The Greens oppose the CPRS not because it is too weak, but because it will point Australia in the wrong direction with little prospect of turning it around in the timeframe within which emissions must peak, says Senator Christine Milne.
No-one forced Grech to concoct an email
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Godwin Grech’s statement to The Australian — in a ripper of an exclusive by Paul Maley — needs to be considered carefully, particularly in regard to Malcolm Turnbull. Remember that Grech has, on his own admission, both concocted an email and lied to a journalist in the past. He is also a man with extensive health problems, including mental health problems. There has been some commentary on Maley’s interview with Grech given the latter is “in a psych ward”. This shouldn’t be overplayed. Grech is said to have voluntarily admitted himself to Canberra Hospital’s Psychiatric Unit at Woden and is suffering depression, which is not a great surprise. But Grech knew the ANAO was releasing its report today, which includes a 34-page statement by Grech defending himself and attacking the Government over its lack of evidence-based policy. He has provided a shorter written statement to The Oz. The ANAO Report doesn’t address either the faked email or Grech’s contact with the Opposition. It appears Grech wanted to provide the full story rather than just the ANAO version. The Australian’s political commentators have predictably used the revelations to suggest Malcolm Turnbull’s position is growing untenable. That newspaper has been gunning for Turnbull for quite some time. But significant parts of Grech’s story don’t stack up. Grech claims he initiated contact with the Opposition in order to ensure the passage of the OzCar bill. That Grech thought this was even faintly appropriate shows just how out of touch with the most basic obligations of a public servant he was. That he thought that doing so by offering faked evidence that the Prime Minister had lied would ensure rapid passage of the bill suggests he had lost his judgement altogether. The Opposition couldn’t have cared less about OzCar, which they supported. They were only interested in scalps. Grech also says that, unable to find the purported Charlton email — because, he suggests, a Treasury IT error deleted it from backup tapes — he thought it was a good idea not merely to make a record of the content of the email he believed he had received from the PMO, but to make it resemble an email itself. That’s certainly what you’d call an error of judgement. Making a file note describing his memory of a communication from the PMO would have been perfectly acceptable, even if his memory was faulty. But mocking it up into an email doesn’t fit any hypothesis except that he wanted to make mischief. Grech portrays himself as the dupe of cunning politicians — Turnbull and Abetz pressured him into showing them the faked email, which they or Abetz adviser Brad Stansfield must have somehow copied and then shared with the press. At every stage Grech portrays himself as someone with good intentions — savings Australia’s car dealers — and trying to do so without support from his Department, which caused him to operate under pressure and make “misjudgements”. But no one forced Grech to turn a file note into an email, or to travel to Sydney for a clandestine meeting with the Opposition, a meeting that he presumably did not disclose to his superiors, or even to hand over the faked email at that meeting, nor to speak to journalists on the say-so of the Leader of the Opposition. In fact, Grech’s behaviour is that of a man who thinks he is a player. A man who perhaps got used to feeling important during the Howard years, and wanted to keep that feeling. A bloke who seems to enjoy big-noting himself and his proximity to power. In his lengthy and self-serving statement to the ANAO, he offers his own, uninvited take on the Government’s handling of the economic crisis. “The normal policy disciplines had broken down… I was very uncomfortable preparing policy papers which contained options that had not been properly costed… I began to rely on a small network of 2 or 3 highly experienced former Treasury officers who I had known for the best part of 20 years…. I would therefore “roadtest” a few ideas and options with my small trusted network…” Even now, Grech obviously feels there was nothing wrong with sharing the Government’s handling of the economic crisis — a matter of utmost national importance and with enormous potential for damage to economic and financial institutions if mishandled or if confidentiality was breached — with people outside the Public Service, so that he can look better in the eyes of the Treasurer and Prime Minister. There are real questions now about with whom Grech shared confidential information about the Government’s handling of the economic crisis and what those individuals did with that information. Treasury’s advice to the ANAO also shows the much overworked Grech rejecting offers of assistance and “giving the impression that implementation was on track.” That might be self-serving on the part of Treasury, but its broader point — that as an SES Band 1, Grech knew the importance of having enough resources to handle a high-profile issue, is sound. Perhaps Grech didn’t like the idea of sharing responsibility. One wonders how well he delegated work to his EL2 and EL1 staff. The idea that Malcolm Turnbull should fall on his sword on the basis of Grech’s statements is nonsensical. Grech in both his statement to The Australian and to the ANAO has not shed a great deal more objective light on what happened. But the fact that he is a deeply-troubled man is clearer than ever. |
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35 Comments
It was interesting to see Malcolm whining about his parents on oz story
whilst displaying total disregard for Grech.
The puff piece and the reality all in the one package.
On the other hand, Bernard, the ease with which he thew the unfortunate Godwin Grech to the wolves; together with the strutting little man’s sob story on Australian Story last night makes him to be not only cringe-worthy but able to tun on the emotion at will.
Worse, it reveals a man totally devoid of moral values.
If a man as flawed as Turnbull was to be applying for a job and in so doing revealed these little character zitzes, or flaws, would anyone wish to hire him? I doubt it. Why then should the Australian people have to be lumbered with yet another walking Greek tragedy? Or, in this case a walking Catholic tragedy might be a better analogy.
AS much of Grech’s statement does seem a bit “out there” and doesen’t form a coherent story. Inevitably you are forced to try and join the dots yourself as to what may have prompted these actions.
So here is my hypothesis:
1 Swan and or Charlton may have verbally mentioned to GG that they would like him to look into Grants case
2 GG breathlessly reports this to his handlers in the coalition who in turn report this to MT as the making of a scandal
3 MT and perhaps reckless Eric ask GG if he can supply any hard evidence. To which he alas says “no” he can only recall a conversation.
