Godwin Grech, John Howard’s go-to man
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Godwin Grech, the Treasury branch head at the centre of the faked email affair, was a go-to man for the Howard Government on at least one politically-sensitive project while he was the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. Grech spent five years as head of the Industry Policy Branch within PM&C, until July 2008. The period covered both the 2004 and 2007 Federal elections. During the 2004 election campaign, the Howard Government boldly pushed into Labor heartland in Melbourne with a proposal to commit $8m to the Western Bulldogs football club. On 23 September 2004, just over two weeks before the election, Howard went to the oval of the AFL’s poorest club in Nicola Roxon’s western suburbs electorate of Gellibrand to announce a $20m re-development of Whitten Oval, to which the Commonwealth would contribute more than a third. This was no ordinary sporting commitment, either in size or announcement. Normally it was then-Sports Minister Rod Kemp who announced (and subsequently implemented) this sort of suburban pork-barrelling. A week after the Whitten Oval announcement, for example, Kemp promised the handover of $2m to Geelong for further redevelopment of Kardinia Park. The Whitten Oval announcement by Howard, however, was part of the then-Government’s pitch to the working class vote, which culminated in Howard being cheered by CFMEU members in Tasmania for his forests policy. With the Government returned, it would have been normal for the then-Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, where there was a Sports Branch administered sports grants programs, to have overseen the commitment of the Commonwealth’s $8m input to the project, but unusually it was run by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, and in particular by Godwin Grech. The redevelopment proposal, however, became mired in planning disputes and a Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal appeal started hearings this month. As part of the legal process surrounding the appeal, in November 2008 Grech was contacted by Bulldogs CEO Campbell Rose and asked for information about the process of providing Commonwealth funding for the redevelopment. Grech described his role in detail to Rose. “Issues relating to sports and sporting ground redevelopments fell within the responsibilities of my Branch whilst I was in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet,” Grech, who by then was back in Treasury, wrote to Rose. That would presumably come as a surprise to DCITA’s Sports branch, which oversaw exactly those issues. Grech went on to say, “I was the primary officer within DPMC that managed and facilitated the Federal Government’s response to the submission by the Western Bulldogs Football Club regarding the proposed re-development of the Whitten Oval. This,” Grech continues, “included oversight and personally briefing the then Prime Minister, the Hon. John Howard, and his office, on the size, scope and overall merit of the project.” Grech goes on to note that the club made a guarantee through him to the Prime Minister in relation to gaming machines, suggesting Grech was in effect speaking for Howard when dealing with the club. Prime Minister and Cabinet staff, and particularly branch heads, would normally be expected to work closely with the Prime Minister’s Office. The letter makes clear, however, that Grech was a trusted agent of Howard and his staff in relation to a politically-important project. Clearly Grech was well-known to very-senior members of the Howard Government, including Howard himself, who overnight has described him “competent and hard-working”, (which is a more generous tribute than Howard gave Peter Costello last week). In a comment that may or may not be loaded with significance, Grech’s Departmental Secretary Ken Henry this morning said “all will be revealed” in relation to the fake email affair and Grech’s relationship with the Coalition. |
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28 Comments
This story is like the magic pudding - you think you have eaten it all and then, like magic, another juicy morsel appears.
sorry if I missed it but could one of the political reporters review the Mr Grech performance from Friday. After the numerous “noble man tries to tell truth” articles from last week I would love to see one with hindsight.
As I listen to question time in the House, Abbott, the self confessed Christian and man of God, formerly of a seminary to train for the Catholic priesthood, rose with the days first question to the PM I could not believe he was attempting yet again, on behalf of his leader, to smear and dirt the office of Prime Minister by trying to diguise in a question an accusation Mr Rudd had taken backhanders to pay a legal bill after a failed court case to stop runway extensions at Brisbane airport. Mr Rudd advised that the corridors and press gallery had been given hints of this by, guess who? members of the Opposition. More sleeze, more character assassination attempts aimed at the PM. Mr Rudd had the answers, but more was to come.
