Razzle Dazzle’em.
What's really going on whilst we're all entralled by the high drama of Utegate?
As I write, Australia is in the thrall of ‘Utegate’. It’s another ‘Ah ha! Gotcha!’ moment of which we are being served a regular diet.
Malcolm Turnbull alleges that the Australian parliament has been misled by the lies of government ministers. This, we are told, is a most heinous crime. Yet, politicians lie to the Australian public all the time. In my book, this is a greater crime than misleading parliament. Yet they do so with impunity. So what’s this fuss really about?
This question can also be asked of the Tony Stewart affair. His Ah ha! Gotcha! moment occurred when he (allegedly) bawled out a staffer in public then held her leg so she couldn’t leave (allegedly). There was also that other grumpy politician, Belinda Neal, who (allegedly) yelled at a staff member at the Iguana nightclub then (allegedly) lied about it.
I don’t know about you, but, in the main, I can’t see what all the kerfuffle’s about. Politicians are certainly behaving badly. And when they compound the felony by lying their actions can only be judged as ignoble – yes, and sometimes even criminal. Nevertheless, our preoccupation with such trivial matters is elevating them to a position that isn’t rightly theirs.
In doing so, are important issues being overlooked? Indeed, are we being served up a mountain of trivialities in order to distract us? Are the Australian public being razzle-dazzled?
Remember Marcus Einfeld? His Ah ha! Gotcha! moment came over a $77 speeding fine that he tried to get out of by lying to the courts. No doubt he behaved badly. He also paid a high price with a rather long custodial term. (Is he still in jail?).
When Einfeld’s case was all over the news there was another story of far more importance being played out in the background. It was largely ignored, not being nearly as ‘sexy’.
The same year (2006) that Einfeld had been prosecuted for speeding he had also been appointed by the government of the Solomon Islands to head up a judicial inquiry into the April 2006 riots in Honiara. The riots occurred because of popular dissatisfaction with the results of a general election – especially the appointment of Snyder Rini as Prime Minister.
The inquiry was very unpopular with the then Howard government as it intended to raise issues of culpability and incompetence of not only the Solomon Islands’ authorities but also of the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) -a body that had been formulated by countries in the region and headed up by Australia as a peace-keeping mission during the ethnic tensions at the request of the then Solomon Islands government. The request for assistance had come from the Prime Minister immediately previous to Rini, Sir Allan Kemakeza.
In the aftermath of the riots, Manasseh Sogavare, a more acceptable choice to the people of the Solomon Islands, subsequently replaced Rini. However, he was not so acceptable to the Australian government having always been a strong critic of RAMSI.
What followed was an international incident of significant proportions that contained allegations of corruption amongst Solomon Islands politicians, charges of bullying and overstepping their authority against the Australian government and RAMSI, High Commissioners being declared as persona non grata, illegal raids on the offices of Prime Ministers – and that’s not the half of it.
During most of this time we, the Australian people, were following, with bated breath, the Marcus Einfeld $77 speeding fine saga.
Perfect timing sustains the conspiracy theory. On July, 13, 2006, Sogavare appoints Marcus Einfeld as chairman of the committee of inquiry – August 10, a criminal investigation into Einfeld commences while in parliament Alexander Downer announces that he has “concerns” about the Solomon Islands inquiry.
Disgracing the chairman of a commission so unpopular with Canberra would certainly put a spoke in the wheel. Wouldn’t it? And it did.
Yet only one commentator picked up on this. (Patrick O’Connor writing for the World Socialist Web Site.) Not even Einfeld himself gave voice to highly probable political motivations. I can only guess why not
In a serendipitous bonus for Canberra, as well as the speeding Einfeld, the inquiry would also deliver up another large target.
Lawyer, Julian Moti, later appointed Attorney General under the same Solomon Islands Prime Minister who commissioned the inquiry, Manasseh Sogavare, largely formulated the inquiry’s terms of reference.
After his appointment, it took the Australian government no time at all to resurrect a largely dormant inquiry into an old (1997) sex charge against Moti allegedly committed in Vanuatu while he was resident there. The judiciary of Vanuatu dropped the charge in 1999.
