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Where’s a good whistleblower when you need one?

Bronwyn Bishop

by Bronwyn Bishop

05 May 05:35am

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Filed under: Climate Change, Election 2010, Insulation Scheme, Kevin Rudd, Politics

49 comments

Just as Midas, with his touch, turned everything to gold, Kevin with his, turns everything to dross.

Picture: Ray Strange.

It doesn’t matter what policy mistake you choose to examine, there is failure stamped all over it.

From day one, promises to reign in fuel prices and grocery prices failed. But the spending excesses and wanton disregard for personal safety of the roof insulation scandal sure eclipsed these.

$2.5 billion spent to allegedly boost the Rudd Government’s environmental credentials, as well as being part of the so-called ‘stimulus package’, now needs up to $1 billion more to remedy the damage caused by Government policy.

Four people have lost their lives, some 120 roof fires have destroyed people’s homes, and a further $1 billion needs to be borrowed to find out how many more are at risk.

The first $2 ½ billion had to be borrowed for the installation and the next billion for the rectification will have to be borrowed.

The most likely source of the borrowing is China, just as the installation product had to be imported from China. Some stimulus for Australia. Not.

The shonks who were encouraged and authorised into the industry by Mr Rudd have also destroyed many legitimate businesses that were swamped by the same Rudd shonks.

Mr Rudd hid behind Peter Garrett as the fur flew.  Peter Garrett was the fall guy and now we know why he was not sacked.  Four letters sent to Prime Minister Rudd would no doubt, if released, blow Mr Rudd out of the water.  However he has refused to release the letters claiming Cabinet in Confidence and the right to lock them up for 30 years.

Now where is a good whistle blower when the country needs one?

But back to the dross.

Climate change, the “great moral and economic challenge of our time”, has suddenly slumped into sludge, the policy is in the back pocket, and its all apparently the fault of the Opposition having outed the CPRS as the great big tax on everything, and those naughty international players at Copenhagen who let Mr Rudd down.

Senator Wong sounds like a miserable kid in the playground who fails to get her own way whingeing “I’m going to tell on you because you won’t give me what I want”.

The reality is that the destructive ETS big tax on everything is still there. If Labor wins the next election, it will be back. And that electricity price rise of 60% will be back, as will the increase in grocery prices and everything else. Look forward to an $11,000 annual slug a year.

Lots has been written and said about Kevin’s cowardice in running away from defending what he put forward as the policy which defines him.

I think the cartoon depicting a great big frog croaking out ‘it’s not easy being yella’ says it all.

Meanwhile, the left wing ideologues are at it again. Lying dormant for a dozen years or so under a Coalition Government they rise up under Labor to attack the essence of our nationhood, which binds grassroots Labor, Coalition and other voters together in nationhood.  That is our pride in our forefathers who served to protect our new nation and gave their lives in so doing.

Gallipoli and all it stands for is now under attack by the rejuvenated yet antiquated lefties – Germaine Greer, Henry Reynolds and university lecturers of a left wing bent undermining the ethos of the ANZAC tradition and heritage by denigrating the worth of our soldiers.

Despite the fact that we landed in the wrong spot at Gallipoli, Australians still scaled the murderous cliffs and captured Lone Pine.

The historic record made by Charles Bean, the official historian in World War I is attacked and undermined by a pathetic leftie academic ageing without the grace of wisdom – one Henry Reynolds.

ANZACS according to him are to be derided not honoured, to be seen as pawns who were manipulated and acted badly; not heroes who gave their lives, 8700 of them from a country of just under 5 million people.

The image of Simpson and his donkey or the fact that those who survived Gallipoli went on to serve on the Western Front leave those on a mission to destroy the ANZAC legend apparently unmoved.

What is it about left wing ideology that needs to tear down the memory of those who have served our nation and made the ultimate sacrifice in order to assert their own relevance?

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49 comments

Show oldest | newest first

    • acker says:

      06:21am | 05/05/10

      Interesting to see if Solar Flagships projects about to be selected pop up near a Uranium mine or bolted on to a gas or coal fired power station. Martin Ferguson has an affinity for the uranium, gas and coal..no such love for solar and might be looking to payback miners with a win.

