Friday, September 29, 2006

The AWB Cole inquiry

As I have mentioned in several preceding posts, it is clear that not only did the Australian Wheat Board pay bribes to Saddam Hussein's regime, but that senior figures in the Australian Government knew about this, or at the very least, turned a blind eye, so that they could argue that they didn't 'actually know'.

As the editor of The Age in Melbourne succinctly summarises it (Sat Oct 30):

'The inquiry has also revealed much about the way the Howard Government operates. Despite restrictive terms of reference shielding the Government, Cole has uncovered gross negligence and mismanagement of Australia's national interests at the highest levels. It is staggering that the Government did not act on the warnings it received about Saddam Hussein's corruption of the oil-for-food program and AWB's starring role in it. Instead of properly investigating the matter, it chose to do all it could to launch an extraordinary defence of AWB. '

The official findings of the Cole report will not be released until the end of November, and as the above paragraph alludes, its terms of reference exclude it from investigating whether there was implicit Government involvement (or even a potential cover-up).

However, there can be no doubt in the minds of many Australians that their Government is dishonest, and that at the very least, the Foreign Minister Alexander Downer should resign.

-A

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Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Wheat boards and ministerial memory...

Just an addendum to my post of 2nd November last year, which is about the scandalous payment of bribes by the Aust. Wheat Board to Saddam Hussein's regime, so as to gain the Iraqi wheat business...

You will recall (if you've been following this) that the Australian Foreign minister - Alexander Downer - had denied all knowledge that he knew anything about the bribes being paid by the ex-Government body to Hussein's government; however, surprisingly, last week he admitted (under pressure) that he did in fact know something about this, as early as 2004.

Not sure what place honesty plays in the Howard Government, but don't ask their Foreign Minister, because the answer you're sure to get is 'I don't recall'!

-A

Monday, September 04, 2006

the human cost

As an addendum to my latest couple of posts, and especially earlier ones (eg August 12th), it is interesting to consider for a moment the human face of the Australian Govt's existing restrictive policy on refugees - even though the most recent (& most illiberal legislation) did not pass.

The Sydney Morning Herald last week ran a story on a regugee from the genocide in Rwanda in 1999. Damascene Byimira lost all his 11 brothers and sisters along with his parents, and he thought had lost his pregnant wife and also his three year old son. He was seperated from his wife and fled through Africa, to Indonesia and eventually to Australia, where he was promptly locked up in the Villawood (immigration) detention centre.

Meanwhile, his wife Jeanne made it to Belgium, where she was given almost immediate refugee status, and then citizenship; she also gave birth to their second son in January 1999.

After being imprisoned for over a year, Damascene was given temporary Australian residency in 2002, but it was not until last year that he was finally given permanent sanctuary here.

He and his wife were re-united in Brussels as a result of a search by the international Red Cross; his son Derrick, now 10, had not seen his father for seven years and didn't recognise him.