The member for Waringa, refugee from the seminary, followed up with another smear. Did the Pm have discussions with Mr Grant ona trip to China? No date, no indication discussion about what. Was it a trade delegation, Abbott didnt know? Just another disgraceful attempt to link the PM with Mr Grant. The way this absurd dirt gutter campaign is developing, the PM will be accused of having secret meetings with Elvis, or in Abbotts case, Mother Theresa. All the time Turnbull sat with a smirk of arrogance on his face. This farce is contemptable and the sooner Turnbull and Hockey are thrown out, the sooner the Liberal Party can get back to trying to do what we the tax payer put them there to do.
It looks like Goblin Wretch was set up by an ALP-leaning Treasury official…insiders must have known Wretch’s predilections and that he’d relish making history with that juicy email.
Revenge of the Nerds…
That is frankly stupid Frank. There is no evidence of him being “set up by an ALP-leaning Treasury official”. Try to get a bit of knowledge first - it may help you to stop embarrassing yourself.
You have evidence Frank of your assertion?
Isn’t it high time for the Liberals to start thinking about their Party program to try to make sure that they have any chance at the next election.
All they are doing at the moment is practicing the art of bickering. The aim of the opposition is to present alternative political program as well as monitoring the current government. It is not about plotting against the government.
It seems the Libs have never heard about ‘alternative’ measures to help the community AT LARGE to prosper..
They would rather prosper themselves..
DJPL/Dave: not a shred of evidence. Just a hunch. It will be far more fun if I’m right though…
No, it won’t be Frank. Next time you have a “hunch” see your doctor. Don’t waste our time by unloading it here.
Frank I suggest you take your stupid insinuations over to Akermans column at the Telegraph, he will welcome them with glee, and he needs all the support he can get being the lone columnist in the nation still waving the Turnbull flag, hardly encouraging for the Libs as Akerman is now regarded generally as washed up. Read the response to his last 2 columns, he is regarded as a joke.
When Grech apeared at the Senate inquiry, my knee-jerk was “scared weird little guy” (yeah, ignore height differences & there is a physical resemblance -the hair, the nose). My images of SWLGs are Charlie Chaplin and Gollum; helpless & battered, or sneaky & entrapped by his “Precious” - the SWLG’s dependent relationship with great power and typical behaviour when it is withdrawn. Maybe because I, for my sins, had to do a study a lot of psych (including this sort of dependency) my image wasn’t CC. I spent years as a professional in a PS Department. Helpless, battered persons are not promoted to senior PS ranks. One has to be ultra-competent (get the job done), ultra-upwardly mobile (always do the job as superordinate wants it done, even if it means walking over colleagues’ corpses) or ultra “useful” - to the bosses or, in Joh’s Qld government, Joh and/or his ministers.
I may be wrong; but it’s looking less so by the hour.
Tony Abbott has always been distinguished by the thoroughness with which he follows his Jesuit training. No matter how deep the gutter he drags everyone into, no matter how high the pile of shit, from which he hurls his verbal bombs, no matter how wide the chasm between himself and the truth and no matter how many deserts and swamps he creates in his wake: never is it to be forgotten that “The End Justifies the Means”.
This week he has reached the apogée of his career and he cannot believe his good fortune. He now has a cat’s paw worthy of his machinations. He has found a man so willing to break every rule of civilized conduct, so completely and utterly devoid of morals as to be breath-taking, a man whose every fibre of his being is consumed with ambition and a man possessed of a bottomless pit of evil. In short, Tony Abbott can at last rest. He has done God’s work as he sees it. The chalice of poison has been handed to a man who should have been a medieval cardinal. The sort of cardinal who would have enjoyed seeing the victims twisting and screaming as they are burned alive at the neighbourhood Auto da Fé.
No prizes given for those people who know the name of the cat’s-paw. Malcolm Turnbull.
After all his deceptions and prevarications the word bullshit has a new cognate - turnbullshit. As in: “That’s a load of turnbullshit!”
Try it with your friends. They’ll know exactly what you are talking about.
I thought Frank had his tongue planted firmly in his cheek with his comments.
