Ozpolitic: A new standard in Ministerial Responsibility

So Johnny fronted the Royal Commission yesterday and he too knows bugger all about the AWB rorts even though his staff did.

So was it unusual that his staff didn't tell him that an Australian company was passing dollars to a violent, oppressive and potentially nuclear nation? Nope. What about the fact that in 2003, Howard was well wound up about the oil-for-food rorts? Nope. What about the fact that Downer knew, should he have told the PM? Nope.

So there you go, a new standard in Ministerial responsibility has been established. Ministers don't need to know or act when a company with government backing, participating in a multi-lateral aid scheme, under the aegis of a multi-lateral body, is paying kick-backs to a despot that you're about to engage in military action.

What ever happened to "be alert but not alarmed"? What about the Federal Government's public injuncture to report anything suspicious - a deluge of official cables fellas, that's suspicious!