THE MEANING OF OZ - All you need to know!

Awesome. A boat trip around the canals sounds intersting. It would be a good way to gauge the city. Thanks.

Bernie backs his Billion $$ girl after MP's bogan slur
March 15, 2012 - 12:36PM/the AGE


Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone has called for MP Kelvin Thomson's sacking after the politician verbally bashed his daughter Tamara in a Parliament speech.

Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone has called for the sacking of a Victorian MP who labelled his daughter a "billionaire bogan".

Mr Ecclestone said federal Labor MP Kelvin Thomson's comments had been "stupid" although he questioned what he had meant by "bogan".

"I didn't know what that means, does he speak English?" he asked on radio station 3AW.


Tamara Ecclestone ... The heiress was labelled a 'bogan' in Federal Parliament. Photo: Getty Images

Informed that being called a bogan implied his big-spending eldest daughter Tamara had no class, Mr Ecclestone suggested the insult was more suited to Mr Thomson.

"Who was the half-wit who said these things ... he should be fired because he's a bit of an idiot, he obviously doesn't know what he's talking [about]. You're not a communist state there are you?" he queried.

"She does a lot more work for charity than Mr-whatever-his-name has, believe you me, and given a lot more money to charity."


Family affair ... Bernie Ecclestone with his other daughter Petra. Photo: Reuters

Mr Thomson, in a speech to Federal Parliament this week, said Victorian taxpayers were bankrolling Ms Ecclestone's ostentatious lifestyle, which is documented in a reality television show called Billion $$ Girl.

The show features Ms Ecclestone at her multi-million dollar London home, which includes an elevator for her Ferrari, motorised shoe racks for her 200 pairs, a private bowling alley complete with customised bowling balls, a crystal bath worth more than $1.5 million, an in-house nightclub; and a spa and wardrobe for her five pampered pooches.

Ms Ecclestone's personal website says the television series reveals "her world .. in all its exclusive glory for the very first time".

Mr Thomson called for a debate on whether Victorian taxpayers should continue to line the pockets of the Ecclestone family or if the $50 million spent on the Grand Prix would be better used to fund a new high school, place power lines underground in bushfire-prone areas, or promote local tourism in flood-affected towns.

"One thing I am absolutely sure of, there are better ways to spend $50 million, year in and year out, than bankrolling Bernie's billionaire bogan," Mr Thomson said in Parliament.

This morning, he refused to back away from his comments and said Ms Ecclestone was fair-game given her public profile.

"She's not some Greta Garbo saying 'I want to be left alone'," he said on Sunrise.

"If you watch the documentary you'll see that she is a willing, indeed enthusiastic participant in charting this extravagant and self-indulgent lifestyle so it's not surprising when people comment on it."

But Mr Ecclestone said he and his children's money had been legitimately earned and could be spent on whatever they desired.

"Any money my children have got they didn't steal, any money I've made I didn't steal, that's where they've got money from and they can spend it in any way they want," he told 3AW.

Mr Ecclestone said he thought Australia was a country that supported entrepreneurs and questioned whether Mr Thomson had "communist tendencies" before dismissing his importance.

"He's a person of little if any consequence and we shouldn't be bothered with him," he said.

As for the future of the city's Grand Prix, which begins today, Mr Ecclestone said the race's contract would not be renegotiated before it ends in 2015.

He said it was too early to speculate on whether the Grand Prix would remain in Melbourne beyond its current contract.

"We don't have to make a commitment yet, the world changes so fast," he said.

I have to say I preferred the Grand Prix to live on top of more than I do the current V8 thing.