      Reply

    • Ex Teacher says:

      07:11am | 05/05/10

      Where are the whistleblowers?? They are there Bronwyn, just biding time until they know Rudd is completely lame…the cracks are appearing in the Labor facade it is only a matter of time.

      Reply

    • BTS says:

      08:21am | 05/05/10

      Well since Whistleblowers aren’t really protected in this country, if you ignore the legislation, fail to protect, demonise and bully them out of their job, why would they come forward?

      Reply

    • Margaret says:

      08:29am | 05/05/10

      Unfortunately, Bronwyn, our nation has become such a mixture that a great deal of the population have no ties to our history . They are the ones who will decide what is to be revered or not.

      I’ve said on many occasions that I can’t understand why the Labor Party chose this egomaniac as leader. Given that there were some experinced people in their ranks, why choose this glorifiied public servant as leader. The tragedy is that there are people still out there who think he’s doing a good job.  Heaven help us.

      Reply

    • iansand says:

      08:37am | 05/05/10

      All legends should be examined periodically, lest they fall into the hands of charlatans who exploit the legends for their own purposes.

      Reply

    • Notty says:

      08:54am | 05/05/10

      So Bronwyn it would be nice when you stop loud mouthed running from Rudd, to actually tell us what YOU will do on the issues of food and fuel and banking price gouging? And what are your plans for fixing housing affordability?

      Or should we assume that you are in fact, just copycatting Rudd’s do-nothing approach on these issues that he copied from John Howard?

      I admire the ANZACs kamikaze courage but as someone that served in Afganistan, to many brave young diggers have been sacrificed on the pointless altar of imperialism (of one kind or another) and Kings and Queens and Superstitions. Lest you forgot Bronwyn - which is easy when you are an armchair warrior cum attack poodle! Yuff!

      Reply

    • Nick says:

      09:01am | 05/05/10

      “Where are the whistleblowers?”

      Gee Bronwyn, you could always call on Mr Grech to make up something.  But then didn’t John Howard prosecute whistleblowers?

      Reply

    • fran says:

      09:19am | 05/05/10

      Godwyn Grench was a perfect example of a whistle blower and Liberal stooge and look at him!! Give us a break and go and knit a lamb to take to the slaughter!! or better still take Wilson Tuckey. at age 68 your to old to be such a nasty person.

      Reply

    • Ryan says:

      09:32am | 05/05/10

      You need to keep the issue of the 4 letters Rudd is hiding in the public domain. If the voters are constantly reminded of these letters he will have to release them to prove he has nothing to hide. The MSM need to question him about them everytime they get the chance.

      Reply

    • Hunter says:

      02:00pm | 05/05/10

      and don’t forget his form with the Heiner “affair” in Queensland when K Rudd made documents secret and shredded them prior to an enquiry to look after Labor mates.

    • Nott says:

      09:40am | 05/05/10

      Also, Bronwyn, I’ve been reading about an Aboriginal tribe on the banks of the Hawkesbury River (Western Sydney) that fought to the last man standing, with mostly stoneage weapons. They inflicted losses on the British soldiers that was higher than what diggers suffered in World War 2.

      If you really admire the Australian* fighting spirit, and courage it might be nice to acknowledge it in all it’s forms not just the stereotypes or the preferred cherry-picked versions of history….

      Reply

    • Gavin Hines says:

      09:43am | 05/05/10

      The whistle blowers are Public Servants and since The Godwin Grench affaire and Tony Abbott announcement he wants sack 500 Public Servants you can hardly blame them for not running forward! They all saw Godwin Grench end up in a physc hospital without a job, no wonder they are running the other way from the Liberals!! You seem to have nothing to do other than whinge about everyone and everything

      Reply

    • Mazzy says:

      10:12am | 05/05/10

      Godwin Grech was not a whistleblower!  He made up his so called information. Just when will the police investigation come to light. In the most blatant breach of the Public Service Guidelines, he deserves the harshest treatment.  I repeat not a whistleblower but a political operative and public service Judas.

