Declan the Work Experience kid* was on the job today in the ABC online news section:
I don’t know who organised the Steve Irwin extravaganza funeral, but they seem to be continuing the trend to turning the death of an “ordinary bloke” into a complete schemozzle.
Irwin’s public memorial will take place at Australia Zoo on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast from 9:00am AEST and will be telecast both throughout Australia and internationally.A red carpet will be rolled out to welcome more than 1,000 invited guests and 3,000 people who secured free tickets.
Prime Minister John Howard is expected to begin the hour-long proceedings, which will be attended by Queensland Premier Peter Beattie, zoo staff and friends of the Irwin family…
…The service will include a performance by singer John Williamson [BCIB: Hasn’t that family suffered enough?], but the identities of other celebrity guests and details about the order of events have not been confirmed. There will be a burlesque performance by Amanda Vanstone and Alexander Downer, who will don fishnet tights and balloons, encouraging the guests to pop them.
Actually, I made that last sentence up.
A family friend, showing an alarming irony deficiency, was quoted as saying “I think I’d like to keep it as a simple ceremony …”
er, yeah.
*Some people think Declan the Work Experience Kid is a figment of the GG’s imagination. I expect the GG to be on the red carpet, poppin’ them balloons.
