Opinionated2

No worries cob. Your sarcasm was provoked by my gratitous shots at your opinions.

While the whole AWB/Cole Inquiry may look more damning for the Government I think the sheer complexity and prolongation of the matter is pushing it further from public interest, eg. http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200603/s1599396.htm is complex.

Downer is building a case that Labor is drawing things out (when, of course, the requests for information and new disclosures are being generated by the Cole Inquiry as part of its job - and not by Labor).

So this matter is on a political attack vs stonewalling level and a judicial/administrative level (largely of Cole seeking a complete set of relevant DFAT documents).

In the end Downer can criticise DFAT for not having a complete set and because of these gaps in the paper trail he can plausibly state that he wasn't sufficiently briefed to make infallible decisions. The complex and lengthy nature of the inquiry and the subtlety of such a defence would get tired acceptance (I reckon).

Thats as I see it at the moment. After the Games finish and the Cyclone crisis passes we'll see if the Press can stoke up more interest in the Inquiry.

plantagenet

You are correct the info is coming out really slowly and there are heaps of distractions that are diverting our attentions.

Articles like these are going to probably hurt the Govt. but who knows the way Aussies think sometimes.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18583542%255E601,00.html

news.com has gone to placing a whole thread just to keep people up with the issues that this enquiry raises. People may not be commenting on it but they probably are keeping more up to date with it than we think.

The threads at http://www.news.com.au/index/0,10121,37435,00.html

Also this ABC thread is quite informative

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200603/s1599396.htm

There are so many quetions that all this raises about protecting our democracy from inproper actions by Govt (if and when they accur)that
I'd love to be a QC. But alas I am only a little citizen watching this mess unfold.

I want Australia to be able to hold it's head up in the world community as we have a wonderful country and our hard working farmers deserve better than what is coming out