    • persephone says:

      09:54am | 05/05/10

      Er…Howard legislated to have whistleblowers jailed, Bronwyn.

      http://www.uow.edu.au/~bmartin/dissent/contacts/au_wba/whistle200204.pdf

      You must have voted for these laws…..don’t you remember?

      I think you’ll also find that whistleblowers frequently lost their jobs under the Howard government, even for minor offences which were later found to be not in contravention of either the laws of the day or their employment conditions - read Senator Feeney’s speech here

      http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/genpdf/chamber/hansards/2009-08-18/0156/hansard_frag.pdf;fileType=application/pdf

      to get an idea.

      So great double standards here - whistleblowers are noble if the government’s Labor, but get jailed or fired if the government’s Liberal.

      Oh, and Henry Reynolds - the only lefty revisionist you name - was far from inactive under Howard, publishing half his books in this period and was a regular feature in the ‘culture wars’ with Windshuttle, so he hasn’t just come out of the woodwork.

      Reply

    • Ben81 says:

      02:53pm | 05/05/10

      The article in that newsletter you linked to is referring to this.
      http://www.comlaw.gov.au/ComLaw/Legislation/Bills1.nsf/0/BE44DEC7748D0348CA256F720024426F?OpenDocument&VIEWCAT=attachment&COUNT=999&START=1

      Without going too far into it, there’s just a bit more to those espionage laws than what that agenda pushing newsletter wants to get out of it.  It all seems to relate to spying and espionage, not “whistleblowing”, good fodder for a newsletter like that though I guess.  Maybe it does have a valid point in there somewhere, maybe it doesn’t, but what it certainly doesn’t have is credibility.

      “I think you’ll also find that whistleblowers frequently lost their jobs under the Howard government”
      Adv. 1. frequently - many times at short intervals; “we often met over a cup of coffee”
      That speech refers to Godwin Grech, who deserved a boot up his arse anyway, and one single case where it does seem like a public servant got a raw deal.

      When you read into it the speech you linked does make a fair point though that using the same standards of loyalty in the Howard government it might be difficult to expect a Labor staffer to come out and say enough is enough.  Of course, it doesn’t say anything about Labor not having the same expectations of their staff that the Liberals did when in government.  You can’t really draw a clear line between responsibility and treachery because every case is different I guess, so it’s a tough one.

    • stephen says:

      10:20am | 05/05/10

      Bronwyn, I’ll bet you a David Cameron that Kevin Rudd won’t end up, this time at least, a John Howard.

      Reply

    • Willy K says:

      10:25am | 05/05/10

      “What is it about left wing ideology that needs to tear down the memory of those who have served our nation and made the ultimate sacrifice in order to assert their own relevance?”

      As we all know - 99% of left wingers are sad, ugly, bitter little people.  Thus they choose the creed of spite and envy - Socialism and its bastard child the ALP. 

      Remember those kids at school that refused to try at PE?  Hated sport? Didn’t like team activities?  Were jealous of their peers having dates, drinking, having wild sex?  Were gothics or ‘alternative’?  Always protesting about how hard their lives were (or other peoples were half a world away)?  Always had a scapegoat for their shortcomings?

      These are your left wingers, your socialists, your ALP/Green members, and your leftie hate commentators.  All have deep seated insecurities from their childhoods that they, unlike the rest of us, could never get over, - thus the huge chip on the shoulder.

      Just take a look at the horrible looking misfits that make up the ALP front bench.  Its the chance for these losers to get back at us all for their school and youth years.  And what a job they are making of it.

      Reply

    • Henry says:

      12:06pm | 05/05/10

      100% Rolled-Gold Spot on.

      We all knew these people as we grew up.  Losers with sociopathic personalities. 

      Kevin Rudd is their poster boy and Gillard is their poster girl.

    • Russ says:

      01:42pm | 05/05/10

      Actually, most of that description fits John Howard and an awful lot of Young Liberals.

