Keelty tried to be his own man in the beginning and I had a lot of respect for him. He learnt very quickly that telling the truth is not always palatable to the government of the day.

This was all too apparent after the Spanish bombings when Keelty's comment about Australia's involvement in Iraq/Afghanistan as a trigger for terrorism went down like a lead balloon. His comments were in fact correct but were not appreciated from a political standpoint under the Howard regime.

His mistake was in not staying his own man. Instead of just admitting mistakes were made with the Haneef case and apologising, he had to buy into the whitewash. Stupid because in these types of situations the truth will always out.

There was a whole new set of anti-terrorism legislation to play with, along came Haneef as a test case and with it the obvious pressure from Ministerial level to provide validation for the unpopular changes to legislation.

There is no death penalty in Australia. I think it totally objectionable that a public office holder can legally pass information to a third party that may lead to the execution of an Australian citizen. It is worse when the informing parents of a person now facing execution were assured that their son would be prevented from leaving Australia.

Good to see Mick go.
Had occasion to write to his agency a few months back.
His outfit couldn't admit anything wrong with suppled, irrefutable,public domain evidence of internet porn trading by a magistrate and a certain barrister here in Oz.
But I suppose like everything else 'narrow definitions' exclude such activity by 'professionals' in Oz.
In this regard, a jaded term 'Koalas' - protected species, applies to their sort.
Ja?

A NON FARMER, you sound like you're involved in some sort of vigilante action!

You are right about going after the wrong ones, with Keelty announcing 300 arrests in Operation Centurion, with only 80 arrests and 20 summons, that's getting it wrong on the face of it 2 out of 3 investigations isn't it? Then when you do the sums on just a 63% conviction rate, that's getting it wrong in 79% of total cases.

Then the AFP changed the statistics in later media releases to make it sound much better for them, saying they only executed 130 warrents, with 100 attempted prosecutions. Sounds much better that only 30 innocent law abiding citizens had their names dragged through the mud rather than 200 doesn't it?

Keep watching the media towards the end of the year. There's an interesting case about to break over in the UK that will indicate widespread systemic corruption where they have been going after a huge number of innocent men simply to further their own causes to obtain funding! There is currently a class action underway over there now, and there are current serving police and ex police who have turned whistleblower with evidence of a world-wide collusion on this.

I would like to know what Keelty knows about SIEVX.

Hello Wronglyaccused,
With regard to your much appreciated last - I refuse any form of vigilante action despite seeing how effective such can be when properly managed and directed.
I do have some small experience of these things.

Such arrangements soon get administratively and operationally ‘white anted’ – and often end with the ‘claret’ staining the streets.

Forgive me when I say how the rule of law and correct and scrupulously applied process must be supplied at every stage of governance in our ‘modern democracy’.
This is something that OZ governance is hopeless at achieving since the arrival of the Rum Corps.

Therein, the rub.
What emerges to supplant the ‘powers that be’ when they flat refuse to do their job?

Kelty. I’d hate to have been in his shoes during his tenure.
It’s plain that he would do exactly what Herr Howard demanded of him.
It’s called the ‘Tiberius Complex’ – those temporarily powerful appoint the malleable, the controllable into subsidiary posts for obvious reasons.
Hence Kelty and many more.
I pray that Kev gains enough confidence to avoid using such strategies.

Your last paragraph about the UK case sounds right to me.
The entire show fits in with ‘international crime’ being matched by ‘international policing’.
It’s an industry like any other - requiring a resource, a market, and those placed to supply a marketable product.
That resource and product base has been expanding, exponentially, yearly.

Reinhardt Heydrich (Himmler’s 2IC) was involved with rounding up Innocent Jewish people in Central Europe when also head of INTERPOL.
How stuffedly, single mindedly, compromised could SOME coppers get?

Interesting that Churchill had had enough @ about 1942 to have Heydrich assassinated despite him being head of INTERPOL.

If Australians could get their head past their immediate comfort zones, they might research civics, governance and precedence. They’d gain understanding of their exploitation by a succession of utter bastards.

Unfortunately, such knowledge once acquired leaves some feeling as if they stand on the edge of the precipice.
Some comment please?