We at least know what tony abbott stands for, it is he is right and we are wrong. I prefer that to other politicians that have come in the wake of Blair(or as Patrick from coupling calls him Blerrrr) who seem to stand for whatever will make everybody love them irregardlous(spellcheck?) of their or their parties beliefs. I can hate Abbotts politics outright.
By the way if 3dub swann didn’t lie to parliament by giving mr martin special treatment then why cant he just say so.
Why does he continually deflect.
If Mr Swann has answered this question directly by now I apologise and ask to be directed to the quote
thank you
Turnbullshit has a special high-performance quality that ordinary shit does not have. Its creator thinks it has a heavenly smell but, unfortunately, everyone else thinks it smells like shit.
Wonder if anyone caught the parting shot By Chris Bowen at Turnbull at the end of question time, it really got the low life and Hockey roaring. Bowen was talking about the Rudd family’s cat at the Lodge, goodness knows how it got into answering a question. Bowen had got the nod from Albanese to wind it up so he finished by saying, the cat is a dearly loved family pet and looking directly at Turnbull, they would hate anything to happen to it. Kapow, the old reverse below the belt trick. There was no way Turnbull was going to be leaving the chamber in anything but a deep dark mood. He got what he deserved. All week he has been tossing the crap, he finally got a decent load back. Bowen has grown in stature this week, in fact its a very good front bench even without Julia. Although she wouldnt have taken the sewerage from Turnbull and Hockey.
David. Are you referring to Malcolm the Mad? ……:)
Venice that is brilliant ‘Malcolm the Mad’
woops meant Venise
How appropriate it is for someone beside himself (as medical terms have it) to reflect the Liberal Party as equally removed from relevance as himself. Had a peak employer body such as our federal parliament been professionally equipped, senior bureacrats would not be empowered to initiate or sign off daydreams. Nor would a predatory opposition be allowed to exploit the weak. We have a long way to go in identifying mental illness.
Good point Christine, well made.
Being on holiday and wet cold weather here in the Sth West all week,I have been able to keep an ear and eye on proceedings in both Houses. As the string here is on stupidity and lackies, hows this In question time in the Senate, one of the “brains” asked a question about the speed it took the Federal police to find the bogus email, and some reference to the ute donated to Rudd, wasnt clear, and the lack of speed in bringing a criminal to justice after a police investigation. Sen Wong on behalf of the Attorney General advised the senator he was on dangerous ground with his implication the Govt was interfering in Police and the DPP proceedings.
Who was the Senator? Sen Feilding firing bullets on behalf of the Opposition. I have decided to go to mute everytime he opens his mouth, its just too painful. He goes to the same singing teacher as Chrissie Pyne
DJPL
I think I could learn to love you.
Uh oh, partisan barrackers here, kneejerking. As the American Indians used to say when lice move into the teepee, time to move …..
Frank I would say is on the money as the best explanation of who sent the email from Treasury. It appears to me almost nil chance Grech cooked it up. Or current Coalition politicians.
Tom, thankfully you’re not jerking your knee but there is another part of your anatomy that is getting a heavy-duty workout.
Now you have proved McLoughlin with that comment you really are the imbocile I had suspected. I really am not inclined to waste my time on your stupidity except to remind you Grech was a senior member of the Treasury. If you cant connect that with his “evidence” to the stage managed performance by he and Abetz and Abetz complete refusual to be investigated by a Senate Priveledges Committee, you are what is normally regarded as, in this case in the West, the newest occupier of a bed in Greylands. That, because your intelligence would never reach such heights, is the WA institution for brain challenged individuals.
You might have something there Frank. Reverse spies and double agents seem to be the order of the day. A similar thing just happened in state politics to SA’s opposition leader Martin Hamilton Smith. He also received a fabricated email which was subsequently released. It seriously undermined his leadership.
When this went down a few weeks back I was quite surprised at how aggressively the labor party struck back. There was a barrage of media and Martin was made to look like a dill. It’s only my opinion, but it seemed staged.
Maybe Labor thought it would work on Turnbull too. He also seemed to be standing like a deer in the headlights.
If it was a setup, wow!! Awesome tactic!!!!!
diggerozzie, the appropriate individuals in white coats are on there way.