“Short of a neon sign flashing ‘Saddam bribes hidden here’ it is hard to imagine what more Mr Downer and DFAT would have needed to comprehensively investigate AWB, long before the Volcker inquiry belled the cat. The most innocent explanation of Mr Downer’s behaviour is that he has been at DFAT too long, and, like his senior public servants, did not want to rock AWB’s boat. A worse one is that Mr Downer did not want to know what was going on and hoped that nobody would notice how renegade Australians were trading with the enemy, right up until the shooting started in 2003.”
- Editorial, The Australian, 29.3.06

Over the last couple of days I’ve highlighted some of the right-wing rhetoric emanating from The Australian’s op-ed pages (and, let’s face it, The Australian is a Murdoch outlet), but in fairness they have pursued the AWB scandal with a great deal of diligence. To the extent that yesterday’s editorial page called for the Global Village Idiot’s resignation.

Downer, of course, is not the only minister who should walk the plank over this astonishing episode. Mark Vaile and Warren Truss should both be there right behind him. John Anderson’s forgetfulness in not disclosing his ownership of AWB shares, which he disposed of last year, deserves a lot more scrutiny.

And then there’s the man with whom the buck, in any self-respecting democratic government, would stop. If John Winston Howard is to escape from this with his hands clean, then history is obliged to remember him as the Prime Minister who was unable to control, or effectively communicate with, his public service, and only ever made decisions based on incorrect advice.

Note for future reference: Terrence Cole, head of the inquiry investigating the AWB imbroglio, was a member of the Class of ‘61 at Sydney University’s law school. So too was John Winston Howard. This item in yesterday’s Australian does a fair bit of straw clutching, but keep it in mind just in case…

“In 1939, when Britain declared war on the Nazi tyranny, that same day your Prime Minister announced you were at war too—no ifs, no buts, just solidly with the world. How magnificent and how typical of Australia.”
- Tony Blair getting the facts right but their historical perspective woefully wrong, Canberra, 27.3.06

In 1939, as in 2003, Australia heeded the call and joined in a war on the other side of the world. In 1939, Australia was following the lead of its imperial fatherland, though it is fair to say that it was to oppose a major international threat. In 2003, there was no empire and, indeed, no international threat from the chosen adversary. (Let’s not even go near 1915, Winston Churchill, the Anzacs and the Dardanelles.)

Tony Blair, one of the slickest snake oil salesmen in contemporary world politics, was doing a stand-up routine for the pollies in Australia’s federal parliament on Monday. The permalink to his speech on the ParlInfo website is here.

The Australian’s Paul Kelly described Blair’s speech as “the best in the national parliament since Bill Clinton” (who also addressed the joint houses in 1996). All that means really is (a) John Howard and the gang are crap, and (b) Paul Keating was already retired by then.

Kelly’s stablemate Greg Sheridan called Blair “the most articulate neo-conservative in the world” - and clearly meant that as a compliment. And if you want yet another right-wing take but in a competing newspaper, you can’t go past Gerard Henderson at the SMH.

Blair and Howard really should have either been booted long ago for lying about Iraq, or be covered with masses of egg on their faces for believing faulty intelligence. Both may yet get the comeuppance, Blair over “loans for peerages“, Howard over AWB, but you have to hand it to Blair for having the gall to say the following with a straight face:

But for almost three years now we have been in Iraq with full United Nations support.

Blurring the line between employees and directors is poor corporate governance and presents a potential conflict of interest: the immediate interest of workers, after all, is not always in line with that of the long-term health of the company or its shareholders.
- Editorial, The Australian, 27.3.06

The “company” in question is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The issue is Friday’s announcement of a new stage in Johnny’s Jihad, the abolition of the staff-elected director on the board of the ABC.

Mull over that quote again (with the knowledge that The Australian is owned by a corporation under the wing of one Keith Rupert Murdoch) and consider it in context with that other major platform of Johnny’s Jihad which comes into force today - none other than “WorkChoices“.

And there’s something else to ponder - why, if you enter http://www.workchoices.gov.au, does it take you to https://www.workchoices.gov.au ? Why, perchance, does the workchoices site have to be on a secure server?

Spare a thought for the Australia Post philatelic division. Having bitten the bullet in 2000 and deciding to issue a postage stamp featuring every Australian gold medallist at the Sydney Games, they have now stretched their policy to include the Winter Olympics and Commonwealth Games.

That’s sixty-seven new stamps and counting at M2006. I’d been wondering which of Our Jana’s sullen expressions was going to grace her 50 cent stamp, but instead we get an image which only vaguely looks like her.

But harking back to Torino 2006 for a minute, we can at least hold our heads high with the knowledge that Australia is the first country to feature a spyware millionaire on one of its stamps. Word of warning however: for the Aussie Dale Begg-Smith stamp to stick to the envelope, you have to spit on the reverse side…

Guardian Unlimited Business | | French MPs say song downloads must work on any player

All I can say is: Ogg Vorbis is the answer.

Who was Amal Basry and why do we mourn her passing?

Amal Basry, who died of breast cancer in Melbourne last Saturday, was one of approximately 68 survivors of the boat now known as SIEV-X (Suspected Illegal Entry Vessel Unknown) which sank on 19 October 2001 in the Indian Ocean with the loss of 353 lives, refugees from Iraq and Afghanistan fleeing to Australia.
Senator Andrew Bartlett (Dem, Qld) has paid tribute to Ms Basry in his blog, while there is a detailed account of her story by Marg Hutton on her Sievx.com website.