    • Darryl Price says:

      10:27am | 05/05/10

      Kevin Rudd wants nothing more than to influence world affairs. No luck with the ETS and Copenhagen (COP15), no traction yet on the UN Secretary General candidacy. Then out of the blue, the super tax gets world headlines and he makes an impression on world markets. It would be truly better for all of us if this peanut brain, this drink of water of a PM, would get interested in one of those online reality games and just get out of the way.

      Reply

    • Russ says:

      10:51am | 05/05/10

      I’m a grassroots voter, but when you say “our forefathers ... served to protect our new nation ” you seem a little confused.  Exactly how were the Turks going to move against Australia from Gallipoli?  As for whistleblowers, I recall one by the name of Andrew Wilkie who was not well liked by the Coalition.  Was the leak of a secret document, which had been the property of DFAT, an approved way of dealing with him?  Or was it just that Lord Downer, who seems never to have read anything that came across his desk, wasn’t aware of what was in it?  Go back to your cave, Bronwyn.

      Reply

    • Andrew says:

      11:27am | 05/05/10

      Great photo, LIB’s should use it in the upcoming election.

      Maybe like a mastercard commercial:

      Cost of Insulation Scheme: $2.4 billion

      Cost of Insulation Debacle: 4 dead, 60 house fires, $1 billion to fix

      Cost to Australia of another Labor term: Incalculable!

      Reply

    • Jolanda says:

      11:53am | 05/05/10

      Where are the whistleblowers? 

      Well they are intimidated and bullied into silence because the process that the system has set up to deal with allegations is designed to discredit, defame and ruin the whistleblowers life whilst the people being blown the whistle on get promoted into positions of even more power without question or challenge. 

      Education – Keeping them Honest
      http://jolandachallita.typepad.com/

      Reply

    • BotFly says:

      12:01pm | 05/05/10

      Your last whistle blower Bronwyn, lost his whistle!! Godwin Gretch was such a big victory for the Liberals I am a bit amazed you would make any reference at all to whistle blowers . Just like the rest of your party your foolhardy!! Bet you never read the comments people make, if you did you would never post here again. Kerosene baths Bron is my last comment and yes we remember that too.

      Reply

    • Angie says:

      12:21pm | 05/05/10

      If you take the six leading members of the Government from Mr. Rudd down, the top six have a collective work experience of 181 years, but only 13 in the private sector.
       
       
      If you take out of those 13 years the number that were spent as trade union lawyers, that total 11, of the 181 years only TWO years were spent in the private sector.
       
      *So out of those 181 years:*
       
      - no years spent running their own business
      - no years spent starting their own business
      - no years spent as a director of a family business or a company
      - no years as a director of a public company
      - no years in a senior position in a public company
      - no years in a senior position in a private company
      - no years working in corporate finance
      - no years in corporate or business restructuring
      - no years working in or with a bank
      - no years of experience in the capital markets
      - no years in a stock-broking firm
      - no years in negotiating debt facilities with banks
      - no years running a small business
      - no years at the World Bank or IMF or OECD
      - no years in Treasury or Finance.
       
      But these people have plunged Australia into unprecedented debt and are going to cripple the Australian economy with the mining tax.

      Reply

    • Jason says:

      12:48pm | 05/05/10

      Thanks Angie,
                    That’s a rather impressive resume of Tony Abbotts if you have time could you put up Malcom Turnbulls?

    • Saskia says:

      12:56pm | 05/05/10

      So true.  How can anyone run a business (like Australia) with zero qualifications and experience?  The ALP have no one qualified to run a small business let alone a company or our economy.

      Its like getting a toddler to perform open heart surgery.

    • persephone says:

      01:41pm | 05/05/10

      Did a quick search of the six leading members of the Abbott ministry.

      Julie Bishop and Peter Dutton have both been directors of businesses.

      Hockey was a banking and finance lawyer.

      Robb ticks quite a few of the boxes.

      Apart from that, nada. Abbott was a journalist, Pyne a solicitor.

      However, I would point out that the Westminster system has never operated on the assumption that those who get elected are experts in any particular field.

