THE old adverts for Oxfam used to say: ‘Give a man a fish and he can feed himself for a day. But give a man the means to catch his own fish, and he’ll be able to feed himself and his family for a whole lifetime.’
Well in a similar vein: Give a bogan a bottle of Bundy rum and he’ll get pissed. But give a bogan a bottle of Bundy, a long weekend and a ute, and he’ll be able perform ‘ripper’ burnouts all weekend long.
Yes folks. The Queen’s birthday long weekend not only heralded in Germany’s shellacking of the Sheilaroos but also the favourite pastime of mullet-sporting, flannelette shirt-wearing, buck-toothed banjo-playing bogans around the state of Victoria as they notched up more than 8000 road offences.
Easily topping the list was the drunk P-plate driver who was caught doing burn-outs in his ute while two mates rode in the rear tray. The 18-year old lost control in Croyon South and smashed into a tree, causing his bogan mates in the rear to sustain spinal injuries.
Superintendent Neville Taylor, who led the weekend’s police blitz Operation Aegis VIII, said: “That driver has lost control of the car, crashed into a tree and we’ve now got two people who are in hospital with serious injuries.
“These [bogans] obviously are some of the few that are just not getting the message … and are prepared to put themselves and others’ lives at risk.
“I’m a little bit in disbelief with some of these people as to why they’re not getting the message.”