news of her death<\/a> aged 80 today – almost didn\u2019t happen when bureaucrats working nine to five rejected her request to bring her luxury tour bus to Australia.<\/p>\nWhile she was happy to travel from her Nashville home to Australia on private jet, Parton insisted on making the journey between cities with her entourage on her custom-made mobile home.<\/p>\n
Customs officials ruled the massive 14.5m black bus busted Australian regulations: Two metres too long, five centimetres too wide and too heavy for our roads.<\/p>\n
Roads authorities also had a problem with the bus doors opening into traffic because they were on the right side of her vehicle, in accordance with US conditions.<\/p>\n
Parton\u2019s Australian promoters Michael Chugg and Matthew Lazarus-Hall sought Anthony Albanese\u2019s intervention in the red tape bus row which threatened to derail the tour.<\/p>\n
The rhinestone queen\u2019s management reps had warned \u201cNo bus, no tour,\u201d meaning 12 concerts in November and December that year, with more than 100,000 tickets sold, were in jeopardy.<\/p>\n
The future Prime Minister liaised with Customs and state and federal bureaucrats to avoid an international incident.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was a practical example of what happens when you have different sets of rules across eight states and territories,\u2019\u2019 Mr Albanese said. <\/p>\n
\u201cRules are there for a reason. But common sense tells you Dolly Parton touring here is good for her fans and the economy.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Mr Albanese issued an edict to his own senior federal transport bureaucrats to \u201cget this done\u2019\u2019 and encouraged roads officials to produce a waiver for the buses\u2019 right-hand doors and weight issues.<\/p>\n
After two months of negotiations, the bus was cleared for landing on Australian roads.<\/p>\n
At the press conference in Sydney to kick off the tour, Parton promised Albo he would get a cuddle and she would \u201csmear him with lip gloss\u201d in gratitude for making it all happen.<\/p>\n
He finally got to meet her backstage at one of her Sydney concerts.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a memorable cuddle,\u201d he said after their meet and greet.<\/p>\n
\u201cTalent is permanent and Dolly has got it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parton had absolutely no hassles clearing her tour bus for her next Australian tour in 2014.<\/p>\n
Read related topics:Anthony Albanese<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese\u2019s greatest claims to fame in his days as Transport Minister in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80662,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[126042,126045,126035,126066,83356,126065,85527,70350,126053,194,49389,126070,56548,126061,126033,126086,46905,54957,126082,126077,38797,1869,2736,126059,76489,126040,483,22,23,126037,126047,126063,126092,21,52440,8325,39588,110949,126081,125898,19702,126074,37067,126075,30506,48987,126044,126069,126060,57213,126090,125847,126041,126055,126073,126048,126064,126062,126052,126089,104103,102969,126049,126072,126058,126046,126084,45790,52183,35086,41938,152,126057,126071,126036,126076,126085,125848,13091,49078,35801,126034,126078,17802,126067,126091,247,45547,64911,126088,47431,126051,126080,126054,41503,126093,126039,50892,126056,126068,101749,126038,86665,126050,126043,2223,5226,126079,38530,126087,126083],"class_list":["post-80661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-s-australian-promoters-michael-chugg","tag-s-comeback-tour","tag-s-greatest-claim","tag-s-greatest-claims","tag-s-intervention","tag-s-management-reps","tag-s-tour","tag-000-tickets","tag-12-concerts","tag-194","tag-49389","tag-80-today","tag-a-cuddle","tag-a-lipstick-smeared-cuddle","tag-a-memorable-cuddle","tag-a-practical-example","tag-a-problem","tag-a-reason","tag-a-waiver","tag-absolutely-no-hassles","tag-accordance","tag-albanese","tag-albo","tag-all-happen-he","tag-an-edict","tag-an-international-incident","tag-anthony-albanese","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-while","tag-australian-concert-stages-and-tickets","tag-australian-regulations","tag-australian-roads-at","tag-austrlia","tag-bureaucrats","tag-cities","tag-common-sense","tag-customs","tag-different-sets","tag-dolly","tag-dolly-parton","tag-eight-states-and-territories","tag-fame","tag-five-centimetres","tag-future-prime-minister","tag-gratitude","tag-her-backstage","tag-her-better-day-world-tour","tag-her-custom-made-mobile-home-customs-officials","tag-her-death","tag-her-entourage","tag-her-fans","tag-her-final-aussie-visit","tag-her-luxury-tour-bus","tag-her-much-anticipated-return","tag-her-nashville-home","tag-her-next-australian-tour","tag-her-request","tag-her-sydney-concerts","tag-her-tour-bus","tag-her-vehicle","tag-his-days","tag-his-own-senior-federal-transport-bureaucrats","tag-jeopardy-the","tag-lip-gloss","tag-matthew-lazarus-hall","tag-mere-minutes","tag-more-than-100","tag-more-than-two-decades","tag-mr-albanese","tag-negotiations","tag-news","tag-nine-to-five","tag-no-bus","tag-no-tour","tag-november-and-december","tag-our-roads-roads-authorities","tag-parton","tag-prime-minister-anthony-albanese","tag-private-jet","tag-return","tag-right-hand-doors","tag-roads-officials","tag-rules","tag-sale-but","tag-state-and-federal-bureaucrats","tag-sydney","tag-talent","tag-that-year","tag-the-backstage-story","tag-the-bus","tag-the-bus-doors","tag-the-buses","tag-the-economy-mr","tag-the-journey","tag-the-julia-gillard-government","tag-the-massive-14-5m-black-bus","tag-the-press-conference","tag-the-red-tape-bus-row","tag-the-red-tape-row","tag-the-right-side","tag-the-then-future-prime-minister","tag-the-tour","tag-the-tour-the-rhinestone-queen","tag-their-meet-and-greet","tag-traffic","tag-transport-minister","tag-two-metres","tag-two-months","tag-us-conditions-parton","tag-weight-issues-after"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}