The SIEV-X tragedy, which occurred in international waters but within Australia’s aerial border protection surveillance zone, is one of the biggest scandals of the John Howard years, as his government not only attempted to fudge the location of the sinking in order to avoid responsibility, but has refused to hold a proper investigation.

Read the chronology of events on Sievx.com and be angry, very angry, at a government whose arrogance and negligence has caused so much damage to Australia’s reputation and so much heartbreak to so many lives over the past ten years.

And give thanks for the courage of Amal Basry and the others who survived that horrendous disaster.

The medal tally after Friday night’s episode of the Channel Nine reality show “The 18th Commonwealth Games” reads as follows:

Australia 12 gold, 9 silver, 8 bronze.
Rest of the Commonwealth 17 gold, 19 silver, 21 bronze.

The way Channel Nine are covering these Games you’d think it was really Australia versus the Rest of the Commonwealth. Just think, if it wasn’t for the women’s weightlifting we’d probably be in front now.

Anyway, I’m supporting Mozambique in Melbourne 2006. I have a perverse admiration for any former member of the Portuguese empire that can jump ship and take part in an anachronistic relic of the British empire. Their women’s basketball team has already played its first game, losing narrowly to England by 84 points to 46. They take on the Opals tomorrow night. I can’t wait for that one!

Meanwhile, Ximene Gomes finished last in her heat of the 100m freestyle with a time of 1:02.16, the 33rd fastest time overall out of 43 finishers. She’ll be back on Sunday in the 50 free. Her idol, according to the M2006 website, is Fidel Castro.

Don’t scoff too much at Mozambique, however, for they do have 800 metres track legend Maria de Lurdes Mutola, who will be aiming for her third CG gold medal in Mozambique’s third Commonwealth Games. Check out www.flmutola.org.mz if you want to see her official website (in Portuguese, of course!)

My enjoyment of Melbourne 2006 peaked early. The sheer joy of explaining an opening ceremony to your three year-old daughter is something that cannot adequately be put into words. To Adara, it all made sense: the flying tram, the absurdly colourful clothes of some of the nations, the big red dragon on the Welsh flag (”I want to see the dragon again, Daddy” was to be heard frequently on Wednesday night), Ron Barassi walking on water, Dame Kiri singing Happy Birthday to the Queen. (”When’s the Queen going to sing, Daddy?” “She doesn’t sing, Adara, she’s a Queen.”) At least she distracted me from having to listen to the inanities of Ray Martin and co.

There’s some great coverage of the opening ceremony on ausculture.com here and here, so I’ll just stick to a few highlights, lowlights and other observations:

The Queen looked utterly, totally bored.

Someone should have told Prince Philip to shut up and sit still.

Where was the Governor-General, and why was the Prime Miniature usurping his position (silly question, sorry)?

It was great to hear one of the finest Australian songs ever written - “Under The Milky Way” by the Church - but why was it accompanied by a ballet of kids on BMX bikes? If Nicole Kidman was on deck it would have been understandable…

Ron Barassi walking on water with the baton was infinitely more whimsical than all the Leunigisms on display all evening.

That kid who grovelled to HM before introducing Ms Te Kanawa’s rendition of the Hill sisters’ famous ditty was the nadir of the evening for me.

The Australian uniforms were appalling. Not for the first time, of course.

The last three carriers of the baton were the Mayor of the Gold Coast, the Governor of South Australia and the Governor of Victoria. I’m not sure how to put a punchline to that observation.

And did I hear the aforementioned Ray Martin describe one of the flag-bearers as a “skoot sheeter”?

… a part of our community might be regarded as suspect because many were recent immigrants. They put the strictures of their faith above Australian law and recognised a foreigner as their highest authority. Their loyalty and patriotism were suspect, particularly when newspapers published stories of secret training camps in the Blue Mountains for young men planning to fight against Commonwealth forces. Unemployed young men roamed the streets in gangs, and a series of harrowing and brutal gang rapes left many convinced that these immigrants had changed the country forever for the worse. Rather than admit that their culture and religion were at fault, their community leaders blamed discrimination in the legal system. They established separate schools where their religious values were taught and sought to change Australian laws and political institutions. And their families had large numbers of children while more and more Australian women were practising birth control. The name of this threat to Australia? Irish Catholics.
- Senator John Faulkner, Federal Parliament, 1.3.06 (source: Hansard)

A superb speech by Senator Faulkner, now sadly languishing on the ALP backbenches, reminds us that the current vilification of Muslims in this country is just a new manifestation of an old problem. The full speech is here.

I’ve just been fined $100 by two Revenue Protection Officers of the State Transit Authority for travelling on a bus with an invalid ticket. I don’t know any further details. The officer confiscated the ticket and refused to tell me how it was invalid. His reply to my repeated requests for details were “You should know what date it expired” and “You should have a better idea of what’s on your belongings.”

As we were getting off the bus at my stop, the wiry-looking smug one was lecturing me on the correct procedure for paying fares. Because of the noise I couldn’t hear and asked him again once we were on the footpath what he was saying. His reply was “You know what I was talking about.”

What followed was the first time in my life that I have screamed at a man in uniform. And actually it was the first time in years that I have lost my cool in public. I don’t think they liked being told that they were denying me some basic principles of natural justice. Not that I was quite so literate at the time, however I did speak to them in civil language, just that it was at the top of my voice with steam surging figuratively out of my ears.

Now I’m so damn forgetful these days that it is entirely possible that my ticket had expired, in which case I’m prepared to cop the fine. But I simply do not know because that bastard wouldn’t tell me.

Anyway, my complaint to the State Transit Authority is on its way.