The Moti affair, had further international ramifications when the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Sir Michael Somare refused to hand over Moti to Australian authorities to answer the charges and helped him reach Honiara. Once there Sogavare also refused to repatriate him to Australia.
During the stoush that followed, allegations flew about corruption, bribing of magistrates and the right of sovereign nations to conduct their own affairs without interference.
Pacific relations had hit an all time low.
Yet we cared little for this as we got caught up in the Einfeld perverting the course of justice charge and the Moti sex-tourism charges. (Moti was subsequently extradited back to Australia to face the charges when the new Island government under the leadership of Dr. Derek Sikua felt it was prudent to do so. His case is pending in the Brisbane courts as I write)
So, in spite of any crimes Einfeld and Moti may have committed (and do remember – no charges against Moti have been proved), I can’t help feeling that both of them are the scapegoats served up to distract us from seriously important political matters.
So what’s the real story behind Utegate? Are you starting to feel like a fool whose righteous indignation will be used as a weapon for an unknown agenda? Me too.
ejames
June 28, 2009 at 5:45 am
When our media has nothing
When our media has nothing more to worry about than the wrangling of a car dealer from Queensland and fraudulent emails, it says that our country mustn't be in (comparitively) too bad a position. We at least had the opportunity to legitimately vote for the boof-heads arguing in Canberra.
However, our country is not without its issues and these should be addressed by an intelligent media. Australia is also a part the global community and specifically the Pacific region, so its about time that as consumers of the media we start pushing to end the perpetuation of pettiness and start reporting on the real nuts and bolts of our society and world.
Australia has rather a large stake in the events of the Solomon Islands, yet I doubt many know what is happening there. Diverting the public's attention to a petty speeding fine only widens the knowledge gap.
The idea of what is newsworthy and what is not is, obviously, subjective, but I would love see, read and hear more than just which league team won last night and which politician has managed to get himself into the tinisest amount of strife the rest of us would laugh off at the pub with friends.
Gary Looney
June 28, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Elevated positions of self importance?
I believe the elevated position is theirs, which is the problem. Although I sense you Blog is wisely sensitive with aspects of the subject and may not be totally at odds with all my thoughts? Self importance requires infallibility, which is why such acts get written off as trivial by the media machine that relies on Government cooperation to some extent for information.
Governments often gain patriotic support from the individual voter on the street!
When an irresponsible self serving action cost the Australian public incredible amounts of money and Government human resources, these instance are criminal activity. Many of which are only possible with cooperation of likeminded people of similar interests or an interest in not admitting knowledge of known immoral or illegal actions of colleagues.
The answer lies in the moral consensus of those in position of power to set rules for themselves were immunity and trust have failed which ironically could only be changed with a majority of government. I do not see the answer is in the general public's hands to a great extent at this time, and were it to happen I would be very disappointed!
A Citizen of Australia and all its Territories!
Susan Merrell
June 28, 2009 at 11:40 pm
Hi Gary
I'm not suggesting for a moment that bad behaviour should be either condoned or ignored. If they do the crime they should do the time. However, I can't believe the issues that get relegated to the backburner while we obsess about more trivial issues.
The real problem is when or if these issues are used deliberately as a red herring. I believe there is a case for suspecting this with the Marcus Einfeld and Julian Moti affairs.
Emmjay
June 29, 2009 at 8:42 pm
Being Touched Up
Susan, thank you for letting us in on the background – the real story going on behind the "Why are we bothering with this ?" story. I guess the old adage is true – that if it looks like bull~, and smells like bull~, we don't need to also taste it to confirm that it is, in fact bull~. Amazing how a bit of moral indignation passes for satisfactory news.
The recent dive taken by Malcolm Turnbull in not one, but three opinion polls suggests to me that the Australian public have well and truly had enough of ridiculous smokescreen smear tactic politics, however it remains to be seen whether we will be treated to anything more worthy in the next session.
Ever the optimist, I'm ready for an Opposition that does something – anything – constructive.
Mike Jones
also blogs at http://www.pigsarms.wordpress.com/about