Labor memory lapses

UPDATE: Fitzgibbon fell on his sword this week. The line is being pushed that he didn't do anything wrong, he just failed to 'dot the i's and cross the t's'.

It took a long time, and the Government has very successfully spun this as being self imposed and about maintaining standards. Reality is, this was resisted to the very end by the Government.

DPM Julia Gillard was on Insiders today and Barry was doing a good job questioning her on the Jeol Fitzgibbon matter.

Gillard can be a slippery fish, as you may recall with her was she or wasn't she helping defend the Maritime Workers Union during the waterfront dispute of 1998. She claimed she wasn't, but then there was that footage of her hiding behind a tree (!) and handing out documnets on behalf of the Unions to waiting media.

Today she was nearly got caught out as she was called to defend the Defence Minister over what appears to be a sustained evasiveness:

Failed to decalre trips to 2 China on the Register of Members’ Interests at the time
Failed to recall taking the trips when asked directly at a press conference

According to Gillard, they were 'lapses'. Something here stinks, and Gillard might come to regret this interview.

My guess is Fitzgibbon will be asked to move on 'voluntarily' 'for the good of the Governement'. He'll resign, and say something about it being a distraction to the Government. Rudd is too vein to be seen to lose a Minister. It has become one of his unreal benchmarks - like keeping all his promises even when they cannot be afforded - on which he puts his own pride before the national interst.

Update: the transcript is now on the Insiders website. This is probably a textbook example of Labor refusing to answer the question asked:

BARRIE CASSIDY: But nevertheless, why is Joel Fitzgibbon still Minister for Defence?

JULIA GILLARD: Well Joel Fitzgibbon is there doing a major reform task for the Government in Defence. It's hard work and as we've seen, it's going to be some difficult days for the Government working with defence to get the kind of efficiencies we need in that organisation.

So we're working hard on that. Joel's working hard on that. Obviously, (only here does Gillard actually address the question and we get the script) it's been a difficult week for the Defence Minister. He made an error about his declarations of pecuniary interests. He's corrected that error. He apologised to me for it. He apologised to the Australian public for that error and I think that matter is at an end.

BARRIE CASSIDY: So because he's in the middle of important work, he's untouchable?

JULIA GILLARD: (repeat script - you are not getting anything out of me Barrie except the script) He made an error Barrie, he apologised for that error and I think that that matter really is at an end. Did he make a mistake? Yes, Joel made a mistake, he's acknowledged that, he's apologised for it.

BARRIE CASSIDY: He was asked a direct question: have you ever taken trips to China paid for by Helen Liu? A direct question, and he failed to fess up.

JULIA GILLARD: He obviously answered that question incorrectly. And...

BARRIE CASSIDY: But why? Did he choose to avoid the question, or had he forgotten that he'd taken these trips?

JULIA GILLARD: (Barrie, I know I haven't given you an answer, so I will repeat the script in the third person) Well, Joel answered the question incorrectly. During the course of the afternoon it became apparent to him he had answered it incorrectly. He looked at his pecuniary interest statements, it obviously became apparent to him he hadn't made proper declaration of these trips and he immediately corrected that situation.

Obviously, he contacted me and explained the situation to me. I said he needed to correct the public record immediately and he needed to apologise and to make sure that his declaration of pecuniary interest was up to date and all of those steps have been taken.

BARRIE CASSIDY: It still doesn't go, though, to the question of why he answered that question incorrectly, whether he did it quite deliberately.

And this is in the context of Helen Liu's name being all over the papers that morning. So he would have refreshed his memory about the relationship. She went on those trips with him to China. He's asked a direct question and he failed to fess up to the Australian public?

JULIA GILLARD: (Barrie I really am not going to move from script) Well, it's a lapse Barrie. Yes it is and it's an error that...

BARRIE CASSIDY: But a deliberate one?

JULIA GILLARD: (repeat script, use the words lapse of judgement again - this is a judgement issue, not an issue of integrity or possible corruption Barrie - let me just repeat the script) Well, you're making that assumption. I think it's a lapse. It's a lapse in judgment. Joel's acknowledged that. Something he should have recalled, something he should have made proper disclosure of at the time. But let's remember...

BARRIE CASSIDY: But it goes to his character as well, doesn't it?

JULIA GILLARD: Well, you're putting an interpretation on why he made that error that I'm not agreeing with Barrie. (Barrie, incase you haven't noticed, I'm setting myself up for repeating the script again)

BARRIE CASSIDY: So you're prepared to accept that he simply forgot?

JULIA GILLARD: Well I think it's just an innocent lapse which occurred. (yes lapse, we thought about what words to use, and lapse of judgement was agreed downplayed the significance of what has happened here) There we are several years back when Joel is not a minister, he's a shadow minister in Opposition. He's taken some travel. He should have declared it, obviously (it's obvious now that it is in the public, no so obvious when it was not declared, not put on the register, not spoken about when asked at the press conference) that didn't occur.

We then have the events that started off, and I think we should remind ourselves Barrie, started off with a front page story about a Defence investigation into the Minister, an alleged defence investigation into the minister. That's all being looked at now through a series of inquiries. Joel is responding to questions about that and is asked this question, and clearly he doesn't answer it correctly. (I'm just going to repeat lapse and judgement again Barrie) That was a lapse in memory, a lapse in judgment. He goes back, he works out he's made an error, and he corrects it.

BARRIE CASSIDY: But as I said before, given the context of this and given the fact it was all over the papers and he had time to refresh his memory it doesn't say a whole lot about his recollection?

