Prime Minister Gillard take note. This is what you do when you are honest or have nothing to hide and become aware of illegal activity affecting your organisation:
POLITICAL donations from a private investment company with links to former Queensland senator Santo Santoro and top bureaucrat Michael Caltabiano have been referred to police for investigation by the Liberal National Party.
Brescia Investments, one of the state’s largest political donors over the past decade, is now at the centre of allegations it financed a long-running slush fund for select candidates and MPs within the Liberal Party and later LNP.
The history of the Liberal and National Parties in Queensland hasn’t always been ethically pure, but in this case they have done the right thing, even if it turns out there is no case to answer.
Contrast this to the ALP’s behaviour with respect to Craig Thomson, or the prime minister’s former boyfriend Bruce Wilson.
Caltabiano was hand-picked by Newman to be Director General of Transport and Main Roads, so this couldn’t have been easy for the new Queensland Premier, but he appears to have been prepared to stand aside and let justice take its course:
On Friday, the premier said he learned of his party’s concerns some time ago, before Mr Caltabiano was forced to step aside over a separate matter.
“I have been made aware of their (the LNP’s) sort of concerns a couple of weeks ago and they’ve taken it to police,” he told reporters….
Mr Newman said he didn’t know if Mr Caltabiano had offered to resign.
“I simply don’t know,” he said.
“I in no way want to be accused of contaminating any investigation so I have not, at any time, had a conversation with him.”
Gillard could learn from this. It is only recently that Thomson was cut loose by the government. Before that he had the PM’s “full confidence” despite the damning information on the public record against him.
Her performance over Wilson is worse. She claims to have broken off her relationship with him when she became aware that the AWU Workplace Reform Association was being misused, but took none of these matters to the police, even though some small investigation of her legal firms trust fund would have shown that it had been used to channel money from the Association into the purchase of personal real estate for one of the conspirators.
Worse according to the SMH she and another lawyer issued a stopper writ on behalf of Wilson’s collaborator Ralph Blewitt to stop others in the union movement from raising allegations against him.
None of this means that she is guilty of any crime, but neither is it a standard of behaviour that ought to be acceptable from any honest person of integrity. It taints the whole government.
Bob Kernohan was the President of the AWU in 1995.In an interview with Michael Smith he swears that builders turned up at his office and demanded to be paid for works done at Julia Gillard’s house at Abbottsford.
Bob said he was offered a safe Labor seat if he shut his mouth.He was severely bashed for his honesty.How was the Gillard Govt able to get Michael Smith sacked from 2UE and silence both the Fairfax and Murdoch press on any further investigation into this seedy affair?
Bob Kernohan asks a really big question into why the Coalition has fallen silent on this issue which they clearly can take this Govt to task.
Do all our pollies with the aid of our intelligence services,have enough dirt on each other to render the really important issues that matter to us,as irrelevant?
Comment by Ross — November 2, 2012 @ 6:11 pm
I don’t think you are paying attention Ross. Julie Bishop has been raising questions in parliament http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/prime-minister-julia-gillards-past-just-wont-die/story-fndo317g-1226508685884.
You can’t expect an opposition to raise issues like this on the say so of one or two people. You need hard evidence. Now they have hard evidence they are raising the questions.
Comment by Graham — November 3, 2012 @ 11:24 am
Thanks Graham.I was unaware of Julie Bishop’s efforts.I’ve now seen the video footage and Julia Gillard did not address on question.
Comment by Ross — November 5, 2012 @ 4:46 am
Politicians on both sides will accept funds even from the devil. The degree to which they stoop may vary from party to party and individual to individual. Gillard has proven again and again that her treachery and dishonesty are beyond compare. Gillard is in a desperate situation and will do anything to retain power. I blame the Liberal party for being so slack, deaf and blind to the call from the vast majority of Australians to change Liberal leadership in order to win the next fed election. Australia needs a majority government and this is impossible with Abbott at the helm of the Liberal party. With Abbott we may yet again ‘lose the unlose-able election’, as did Hewson. Labor’s class war, blatant lies, corruption and waste of public funds must not go unchecked. Wake up Liberals!! Help stop corrupt union officials from running (& ruining) this country.
Comment by Jolly — November 7, 2012 @ 11:12 pm
Jolly, I’m not so sure about Abbott’s ability.He performs really well in addressing a small group but poorly on the media.Abbott was not supposed to win leadership of the Coalition.His stance on the Carbon Tax would have gone against the grain with many in his own party.This policy is certainly not popular with the big banking interests and Wall St since it is the source of a new powerful derivative that can take even more of our taxes thus making the elites even more powerful.
If Abbott has a deep sense of morality and fairness which is taught to those who study in the Catholic system,then the popular media will demonise him since Abbott will be seen to represent the interests of the masses and not the financial elites who own and control our present system.
Why has our popular media been so silent on Julia Gillard’s indiscretions? If Tony Abbott had a hit of criminality,his reputation would be trashed before tomorrow morn.
That said, I’m keeping an open mind om Mr Abbott since I trust no politician.
Comment by Ross — November 8, 2012 @ 6:36 pm