Eric Abetz

Mining money talks the loudest in Australian politics

by Laurie Oakes

110
Please enter your password

by Lucy Kippist

210
This concern for Thomson won’t change the script

by Mark Kenny

310
Weekend Punch: Tea or coffee?

by The Punch Team

410
Eurovision can’t drown out the human rights abuses

by Claire Mallinson

510
Revenge. It doesn’t get a whole lot better than this

by The Punch Team

610
Friday dilemma: can school bullies grow out of it?

by Tory Maguire

710
“Fizzy”, “gusto”, “disco” and other words we love

by Lucy Kippist

810
Ray Beckwith: the science behind the wine

by David Penberthy

910
The world puzzles over Australia’s Prime Minister

by Mark Kenny

1010

Senator Abetz and his odd date with the star chamber

13 Aug 05:45am

Filed under: Eric Abetz, Godwin Grech, Malcolm Turnbull, Senate, Utegate

Last night the Senate voted in favour of referring Senator Eric Abetz to a special committee over his role in the Utegate affair and things are about to get a bit awkward for all parties involved.

What we have here is a failure to communicate

For starters a fellow Liberal Senator George Brandis will be in charge of the inquiry, which is bound to make people wonder whether this is going to be a fair dinkum examination of Abetz’s role in the fake email/Utegate/OzCar affair.

On the other side, Labor Senators on the privileges committee that will be questioning Abetz’s role in the shonky Godwin Grech testimony (specifically his handling of the email and whether it was a manipulation of the Senate committee) will have to be pretty careful about who and what they start demanding from the Liberal Senator - especially if it comes to calling public servants and journalists in front of the committee.

Continue reading "Senator Abetz and his odd date with the star chamber" »

Latest 2 of 7 comments

View all comments

William Boeder says:

11:27pm | 14/10/09

I would much prefer to trust a Spitting Cobra than Senator Eric Abetz, do remember how he championed the MIS of forestry plantations, now they are bankrupt and are being sold (along with their precious water rights,) at fire-sale prices to institutions mostly overseas. This Senator should be defrocked for… Read more »
alan cotterell says:

08:43am | 15/08/09

It’d be interesting to see the Senate Privileges Committee try to subpoena someone who is subject to a state Mental Health Act! Malcolm Turnbull is NOT the victim in this matter. Godwin Grech is the patient! Read more »

Add your comment

Facebook Recommendations

Read all about it

Punch live

Up to the minute Twitter chatter

antsharwood 26 May 12 09:11PM

Ukraine song pinches chord progression from The Verve's Bittersweet Symphony. Fo real #sbseurovision

antsharwood 26 May 12 09:00PM

RT @GerardDaffy: @antsharwood all the talk over there is the grannies will win.they entered to get a church built,feelgood story

antsharwood 26 May 12 08:57PM

These peole insult my grandmothjer, who was born in minsk, belarus #sbseurovision

antsharwood 26 May 12 08:52PM

@GerardDaffy no words for the netherlands. Musta been a good batch of hash come thru rotterdam

See all tweets

Nosebleed Section

choice ringside rantings

From: They must pay for one’s bitter disappointments

Michael S says:

"A teacher at Geelong Grammar had criticised her for using words that were too long, which had left her confused and had made her doubt her ability to write essays. She became ''quite distressed'' when her English marks began to fall." I can sympathise. My scholastic mentors conveyed to me a causal relationship… [read more]

From: Welfare for breeders is a bonus for everyone

Change Up! says:

I have no problem paying my taxes. As a single, childless person on a very decent income, I can afford it and not have my life severely altered. Plus I understand that my taxes paying for things like schools, childcare and infrastructure is ultimately a good thing. A better community is better for me… [read more]