[MSN] Australia Parliament on guard against MP art theft

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  Australia Parliament on guard against MP art theft

Wed Nov 28, 2007 5:38am GMT

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Officials at Australia's Parliament House on 
Wednesday took down valuable artworks to keep lawmakers dumped in 
weekend elections from stealing them as they began packing up offices.

"We do make sure we take out all our artworks, all the Parliament 
House's art collection that are in people's offices, before too much 
disappears," said Hillary Penfold, the Secretary of the Department of 
Parliamentary Services.

Labor Prime Minister-elect Kevin Rudd on Saturday swept aside 11 years 
of conservative rule under John Howard. Dumped ministers and lawmakers 
from both sides of the political divide were on Wednesday vacating 
offices and removing classified files for disposal.

Penfold said many offices in the sprawling Parliament house

were hung with significant artworks belonging to the national collection 
and on loan to MPs to decorate offices.

Pictures could also be inadvertently taken in the cleanup, she told 
local radio.

Around 500 ministerial staff have lost their jobs in the wake of last 
Saturday's election, making them unemployed less than a month from 
Christmas.

(Reporting by Rob Taylor; Editing by Bill Tarrant)

http://uk.reuters.com