Debnam conducts 'scientific' taste tests ...

Excerpt from Border Mail:

Debnam’s stunt, Morris’s punt

23 February 2007

Syd Payne wasn’t to be fooled when NSW Opposition Leader Peter Debnam thrust a cup of water at him and invited him to taste it.

“This is a stunt is it?,” asked Mr Payne, 83.

“No this is a test, this is a scientific test on the streets,” replied Mr Debnam.

Whether it was a stunt, or a scientific test, Mr Debnam was out on the streets of Sydney’s Manly yesterday campaigning over water.

With water shaping as the key issue in the March 24 election, Mr Debnam was offering taste tests to promote his policy of adding treated effluent to Sydney’s drinking water supply if dam levels drop to 20 per cent.

He was in Manly because it’s a marginal, independent-held seat the Liberal Party hopes to win.

Keen to discuss the positives of recycled water with fellow passengers on the Manly ferry, Mr Debnam at first had a problem finding any Australians, let alone NSW residents.

After speaking to several English tourists, Mr Debnam finally found the Bannermans, a couple from nearby Collaroy.

Unfortunately for Mr Debnam though, Jim Bannerman isn’t too keen on drinking tap water, let alone treated effluent.

He eventually conceded he could be persuaded to drink treated sewage.

“Mind you, for a little while I might boil it then drink it later, but that’s just me,” Mr Bannerman said.

Mr Debnam was greeted with curious looks at Manly wharf, with several people asking “Is he a politician?”, while one young boy approached the Opposition Leader to ask: “Are you the government?”.

See - Debnam hangs career on changing people's perceptions in 6 weeks.