resort, plus all the rooms at nearby Bronte Park, a former hydro-electric construction village with accommodation for scores of people.

Then a couple of weeks ago, US officials, including secret service agents, descended on London Lakes to assess its suitability. Their focus was on security and logistics, not finding the best place for Mr Cheney to cast his line.

"I'm told there was a couple of sedans and two or three mini-buses, all full, with people from the (US) embassy," Greg Beercroft, manager of London Lakes, told The Sunday Age.

"I think it's been cancelled," Mr Beercroft said. "I think they decided it was just too tight, the scheduling. It just didn't fit in with his timing."

He doubted security was an issue. "London Lakes is private and quite isolated," he said. "The only threat here is wallabies."

Shooting is not allowed at London Lakes, so even if he'd wanted to, Mr Cheney wouldn't have been able to try to bag a famous Tasmanian drop bear, a species that has evaded visiting mainlanders and Yanks for years.

So for Tasmania, it looks like the vice-presidential visit that got away. Or does it? Mr Beercroft agreed Mr Cheney could have found a different fishing spot. "He might still come to Tassie. They wouldn't tell me. I wouldn't be advised."

An occasionally reliable source reasonably close to powerful figures in Hobart told The Sunday Age that, based on nothing but innate Tasmanian scepticism, he suspected news of the cancellation was a cover story.

"I mean, I reckon they would say that, wouldn't they? I reckon he could still be comin'," the source said.

Information staff at the US embassy in Canberra did not answer the phone when The Sunday Age called. It's not known if they had gone fishing.

News of the Tasmanian jaunt was first reported by a Washington newsletter, The Nelson Report, which is reputed to have good inside sources.

It was then picked up by the Democrat-leaning Centre for American Progress, a think tank that suggested the Tassie trip would give Mr Cheney, a climate change sceptic, the opportunity to experience global warming first hand.

It cited Tasmania's recent "freak show" weather that has included bushfires, heatwaves and snow. Tasmanians have a word for this. They call it summer.

Mr Cheney's visit comes 12 months after he accidentally shot and wounded his friend Harry Whittington during a quail hunt at a Texas ranch. Mr Whittington was behind the Vice-President when Mr Cheney turned and fired.

Mr Cheney later described the shooting as "one of the worst days of my life".

Betty Jones of North Hobart can relax. "Don't shoot!" she wrote in a letter to the Tasmanian press. "PLEASE assure us that Dick Cheney is coming to Tasmania to fish and not to shoot."

The good news for Betty Jones is that the US Vice-President, who arrives in Australia on an official visit next week, did plan to go to the island state for a spot of fly fishing, not hunting.

This was also good news for Tasmania's furry and feathered wildlife, not to mention Mr Cheney's companions, given the unfortunate incident last year when the man who is just a heartbeat away from the world's most powerful office mistook his 78-year-old shooting partner for a quail and peppered him with buckshot.

Now, as doubts emerge over Mr Cheney's fishing plans, maybe even Tasmania's famous brown trout can relax, too. Or can they? The story, which remains a bit fishy, goes like this.

Mr Cheney arrives in Sydney on February 22 to thank Australia for its contribution in Iraq and Afghanistan. He will attend a meeting of federal cabinet's national security committee and hold talks with Prime Minister John Howard.

After two days of onerous meetings, Mr Cheney was due to fly south next Saturday, where he had booked two nights at London Lakes, in Tasmania's Central Highlands, Australia's only international-standard fly fishing lodge and a favourite for VIPs.

Mr Cheney, who takes his hunting and fishing very seriously, knew of the lodge's reputation and had fished in the US with its former owner, Jason Garrett.

London Lakes boasts of the solitude it offers guests, but Mr Cheney wasn't travelling alone. His party booked out all 20 beds at the resort, plus all the rooms at nearby Bronte Park, a former hydro-electric construction village with accommodation for scores of people.

Then a couple of weeks ago, US officials, including secret service agents, descended on London Lakes to assess its suitability. Their focus was on security and logistics, not finding the best place for Mr Cheney to cast his line.

"I'm told there was a couple of sedans and two or three mini-buses, all full, with people from the (US) embassy," Greg Beercroft, manager of London Lakes, told The Sunday Age.

"I think it's been cancelled," Mr Beercroft said. "I think they decided it was just too tight, the scheduling. It just didn't fit in with his timing."

He doubted security was an issue. "London Lakes is private and quite isolated," he said. "The only threat here is wallabies."

Shooting is not allowed at London Lakes, so even if he'd wanted to, Mr Cheney wouldn't have been able to try to bag a famous Tasmanian drop bear, a species that has evaded visiting mainlanders and Yanks for years.

So for Tasmania, it looks like the vice-presidential visit that got away. Or does it? Mr Beercroft agreed Mr Cheney could have found a different fishing spot. "He might still come to Tassie. They wouldn't tell me. I wouldn't be advised."

An occasionally reliable source reasonably close to powerful figures in Hobart told The Sunday Age that, based on nothing but innate Tasmanian scepticism, he suspected news of the cancellation was a cover story.

"I mean, I reckon they would say that, wouldn't they? I reckon he could still be comin'," the source said.

Information staff at the US embassy in Canberra did not answer the phone when The Sunday Age called. It's not known if they had gone fishing.

News of the Tasmanian jaunt was first reported by a Washington newsletter, The Nelson Report, which is reputed to have good inside sources.

It was then picked up by the Democrat-leaning Centre for American Progress, a think tank that suggested the Tassie trip would give Mr Cheney, a climate change sceptic, the opportunity to experience global warming first hand.

It cited Tasmania's recent "freak show" weather that has included bushfires, heatwaves and snow. Tasmanians have a word for this. They call it summer.

Mr Cheney's visit comes 12 months after he accidentally shot and wounded his friend Harry Whittington during a quail hunt at a Texas ranch. Mr Whittington was behind the Vice-President when Mr Cheney turned and fired.

Mr Cheney later described the shooting as "one of the worst days of my life".

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