      For over a hundred years, our system of government has assumed that Ministers don’t need to be experts to govern and indeed, the vast majority of our parliamentary reps have been lawyers (as they don’t appear in your list above, I assume you think lawyers aren’t competent at governance).

      Can I ask you to suggest a way that people can be elected - and appointed to particular ministries - which avoids your supposed ‘problem’?

    • Ben81 says:

      01:52pm | 05/05/10

      Jason, how about you actually look up Tony Abbott and at least pretend to know what you’re talking about before you put your foot in your mouth.

    • Dingo says:

      08:10pm | 05/05/10

      Good point Angie. Maybe it’s time to introduce some minimum requirements for those who want to stand for election. I think your list is a good starting point.

      The MSM barely commented that Swan couldn’t quote the CPI last budget night, or that he stated that a blow out in the current account deficit was proof that more government stimulus was required. Now he expects us to believe stimulatory fiscal policy is consistent with contractionary monetary policy. He has absolutely no idea about basic economics.

      I, Iike Tony Abbott, find economics quite boring, but I know a hell of a lot more about it than Wayne Swan exhibits.

    • notsurprised says:

      01:37pm | 05/05/10

      What is Mr Rudd hiding with the non-disclosure of these letters? Given his track record of botched initiatives I would put money on them containing some very damning evidence against his direction.
      What do you have to hide Prime Minister?
      The only allowance for the parlimentary privilige of non-disclosure should be on the grounds of national security.

      Reply

    • Robbie says:

      08:10pm | 05/05/10

      Here’s a novel idea.How about we give the health portfolio to a doctor,agriculture to a farmer,education to a teacher,finance to an economist etcetera ,etcetera etcetera.

    • Harquebus says:

      01:44pm | 05/05/10

      John Howard’s Govt. came down hard on whistleblowers and eroded many of our liberties. I haven’t forgotten that, Bronwyn.

      Reply

    • Josh says:

      02:13pm | 05/05/10

      Message to Rudd…...Lose the fake cheesy put-on grin and stop using the phrase “working families”....is there a real person somewhere inside or is our PM the Hollow Man

      Reply

    • Lorraine says:

      04:57pm | 05/05/10

      How I hate the phrase “working families”.  It is selective and only acknowledges some of Australia’s population. Why not call us Australians That would be inclusive.
      Early in his leadership, I wrote to Krudd and asked about the selective nature of the his speeches and received an answer that completely missed the point.
      I didn’t know at the time that he was going to miss the point all the time.
      If he doesn’t start talking to all Australians rather than “working families” maybe those of us who do not fit his criteria will not vote for him. There are millions of us, Kev.

    • Angie says:

      02:53pm | 05/05/10

      Here is the buzz: PM asked a number of questions in perth about a 40% “super” tax on the banking industry…............did someone say our “economic conservative” is now a “socialist…...or communist”?

      BTW Persphone - my point was the ALP have NO EXPERIENCE in managing money - NONE.
      “Julie Bishop and Peter Dutton have both been directors of businesses.
      Hockey was a banking and finance lawyer. Robb ticks quite a few of the boxes. Apart from that, nada. Abbott was a journalist, Pyne a solicitor.”

      Abbott is a Rhodes Scholar, I think he is up for pretty robust economic debate.

      Pyne was elected an MP at 25, the youngest ever ......hardly time to have much of a career.

      Face it champ, the ALP are ruiniing this country at record speed and your silly “Westminster System” defence will be a good talking point to have at the bonfires for displaced citizen in open cut mines when Oz has 25% unemployment and all the mining companies have left.

      Reply

    • persephone says:

      03:48pm | 05/05/10

      I understood your point, Angie. It’s not my fault you made it very poorly.

      One would have thought Abbott was capable of economic debate, but he himself says he finds economics boring and he has shown little grasp of it to date.

      Rhodes scholars are not always brilliant intellects, you know - they’re also selected on the basis of sporting prowess.

