PM Howard excelled even himself yesterday when lauding the findings and outcome of the Cole Inquiry by commended his Government for what emerged from the Inquiry - which would not otherwise have happened had Saddam not been toppled. So, Australia went to war, with all that entails, to find out what was going on at AWB!
Meanwhile, those with credibility and depth of intellect have a different take on things....
Patrick Weller, author of Don't Tell the Prime Minister (Scribe), holds the premier's chair in governance and public management at Griffith University in Brisbane, and in an op-ed piece in The Australian, writes this:
"So the Cole inquiry has found that no individual minister or public servant can be held responsible for the failure of anyone to notice that AWB was paying bribes to Saddam Hussein and his cronies. AWB officials were clearly at fault, the UN should have done better, and behind the scenes lurks a shadowy, pipe-playing Scottish villain. For the Government it is a good story with no surprises. No sins were committed in Canberra, no explanations are needed, no resignations required. No one has expected anything else for a long time.
If we take it all at face value and accept that everyone told the truth and the whole truth, then our reaction should be one of great concern, not for what was done but for what was not done. The sins of omission suggest that our systems of accountability and delivery are at best ramshackle and at worst broken. There were several warnings that came into the ministerial and administrative systems that were overlooked, or even ignored.
More than 30 messages illustrating concern with wheat contracts were received by ministers' offices. Cables went to the Prime Minister's office and to those of the relevant ministers. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade had to sign off on some of the contracts. Still no one noticed."
And for another Analysis [as it is dubbed] in The Australian by Dennis Shannahan:
"The Howard Government can't escape the fact that Australia's biggest scandal occurred over several years under its watch.
No amount of denial or gainsaying can hide the fact the $290 million AWB kickbacks scandal went undetected, unchecked and without any real inquiry or investigation into allegations of UN sanctions-busting".
And:
"But this is where the Government must still answer for the scandal, and where Howard's parliamentary claim of false allegations about negligence fail.
Ministers are not omnipotent, officials are not infallible and the Westminster tradition is misquoted too often.
But even ministers must have in mind the thought they should have been more rigorous, less accepting of assurance.
No matter how tainted the allegations from US and Canadian competitors were, the meek acceptance of AWB's denials allowed the rort to continue and the Government to suffer even more political damage.
There was no government corruption here, there was no blind eye and no personal cupidity in DFAT, but there was a failure to act when the situation demanded high standards.
The Government let us down."
Meanwhile, those with credibility and depth of intellect have a different take on things....
Patrick Weller, author of Don't Tell the Prime Minister (Scribe), holds the premier's chair in governance and public management at Griffith University in Brisbane, and in an op-ed piece in The Australian, writes this:
"So the Cole inquiry has found that no individual minister or public servant can be held responsible for the failure of anyone to notice that AWB was paying bribes to Saddam Hussein and his cronies. AWB officials were clearly at fault, the UN should have done better, and behind the scenes lurks a shadowy, pipe-playing Scottish villain. For the Government it is a good story with no surprises. No sins were committed in Canberra, no explanations are needed, no resignations required. No one has expected anything else for a long time.
If we take it all at face value and accept that everyone told the truth and the whole truth, then our reaction should be one of great concern, not for what was done but for what was not done. The sins of omission suggest that our systems of accountability and delivery are at best ramshackle and at worst broken. There were several warnings that came into the ministerial and administrative systems that were overlooked, or even ignored.
More than 30 messages illustrating concern with wheat contracts were received by ministers' offices. Cables went to the Prime Minister's office and to those of the relevant ministers. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade had to sign off on some of the contracts. Still no one noticed."
And for another Analysis [as it is dubbed] in The Australian by Dennis Shannahan:
"The Howard Government can't escape the fact that Australia's biggest scandal occurred over several years under its watch.
No amount of denial or gainsaying can hide the fact the $290 million AWB kickbacks scandal went undetected, unchecked and without any real inquiry or investigation into allegations of UN sanctions-busting".
And:
"But this is where the Government must still answer for the scandal, and where Howard's parliamentary claim of false allegations about negligence fail.
Ministers are not omnipotent, officials are not infallible and the Westminster tradition is misquoted too often.
But even ministers must have in mind the thought they should have been more rigorous, less accepting of assurance.
No matter how tainted the allegations from US and Canadian competitors were, the meek acceptance of AWB's denials allowed the rort to continue and the Government to suffer even more political damage.
There was no government corruption here, there was no blind eye and no personal cupidity in DFAT, but there was a failure to act when the situation demanded high standards.
The Government let us down."
Comments