White powder hoax at PM's office

TWO suspicious mail items - one found yesterday at John Howard's Sydney office block, the other near his office at Canberra's Parliament House - caused a stir but not much else after they were found to be harmless.

TWO suspicious mail items - one found yesterday at John Howard's Sydney office block, the other near his office at Canberra's Parliament House - caused a stir but not much else after they were found to be harmless.

Parts of the ministerial wing adjacent to Prime Minister John Howard's courtyard were evacuated this morning following the scare, with Protective Services Officers, paramedics and firefighters in protective suits attending the scene.

The area was cordoned off and two officers were seen putting a white barrel into a security vehicle before it was removed from the site.

“The suspicious item was analysed by ACT Pathology and found to be harmless,” a statement from the department of parliamentary services said last night.

There was a similar hoax at Mr Howard's Sydney office this morning.

Police visited the Prime Minister's Sydney office building at 10.50am following reports that an unidentified substance had been discovered in the mailroom.

NSW Fire Brigades Superintendent Jason Clough said the two mailroom workers who were exposed to the substance had been cleared of any contamination, and they were the only two people evacuated from the site.

“Our assessment is that these workers have not been affected, and no-one else in the building, or no other areas of the building have been affected,” Supt Clough said.

Details of the nature of substance and what it was contained in were being withheld for investigative reasons, Supt Clough said.

The workers who found the substance initiated emergency procedures, prompting six fire engines carrying 50 firefighters, along with hazardous materials units, police and ambulance crews to arrive at the building.