What are we paying them for?
Ministerial responsibility is an oxymoron in Howard's vocabulary. In typical Liberal "born to rule" style, Downer, Vaile, and now Howard - claim nobody told them nothin', they saw nothing and no firm evidence was presented. BTW, where were these rigorous "evidence" requirements when we invaded iraq to stop the 'clear and present danger' of their 'significant WMD arsenal'? Cole's hands are also tied, in that his government can't be investigated for negligence or breaches of international law under the current terms of reference, and they have placed Cole in a position where it would be against protocol for him to ask for an extension of terms of reference in this area. So, as expected, the questioning was simple, direct and very careful not to overstep the mark. Again, as expected, nothing more that the bland excuses and stonewalling were provided to the questions asked. See this article on his appearance at the Cole enquiry.
What do we pay these guys for? To do press conferences, get invited as dignitaries, and spend 1/3 of the working year behaving like schoolkids in the "big green room"?!? The shift of blame is almost farcical - Vaille blames the Downer. Downer says nobody told him, and the Prime Minister says that there is no problem, this is how filtered communication in the government work!
Also, that little snivelling rat, Peter Hendy, of the Chamber of commerce has decided that Australia's huge organisations are carrying too much of the tax burder (boo hoo - they only made $2.8Billion this financial year!). But he's apparently got some heart. He feels urgent tax relief is needed for some of Australia's most deserving people - those earning $125,000 and above. I say - keep the tax cuts, and fund public services. The equality and prosperity enjoyed by the majority of Australians today was a direct result of public services investment. If we don't invest, the broad-based wealth of the country will be no more - we will become like the States, where 99% of the wealth is concentrated in 1% of the population.*
*Not an actual statistic
What do we pay these guys for? To do press conferences, get invited as dignitaries, and spend 1/3 of the working year behaving like schoolkids in the "big green room"?!? The shift of blame is almost farcical - Vaille blames the Downer. Downer says nobody told him, and the Prime Minister says that there is no problem, this is how filtered communication in the government work!
Also, that little snivelling rat, Peter Hendy, of the Chamber of commerce has decided that Australia's huge organisations are carrying too much of the tax burder (boo hoo - they only made $2.8Billion this financial year!). But he's apparently got some heart. He feels urgent tax relief is needed for some of Australia's most deserving people - those earning $125,000 and above. I say - keep the tax cuts, and fund public services. The equality and prosperity enjoyed by the majority of Australians today was a direct result of public services investment. If we don't invest, the broad-based wealth of the country will be no more - we will become like the States, where 99% of the wealth is concentrated in 1% of the population.*
*Not an actual statistic
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