Car Plates Didn't Add Up
Sydney Morning Herald
Thursday September 1, 1988
This is the tale of MNR-002. At first glance it would appear to be a very ordinary number plate - not fast nor flighty and not, you might think, personalised.
But MNR-002's existence on a NSW government car led to suggestions in the Upper House yesterday that ministers faced a security risk because they disclosed their identities by choosing personalised number plates.
The leader of the Democrats, Ms Elisabeth Kirkby, momentarily baffled the House when she asked why ministers could choose personalised plates. Pressed for information, she disclosed that the Minister for Natural Resources, Mr Ian Causley, was riding around in a car labeled MNR-002.
The Acting Leader of the Government, Mr Bob Rowland Smith, professed amazement and claimed that probably only Ms Kirkby would have made the connection between Minister, Natural Resources and MNR-002.
Anyway, added Mr Rowland Smith, his government-issue car had boring old plates that contained the letters SRT.
Not adding that he is Minister for Sport and Recreation, Mr Rowland Smith dismissed the issue as another problem inherited from the previous Government. The Opposition pointed out that there was no Ministry of Natural Resources when Labor left office.
The culprits, it emerged later, were two former Labor ministers, Mr John Aquilina and Mr Michael Cleary. Mr Aquilina had celebrated his appointment in January 1986 as the second Minister for Natural Resources by choosing MNR-002- a portfolio later dismembered.
© 1988 Sydney Morning Herald