Australian Wheat Board – Did the government know anything?

I have been watching with interest as the Cole Inquiry finally handed down the report into the Oil for food scandal. For those not in know, it appears that the Australian Wheat Board had paid so-called "Transportation fees" to a shipping company with links to Saddam Hussein’s regime. Now if it were a couple of thousand, no biggy, but its in the order of $300 million to ensure Australian wheat was used by the Iraq bakers for their bread. Talk about doing what you can for a sale! Anyway, it has all come out in the wash with the help of our American allies, and so to soften the political damage, the Australian Government ordered an inquiry into the whole affair (the Cole Inquiry) The end result of this is the Cole report which was released earlier this week.

In his report, it appears Mr Cole has cleared the Australian Government of any criminal behaviour and has assigned the blame solely on the Company and its executives. Eleven Managers at the top of the company have been accused of potentially criminal behaviour under the Corporations Act. The next step would be the Director of Public Prosecutions getting involved. Should be an interesting Christmas for some of those corporate warriors. But not to worry, criminal behaviour does not disqualify you from the business community. Just look at Alan Bond!

However I don’t understand why the government of Australia isn’t a little more culpable for their failure to pick up the dodgy behaviour? The government, through its agencies like ASIC and the ACCC, not to mention the Department of foreign affairs and the various intelligence arms, should have know something. If they did not, as is expressed in the Cole report, it is a stuff-up of epic proportions. If our government were a corporation, surely it would be guilty of negligence at the very least? The corporate reputation of Australia in the eyes of our customers has taken a battering. Our wheat sales have been seriously curtailed. If Australian citizens had the same rights as shareholders, we could sue the directors of the government (the ministers and the PM) in the hope of receiving compensation for the Government’s failings. But for better or for worse Governments are only accountable at the ballot box. No extra dividend in our Christmas stocking I’m afraid.

It’s a bit of a worrying trend really. That’s twice in recent history that our so-called spymasters have gotten it completely wrong. ASIO, ASIS, ONIE, the Australian Federal Police, our foreign allies in the intelligence world, were they asleep on the job? Not a clue? They stuffed up with the Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq, and they have stuffed up with the Oil for food program. Not quite George Smiley at the wheel one would think (apologies to John Le Carre)
In today’ world of international terrorism, Middle East instability and unrest in the Pacific islands close to Australia, competent intelligence organisations and networks are absolutely crucial to the protection of Australia and its people.

Time for an inquiry into the Spy Agencies as well I think.

Another Day, another P-Plate Death

There seems to be an awfully big focus on P-Platers (Provisional Driver) and potential flaws in their driving lately, especially after the crashes on Australian roads recently (4 people under the age of 18 have died in motor accidents) . But is this just a blimp in an otherwise downhill spiral of Road deaths for the young? I thought that with all the various P-Plater regulation, deaths would be going down.

And I was correct. I had a bit of a check through the Australian Transport Safety Bureau’s Website (www.atsb.gov.au). This is the government agency that is responsible for tracking deaths that occur through all transportation methods (including Road Deaths)

It actually found that there has been 2% decrease in deaths of drivers 17-25 over the last 5 years. This is not a bad trend. Especially considering the number of cars on the road have increased 10.8 percent in this time. In fact the largest percentage of driver deaths last year was in the age groups of 26-39. But there doesn’t appear to be any focus on those guys in the news.

What is worse, Motor cyclist deaths have actually increased by 18% between 2004 and 2005, but there has been no mention of this at all in the news. This is huge when you consider that Motor Cyclist numbers have only increase 4.7% during this time. Why isn’t there a summit about Motor Cycles? Surely they deserve some attention.

Let’s not mince words. The deaths of P-Platers are a tragedy, but so is any death on the road. All road users need to understand that driving is a dangerous activity and not something to take lightly. While there are people on the roads, there will be deaths and it’s something that we have to acknowledge. To try and educate the road users is not the answer, and is probably a waste of money. There is just no substitute for driving experience. All long-term drivers have made mistakes in the past, and they learn from it and become better drivers. It is just an unfortunate fact of life that some don’t get the chance to learn.

More money should be spent on making roads safe. I don't believe driver competence is the issue here.