      No, Ministers of any government don’t need to be economic wizards - that’s what Treasury is for. So far, by taking the advice of Treasury - exactly what Costello, a lawyer with no financial experience, did - they have preserved jobs and industries through the worst financial crisis since the 1930s - not a bad trick.

      We’re going to have people working in mines when all the mine companies have left?

    • Lorraine says:

      03:39pm | 05/05/10

      Oh Bronwyn, fancy trying to combine two completely different articles into one!
      The Rudd factor article was just getting interesting when off you go after Henry Reynolds and Germaine and the Anzac Legand.
      If you were in my English class. I’d have to enquire about relevance?
      Meanwhile could you please consider completeing the article about Rudd?

      Reply

    • Ben81 says:

      06:04pm | 05/05/10

      A fun thought for some of us Jack, but that aint democracy.

    • Marilyn says:

      09:13pm | 05/05/10

      Actually Jack the real report says only that the program is an almost complete success that has a few teething problems.

      Now if you don’t want to bother to read the report that is what is says mate so do grow up.

      The MSM decided the program was a dud based only on anecdotes in the Australian - one of which was so outrageous his quote was 50% higher than he claimed it would be and cost well over the budget for his school.

      The long and detailed survey at the end when schools themselves were questioned is the interesting bit mate.

      Suggest you get cracking on it because all the MSM have egg on face problems about now.

    • stevem says:

      04:45pm | 05/05/10

      Labor conspirators have those letters and many more sitting in their files. The day they see Rudd being more of a liability than an asset they will leak document after document to undermine Rudd and replace him with their own factional puppet. Just look at NSW to see how it will shake out!

      Reply

    • Luke says:

      06:22pm | 05/05/10

      They arent wearing any clothes!

      Reply

    • Mitch says:

      06:46pm | 05/05/10

      Yawn.  It would be refreshing to see the Liberals actually suggest something constructive for the country rather then just being the party of no.  They’re assuming that if people think Labor is bad then they should vote Liberal.  I’ll take bad over absolutely awful thanks.  The people rejected Howardism in 2007, why do they seem to think that people will not reject it again??  Besides we already have Howard Lite in power anyway.

      Also Bronwyn, I’m going to assume that if you had your way we would run the country on kerosene right?

      Reply

    • Front Man says:

      08:38pm | 05/05/10

      Bronwyn -  I hope you don’t mind me calling you that - you raise some solid arguments here.
      Can I suggest, however, you stick to one strong point per column?
      The World War I stuff is making the column work too hard after your start.  Love your attitude.

      Reply

    • NeilM says:

      09:29pm | 05/05/10

      What a load of Liberal bumpf.

      Seems getting into a war that results in the unnecessary deaths of 60,000 civilians, and an expenditure of $1 billion per annum for as many years as it takes (without defining what “it is”) is not as big a mistake as expecting employers to look after their workers.

      Four people died as a direct result of the Insulation Scheme and the Liberal Party has been milking it for all its worth. Perhaps it is beyond you to understand that some people see this as poor taste. The vast majority of people working in the industry were not at risk, because their employers did the right thing, now most of them are out of work. A fun position for the Liberal Party pressing an issue in a very childish and unbalanced way, too bad about the people that lost their jobs because of your over reaction.

      Please take the negative game and throw it as far as you can. Get some policies in place that you can articulate. Then people might have a reason to elect a Liberal Government but until you actually stand for something (other than opposing anything/ everything) it isn’t very likely.

      Reply

    • Monique says:

      09:51pm | 05/05/10

      Oh you can not be serious the labour party love war just as much as the liberals, they just have a populist take on it. If they really care about the many innocent deaths then why is has your socialist King MR Rudd not bothered arguing on behalf of these many dead people, its because he must support the war in Afghanistan for Obama.

      And by the way at least Howard payed the soldiers what they deserved.

    • Wade Short says:

      10:10am | 07/05/10

      The insulation industry is now fighting back, please support us and gather some truth from http://www.ruinedbyrudd.com

      Reply

    • Steve Putnam says:

      08:43pm | 10/05/10

      Bronwyn why don’t you go home take couple of Bex and have a nice kerosene bath!

      Reply
 
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