Life snippets
After a reasonably laidback period over Christmas, I started getting back into the swing of things last week. School started on the Monday, and on the Tuesday I got back on a plane for the first time this year, flying up to Hervey Bay to meet with a family about their challenges dealing with the consequences of a serious injury to their son while he was serving in the Defence Force (more on that matter later).
After returning home for citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day and then a day at home and in the office, it’s pretty much full swing again now. I was in Sydney on Saturday and, among other things, popped along to a gathering of bloggers in the not-so-tasteful environment of the City RSL. Sunday morning I flew to Melbourne to meet with the family in the case of another service person who had far from ideal assistance from the Defence Force and Vet Affairs following his injury.
Monday morning involved a Senate Committee hearing in Melbourne into the proposed re-write of Australia’s Citizenship Act, a topic which has generated some comment on this site and elsewhere. Next was a flight to Sydney for another Senate Committee hearing on Tuesday looking at proposed changes to the Defence Act – the “Aid to Civilian Authorities” Bill which widens the scope for the call out of defence forces on Australian territory in the event of a major security risk.
I’m home again today doing some preparation for the sittings of the Senate which resume next week. Friday I’ll be going to Adelaide for some meetings and to help with the state election campaign that’s underway there, then it will be back to Canberra and looking for what the government has in store for us in the Senate this year.
At least looking where Julian McGauran is now sitting and what people are saying to him will provide a bit of light entertainment in the first few days. We have the Aid to Civilian Authorities Bill up first, but most of the attention will probably be focused on the debate on the Bill to overturn the ban on RU486, which should start on Wednesday following the tabling of the Committee report.
2 Comments, Comment or Ping
Aron Paul
Sorry to be off topic, but I just had to share this quote from Justice Gomery, who just delivered his report on the kickbacks to advertisers scandal in Canada:
“On the face of it, it is tempting to conclude that the doctrine of ministerial responsibility has become a process of mutual deniability,”
Sound familiar? I hope the AWB-BHP et al oil for food inquiry sheds the same light upon Canberra.
I was reading the recommendations, and I wonder if they would be out of place here? eg:
“His reported recommends new laws to protect whistle-blowers and curb political interference with the public service Judge Gomery also call for increased investigative powers for parliamentary oversight committees and plugging loopholes in freedom of information laws that allowed wrongdoing to be hidden.”
I was heartened however, by the degree to which the Canadians and the media there cared about corruption and were genuinely shocked by it.
Feb 2nd, 2006
Jolanda
Aron the whole system is set up to cover up. All the money is being spent trying to cover up misconduct, maladministration and corruption, there isn’t anything left to fix it.
I have had experience with the process and it is truly amazing how they do it. So long as they all follow the same process then they are protected. The process has taken years to perfect and the Ombudsman and ICAC have ensured that they have filled any little gaps to ensure that there is protection for the Government. When the Investigatory bodies talk about corruption prevention, they mean corruption exposure prevention. The Governments code of conduct does not allow Public Servants to speak negatively about the Government to the public so they are not allowed to say anything without risking their jobs and reputation.
If the public complain they are ostrasized, targeted and bullied relentlessly and mercilessly until they either give up or commit suicide. Everybody turns a blind eye.
All complaints are dealt with and handled internally by those responsible who just present a tale, discredit the complainant so that nobody will listen to them or give the time of day and then they close the matter and continue to torment and bully those that bring up issues so that they can discredit their state of mind and call them paranoid and crazy. Any fresh complaints are filed away on the basis that they refer to issues already dealt with.
It’s the system in action.
Feb 2nd, 2006