HOLDING'S MISADVENTURE

David Lipson, Sky News Political Reporter

3 September 2009

So, Tim Holding is safe and well after his not-so-excellent adventure in the wilderness.

He's copped a lot of flak for hiking alone, in winter and without an emergency beacon.

There was also criticism about the cost of the search and rescue operation, with claims it was much more exorbitant because he's a government minister, a former police and emergency services minister at that. (The revelation a secret AFP surveillance plane was utilised, fitted with super thermal seeking technology, makes it hard to see otherwise)

The Victorian opposition has already labelled Mr Holding a "Super-dill" and "the lightweight from Feathertop" and we can expect these sort of taunts to shadow him for the rest of his days in Parliament.

But will this misadventure really do him any harm politically?

It certainly hasn't damaged his profile and we all know there's no such thing as bad publicity.

The truth is, it will have neither a positive or negative effect on his political aspirations.

Whether he succeeds or fails from here on will, as always, depend on how he performs politically.

However, his time on Feathertop will define him either way.

If he becomes Premier one day, the commentators will point to his "grit and determination" and "level-headedness" as first displayed back in 2009 on top of that mountain.

If he goes down in flames, they'll talk of his "foolhardy, rash and careless attitude" for getting lost up there in the first place.

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Earl Downing, State of Secrecy (16 September 2009 4:07PM) wrote:
When Timmy held his live blog the other day, it quickly became a farce as the only questions being answered by him were the Dorothy Dixers, highly nauseating stuff. I put fifty hard questions to him about corruption in the ALP and the conduct of investigations in several murder cases, they were ignored. I questioned him as to why a Victorian Crime and Corruption commission has not been formed. If Timmy has his eyes on the premiership of this State he should start becoming more honest in his dealings with people. I believe that the reigns of power will be handed over to him just after the next election, just like Bracks did for Brumby. Timmy should hold another Live blog and answer questions as they come not cherry pick. The list of questions not answered by him should be displayed, perhaps this should become a regular occurence. I don't expect him to become honest overnight, but a good start would be to answer the questions I put to him and answer them honestly, particularly those that I have put to him over the years; I won't hold my breath waiting.