BEAZLEY EXHALES AFTER GRASS AMBUSH

At least the hecklers in Ryan are polite.

When the Federal Opposition Leader, Kim Beazley, and the Queensland
Premier, Peter Beattie, were ambushed by the pro-marijuana candidate, Nigel
Freemarijuana, and his supporters at a function at a local primary school
in Ryan yesterday, it could have turned very ugly very quickly.

Armed with placards, Freemarijuana and about 50 supporters heckled the
Opposition Leader from the party's campaign bus known as the cannabus
parked outside the school ground.

While Freemarijuana, the first candidate to be endorsed by the newly
registered Help End Marijuana Prohibition party, or HEMP, was eventually
ejected from the school grounds for lecturing a group of students about
drug culture, his supporters were keen to ask Beazley questions and listen
to his answers.

But as Beazley drove from the school, they rather politely made sure their
message was heard. "We are not criminals, Mr Beazley," one blared through a
loudspeaker attached to the bus.

Beazley defended his decision to attend a function to celebrate Public
Education Day, which just happened to be held at the Jamboree Heights State
School, located in the Ryan electorate.

Before tucking into a plate full of the obligatory triangle sandwiches, the
Opposition Leader denied that holding a political function at a State
primary school was inappropriate.

"This is a vibrant democracy, and there'll always be a bit of anarchy at
the edges," he said.

What Beazley did finally admit to was that the federal Labor Party had
employed the help of Beattie in the final days of the campaign simply
because of his vote-pulling potential. "He's a vote-magnet," Beazley said.