Skip to main content

AWB, Truthfulness and the Howard Government

As the Cole Inquiry into the AWB unfolds things aren't looking too good for the directors of the company nor, quite likely, Lord Downer, his Department and perhaps even John Howard.

To have the MD of a public company respond as he has at the AWB Inquiry is a disgrace. Then again, Lachlan Murdoch didn't demonstrate any genius either whilst being cross-examined at the One.Tel Court Case in Sydney. Not that James Packer [suffering from amnesia at his age?] showed himself up as a competent director when he was in the witness box in the same litigation.

Crikey in its "editorial comment" yesterday, tied it all together rather neatly this way:

"There's nowhere to hide. That's the point about what goes on in courts, Royal Commissions and other legal or parliamentary formal inquiries – as Lachlan Murdoch discovered to his extreme embarrassment in the One.Tel court hearings last year, and as Australian Wheat Board managing director Andrew Lindberg is finding out, to his extreme embarrassment, in the current AWB Cole inquiry. Murdoch couldn't hide his incompetence or ignorance when, on one memorable day in the One.Tel courtroom, he gave the answer "couldn't recall" to 205 questions. Yesterday, Lindberg was asked 12 times whether he was responsible for deceiving the UN by inflating the cost of wheat contracts. On 11 occasions he responded with phrases like "no,no,no,no," "I don't know," "I don't recall" and "I can't remember" before finally admitting "we had to, we had to, we had no option."

But embarrassment isn't the point. Truth is. Which is why the Cole inquiry has become a ticking time bomb for the Howard government, already implicated in either a conspiracy or a c*ck-up over AWB bribes to the former Iraqi regime. If the inquiry uncovers no more than has so far emerged – AWB bribe-paying and government incompetence – that's bad. But if the inquiry reveals that government ministers were alerted to the payment of bribes while at the same time embarking on a war against the recipients of those bribes – that's something worse than bad.

Most incompetence or illegality – corporate or political – takes places behind closed doors and therefore the perpetrators are never held accountable. But if incompetence or illegality are put under the spotlight in a courtroom run by people who are doing their job professionally, as Lachlan Murdoch and Andrew Lindberg have learned, reputations fly out the window just as fast as the truth flies in".

All worth reflecting on as we head into the weekend......

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Reading the Chilcot Inquiry Report more closely

Most commentary on the Chilcot Inquiry Report of and associated with the Iraq War, has been "lifted" from the Executive Summary.   The Intercept has actually gone and dug into the Report, with these revelations : "THE CHILCOT REPORT, the U.K.’s official inquiry into its participation in the Iraq War, has finally been released after seven years of investigation. Its executive summary certainly makes former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who led the British push for war, look terrible. According to the report, Blair made statements about Iraq’s nonexistent chemical, biological, and nuclear programs based on “what Mr. Blair believed” rather than the intelligence he had been given. The U.K. went to war despite the fact that “diplomatic options had not been exhausted.” Blair was warned by British intelligence that terrorism would “increase in the event of war, reflecting intensified anti-US/anti-Western sentiment in the Muslim world, including among Muslim communities in the
Post a Comment
Read more

Robert Fisk's predictions for the Middle East in 2013

There is no gain-saying that Robert Fisk, fiercely independent and feisty to boot, is the veteran journalist and author covering the Middle East. Who doesn't he know or hasn't he met over the years in reporting from Beirut - where he lives?  In his latest op-ed piece for The Independent he lays out his predictions for the Middle East for 2013. Read the piece in full, here - well worthwhile - but an extract... "Never make predictions in the Middle East. My crystal ball broke long ago. But predicting the region has an honourable pedigree. “An Arab movement, newly-risen, is looming in the distance,” a French traveller to the Gulf and Baghdad wrote in 1883, “and a race hitherto downtrodden will presently claim its due place in the destinies of Islam.” A year earlier, a British diplomat in Jeddah confided that “it is within my knowledge... that the idea of freedom does at present agitate some minds even in Mecca...” So let’s say this for 2013: the “Arab Awakening” (the t
Post a Comment
Read more

An unpalatable truth!

Quinoa has for the last years been the "new" food on the block for foodies. Known for its health properties, foodies the world over have taken to it. Many restaurants have added it to their menu. But, as this piece " Can vegans stomach the unpalatable truth about quinoa? " from The Guardian so clearly details, the cost to Bolivians and Peruvians - from where quinoa hails - has been substantial. "Not long ago, quinoa was just an obscure Peruvian grain you could only buy in wholefood shops. We struggled to pronounce it (it's keen-wa, not qui-no-a), yet it was feted by food lovers as a novel addition to the familiar ranks of couscous and rice. Dieticians clucked over quinoa approvingly because it ticked the low-fat box and fitted in with government healthy eating advice to "base your meals on starchy foods". Adventurous eaters liked its slightly bitter taste and the little white curls that formed around the grains. Vegans embraced quinoa as
Post a Comment
Read more