Interesting article in the media about the ICAC and that it is going after insignificant small stuff when it should be chasing the really big stuff.

I wonder if the ICAC has done itself some longer term damage by bringing down a 2nd innocent Liberal Premiere ?

The Chief of Army is pushing a politically correct line on the Army very hard and may be making a major problem for the ADF in the future. Across the Pacific the US Navy is having problems retaining it's best officers and crew due to pushing to many politically correct programs on them. Quite a few have been citing this as the reason they are leaving. The ADF will face the same problem when it's best and brightest leave instead of copping more left wing political indoctrination.

Interesting for the ABC ?

ABC becomes first Western broadcaster to go China-wide

The ABC has won permission from the Chinese government to have its Australia Network content made available to the entire Chinese population - the most extensive access afforded to any Western broadcaster.

ABC becomes first Western broadcaster to go China-wide

Is that a surprise, its credentials puts it in prime position in the comrades eyes.:E

No, they can see what everyone else sees.

Must admit the Chinese must really think the ABC is not a danger
for them to allow that level of coverage. I am sure some criteria
are attached as to what can and can't be broadcast.

Combine that with the supposed request that Chinese ships operate
under Australian orders in the US Exercise and you have to wonder :rolleyes:

Never known the Chinese to be subservient although we are probably
the lesser of two evils ? :O

If ever there was one iota of doubt about the ALPBC's slavish adherence to a strictly left wing editorial policy and agenda, this news item should put those doubts firmly to rest.

Poor Barry, honest mistake that anyone could of made, even the shock jocks were struggling and spluttering trying to smooth this one out for their righty buddies.

Don't worry, a bottle of wine will be nothing compared to the next clown.

A BILLION dollar stuff-up has given the state government's financial credentials a bloody nose but also dragged its budget back into the black.

Treasurer Mike Baird's first budget was revealed to have been littered with accounting and data entry errors that meant his deficit of $337 million should in fact be a surplus of $680 million.

In a scathing assessment of how the government misplaced $1 billion, Auditor-General Peter Achterstraat said the budget result had "bounced around a bit like a pinball machine".

"NSW is a billion-dollar business, it is not a school tuckshop," he said.

"A $1 million error is unfortunate, a $10 million error is undesirable but a $100 million error is totally unacceptable.

What I haven't heard any of the pundits say yet is that Barry O'Farrell has set the bar awfully high for any future witnesses who come before ICAC. That means that more than a few Labor luminaries may well find themselves in a position that any honest (wo)man would find uncomfortable.

The all-important word there, of course, is "honest".

Sorry, I don't follow...

Cos the Chinese are commies. Andu and rh200 suggesting that the ABC political wing will fit right in.
Personally I think honest pollies went out with Australian made tellys, Cold Duck and Coronation Chicken, but maybe there are a few left in the wild. :} If the Commission cleans out a few shameless political touts who only went into politics to get deals for their greasy mates and line their own troughs then good, and I don't care which side they come from. There are far too many of them sponging off the country and doing very little governance in return.

If there are, then they would be on the endangered species list.

Lets not get too carried away with BoF's apparent misdemeanor. They are supposed to declare gifts over a certain value, which he also 'forgot' to do. Forgetting a $3000 gift isn't that different to accepting a free holiday or a car. Where do you draw the line?

As opposed to the Labor cheer squad, the ALPBC :O


Interesting that the voting in The Age has it approx 75% vs 25% against Abbott when asked the question was his response justified !

Couldn't agree with you more, but you would have to know its a $3000 dollar bottle of wine. A bottle of plonk showed up for me I wouldn't have a clue. Now not knowing BoF, I don't know if he would, seems like a $5 cask type of person to me.

I imagine most on the yuppie side of the left and yuppie side of the right could. In case of Barry though, I could imagine him yelling out to the missus, "hey some one just sent us a bottle of plonk, lets crack it finish off before tea".

A very funny carton on the Pickering site with Barry O'F's wife asking him how he could have forgotten her wine trifle.

I'm with rh200 on the question of price. How would you know? Particularly in an incredibly busy period immediately after assuming the Premiership. I mean, I know Grange is expensive - but I wouldn't have a clue whether a particular year costs $300, $3,000 or $30,000. Paying $300 for a bottle of wine, to me, is absolutely bloody silly, and something only pretentious gits would do to either impress some other pretentious git or to get into a lady's - make that female's - knickers.

It speaks volumes that BO'F took the time to hand write thank you notes to God only knows how many people at the time. My guess would be that he's have a very hard time recalling what he wrote in one in a hundred of them.

You don't hand write thank you notes for a 4ltr cask of claret. BoF knew the value of what he had received, and a) failed to note it in his register of pecuniary interests as required, and b) as it was obviously an attempt to buy influence should have been returned. Then he lied about receiving it to an anti-corruption inquiry for gods sake. How much do you want to bend the rules because you like him?

"How much do you want to bend the rules because you like him?"

As much as the left bends it for themselves :O



I have a question.

Why was he called before the ICAC and asked about this ?

Or did it come out when asked about his relationship with
the other person ?

Ethel .....sounds like minor edition of Gillards/Rudds "government".

Just maybe Australia is full of bogans whose drink of choice is VB, Barossa Pearl or Pink StarWine. BOF is supposed to be a man of the world. That said, I find it beyond belief that a bloke in his position did not know the potential worth of a bottle of Grange. One would have to have been living under a pile of rocks to not know that Grange is a very expensive red: I don't drink reds but I've heard of Grange and its cost just by reading the media and staying abreast of current affairs. Has not anyone heard the stories of Qantas presenting bottles of Grange to politicians?

It's a somewhat complicated and convoluted situation, probably too much so to detail here. BOF's appearance followed a series of denials that he had very little contact with a POI to the ICAC. It seems that the opposite was the case but in any event there's not been the slightest suggestion yet that BOF has indulged in corrupt practices. He obviously has an imperfect memory, unlike his Senator colleague who has none, as he (meaning BOF) could now been in a spot of bother with the parliament for not having declared the expensive gift. A forgetful mind, like ignorance, is not an acceptable excuse. I wonder what other gifts he's failed to declare? I bet one thing: you can be sure that politicians, State and Federal, of all stripes are busily updating their Declarations of Interests, and are thinking twice before accepting any gift.

Wouldn't it be a good thing if gifts of all kinds were banned for all politicians? By gifts, I mean would airline and hotel upgrades, Foxtel subscriptions, club memberships, admission to sporting events (ie, invitations), dinners and other meals, tickets to cultural events such as the opera and ballet. One could go on and on. Gifts exchanged with politicians would be acceptable provided they were declared but anything from any commercial body should be ruled completely out. One can only dream...