JULIA GILLARD: I think it says he's made an error he's apologised for. (Bugger! Forgot to mention lapse and judgement)

Terrific deals

I don't know about you, but as a taxpayer I'm delighted at the prospect of going into debt to fund other people's holidays and unlimited supplies of cigarettes to people in prison.

During the 2007 election I thought the Liberal Party might have been pushing pushing it a bit far with some of the claims made about Labor along the lines of 'once they get in they'll just change it all'.

I was wrong.

Under the cover of darkness (the GFC) they have increased taxes, blown the budget, tried to start some sort of class war and driven the country into recession.

Steve Price from November 2007:

Holding a copy of the Melbourne Herald Sun with a front-page treatment about Kevin Rudd playing "me too" politics and copying the Coalition's election promises, I said to Garrett that it was turning into the "me too" election.

With a straight face he replied that that would not matter because "once we get in we'll just change it all".

I just looked at him, said nothing and walked off.

Two and a half more years of Anna

The breathtakingly cynical manipulation of the electorate has paid off and Anna has been elected Premier of Queensland overnight. After 11 years of inaction, little planning and excessive spending during the boom years leaving little to show for it Queenslanders have asked for more.

Predictably they were given the trite 'we have heard the message of the electorate' boiler plate from the Premier:

"There is a very strong message here for us and that is that many people who have voted Labor for the last couple of elections didn't ... and they didn't because they are disappointed with our performance in a number of key areas"

Bligh will now get on with the job of giving the people of Queensland lots more of the same inaction combined with spending and taxing.

Rudd saw it as an opportunity to push the class warfare line he has been angling for since January:

"Full marks to her - she was up against a cyclone, an oil slick, a conservative billionaire throwing millions at the Liberals and Nationals' campaign but she came through."

Governance really is terrific right now. The evidence of a systemic failure of governance in Queensland is astounding. Just ask this nurse who was attacked doing her job. Dr Patel's patients (the ones still with us) or anyone who wants to water their garden.

the PM's lack of authenticity

Janet Albrechtsen gets closer to the core of the fundamental hypocrisy of Rudd and Labor in a cracking piece last week.

She correctly points out that Labor had no response to the excellent article that Turnbull wrote in response to Rudd diatribe in the Montly.

She notes 'they were forced to resort to using Rein because they had no other comeback to Turnbull’s criticism of Rudd.'

But this is where it's really at:

The man who sold himself as a safe pair of economic hands prior to the 2007 election has now unmasked himself as just another old-fashioned class warrior - when it suits. The Prime Minister’s performance on Channel Seven’s Sunday Night program was the ultimate exercise in spin where he felt the pain of “you good people”—the Pacific Brands workers—and unloaded yet again on the “unrestrained greed” of corporate executives. He even uttered a swear word for effect. Presumably, he thinks this is how you enamour yourself to workers. But it’s all an illusion.

Rudd has more personas than Sybil, the girl with 13 different personalities portrayed by Sally Field in a 1976 film. At business functions, Rudd is the epitome of rationality about the role of business. Among workers, he says the relocation by Pacific Brands “absolutely stinks”. Rudd worked as a senior China consultant with KPMG from 1996 until 1998. Does he honestly expect us to believe that he would have told his KPMG clients not to run more cost effective manufacturing operations in China? Does he now tell the Chinese Government that he doesn’t want Australian firms to run manufacturing operations in China?

Rudd and his comrades in government are the very worst form of class warriors. They feel the pain of the underclass when it suits and then enjoy the fruits of the overclass. As Strewth reported on Monday, there was a fear of awkwardness when Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Industry Minister Kim Carr boarded a plane last week with Pacific Brand’s CEO, Sue Morphet.

Alas, the only awkwardness emerged when the workers’ pals in the Labor Government slid into their business-class seats for the arduous flight from Melbourne to Sydney while Morphet travelled in economy. Indeed, pass through that deliberately nondescript frosted glass door to Qantas’ exclusive Chairman’s Lounge any day of the week, where Labor MP’s waft around enjoying free food and drink far from the workers outside. It’s not free of course. Rudd’s friends, the workers, are paying for it.

Spare us, Prime Minister. The real lesson is this. If you are going to write the kind of dishonest and hypocritical claptrap as you did in The Monthly, you can expect to have people pointing out the intellectual and moral weaknesses in your arguments. And you have to understand this battle of ideas can get a bit willing. If you’re going to dish it out, you need to stand your ground when someone belts you back in an obvious weak spot. Glass jaws have no place in politics. And with due respect, PM, if you are going to start a fight like this, don’t hide behind your wife’s skirt when battle is joined.

Waking up to St Kevin and the rancid stench.

In the Sydney Morning Herald today Paul Sheean really drives home the folly of Rudd's all things to everyone stand for nothing but winning elections philosophy. He gives a preview to the 2010 election:

• Fiscal folly and gross economic mismanagement: 'Rudd is on course to become the next Gough Whitlam, but Whitlam without the wit.'
• A handy quote that will be played over and over during the campaign alongside some awful unemployment statistics: '"Any person's job loss through no fault of their own is a lost job too many when it comes to me. I'm the Prime Minister of the country, the buck stops with me." Not unlike the ALP's 'working familes have never been better off' quote from Howard.
  
• The Rancid Stench of Hypocrisy: In opposition, Rudd opposed the GST, which in retrospect has been a tremendous stabilising influence in the economy, thanks to John Howard. During the last election, Rudd campaigned as an "economic conservative". Upon winning office, and inheriting a $90 billion financial buffer from outgoing treasurer Peter Costello, he accused the previous government of creating a dangerous inflation threat. It was a fabrication.

Hear hear.