Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott are escorted by police and bodyguards out of an award ceremony after Aboriginal tent embassy protesters tried to get into the building in Canberra (AAP Image/Lukas Coch) Source: AAP
"standingawkwardly and silently. For Halloween"..Photos of Tony Hodges, a former adviser to PM Julia Gillard from his website. Picture: Tumblr Source: Supplied
IN the year since he unwittingly touched off the Australia Day race riot a former Gillard adviser has been taking in the sights of Europe and working in London in PR for an internet shopping related site.
Tony Hodges has also appeared to make light of the political fallout from the riot which saw the prime minister and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott having to flee a Canberra restaurant under police protection.
His Twitter profiles states "you guys are still talking about that?''
Mr Hodges' Tumblr page "Tony Stands Awkwardly'' shows photographs of him dressed as a Dracula type character on Halloween with the caption "#standingawkwardly and silently. For Halloween,'' in the moat of a castle in the UK, touring Paris and in Spain.
Interest in Mr Hodges' travels and work over the past year appeared to touch a sensitive nerve in the prime minister's office with Ms Gillard's media director John McTernan asking "Why are you trying to contact Tony Hodges?''
"A man nobody has ever heard of, doing a job nobody knows what it is,'' Mr McTernan said.
"It is not a story, that's all I am saying. My staff are not stories. My former staff for f...ing sure aren't stories. I think it is ridiculous. I don't want to keep that to myself.
"Tony Hodges is not a story. Tony Hodges is a private citizen, an Australian working abroad.''
Until recently Mr Hodges had worked at Flubit.com which helps consumers find good deals on online products.
Mr Hodges moved to London after his resignation from the prime minister's officer - where he had worked for more than two and a half years - was accepted following the Australia Day riot.
He provided a tip off about Mr Abbott's location which was passed to protesters who surrounded The Lobby restaurant where an Australia Day ceremony was taking place to hand out National Emergency Medals.
Mr Hodges did not return calls.
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