4 MT and co with blood in their nostrils having just taken out the minister for defence up the pressure on GG to come up with something.
5 They continue to up the pressure until GG desperate to please one of his masters decides to concoct the email but tells them they cant use it. Ha Ha thinks MT.
The rest is history, but I cant wait for the movie. Who will play Gordon? Geoffrey Rush perhaps?
It’s unbelievable that Turnbull and co didn’t pick up on Mr Grech’s situation. A nervous man, stepping well outside public service protocols who flies to Sydney to meet Turnbull and staff including Malcolm’s wife at her Sydney office. So desperate to give Malcolm the political credo he clearly lacks they all involved themselves in treacherous conduct. Malcolm isn’t a leader, he’s an opportunist. He’s another politician who needs public office more than we need him.
I agree totally with Bernard.
Godwin Grech is a real piece of work.
The contorted and convoluted explanation that he did this to save the bill clearly demonstrates a gulit-ridden, manipulative person trying desperately to cover his tracks. He reminds me of a gulity child caught with his hand in the cookie jar and trying so hard to cook up an outlandish explanation that he fails to see how foolish and ridiculous it is. Clearly someone who is off his rocker.
To suggest that a person of this nature was apparently so highly regarded in Treasury that he got to look after the whole OzCar deal makes me wonder how Treasury HR assesses performance. The other sad thing about Grech was that he apparently copied Secretary Ken Henry into all his tedious emails. That is so bizarre. Does Ken Henry simply tolerate daily streams of emails from inconsequential SES officials flooding his in-box…?
Godwin Grech was so out of touch leaking to Opposition members that he actually thought he was a player. The sad truth is having put out a lie about the email, he was subsequently forced into concocting it to maintain credibility with the Opposition and its desperate minders. Grech played to perfection the role of the tortured, conscience-ridden public servant in the Senate trying hard to make a point. We were all duped by this virtuoso performance which was unintentionally aided and abetted by a Treasury minder who looked to all intents and purposes like he was trying to heavy Grech from revealing too much.
The serious issue for Turnbull is the assertion by Grech that the Opposition Leader had instructed him to confidentially brief a journalist on the matter. Instructing a senior public servant to breach the rules of confidentiality that could potentially lead to his sacking is reprehensible. In that regard, if true, Turnbull has a case to answer - even if the information was false as Turnbull back then was obviously convinced of its veracity. However I have no sympathy for Grech - whatsoever.
Bernard,
One of your comments really stuck out for me: “One wonders how well he delegated work to his EL2 and EL1 staff.”
WTF???
It is perhaps symptomatic of the closed-off little world of Canberra that a national political reporter/commentator quite happily slips into the acrane jargon of the Commonwealth Public Service.
To be fair, I’ve noticed that this is a disease that afflicts many public servants (both State and Federal): “God, what a day! I’ve been an acting QFT01 for three months and my EL747 tells me that my accumulated flexidays have to be approved by an SESo3/B.”
Does he think hiding in a mental institution will keep him out of jail?
The people who were slagging off at me for describing Goblin Wretch as a fungal apple a few weeks ago when he was really an amazingly dedicated, faultless, detached, impartial, fearless Public Servant, just thinner than normal, should now reflect….
isn’t it remarkable how infectious self-serving usages like “error of judgement” and “mistake” have become? And that awful American malapropic euphemism “misspoke”, as when Hillary Clinton “landed under sniper fire” in the Balkans.
Had Hitler lived, we’d have to put up with books like “Mein Kampf mit Errors of Judgement” and “Critique of Soviet Weather Forecasting”.
Then there’s O.J.Simpson’s tome “Nobody’s Perfect”.
Whilst Turnbull may have not been responsible for the email’s concoction (Lib staffers reading this may need to look that word up, so much for the educated elite), he showed appalling judgement in calling for the resignation of the PM and Treasurer on the basis of a single piece of evidence that he apparently had a week to verify and didn’t.
Do you really want someone with such a cavalier attitude to evidence (he’s a former barrister FFS) to be leading a major political party in this counrty.
Silverbilby there is no evidence that Grech is “hiding in a mental institution”. It’s clear that the bloke has mental health issues and he is seeking treatment for them. He should not be criticised for doing so, whatever we may think of his behaviour. His two statements released today suggest, if anything, that he does indeed need help. Hopefully he’ll recover as much of his health as he can.
Crikey has done well to secure a Canberra correspondent with a sound working knowledge and years of experience in the Cth Public Service. A great piece.
One thing bothers me, well several do but this is currently attracting my attention. If Abetz knew the questions because, according to Turnbull, GG gave them to both, Abetz used the questions and knew the answers. Something stinks in that lot and why did Abetz hurredly declare Parliamentary Priveledge when pressured in the Senate to answer questions on the Committee hearing and Abetz prior knowledge of the email. Greens boss Sen Bob Brown smelt a rat and Abetz stopped his questions in their tracks by declaring priveledge. Abetz knows more than he and Turnbull are letting on. As the Libs have been quite happy to receive information supplied by Mr Gretch since the days of the former Coalition Govt and continued receiving through the current Labor Govt, and now have thrown the hapless pathetic GG to fend for himself, what lays in wait as days go by. A scorned Gretch may have other revelations he will happily use to gain revenge on the Liberals who now no longer require his services.
Bernard (5.15pm), I am sure we can all have some sympathy for Grech but at the same time it seems clear that he was destabilized by his own machinations which appear to have backfired, probably under the bullying by MT and Abetz.
Frank Campbell (4.19pm), not sure who was slagging you off but you would not have been the only one with that interpretation. Here is my relevant post:
#7….Michael James Posted Tuesday, 30 June 2009 at 5:41 pm |
[….]How long do we have to wait for the AFP to put us out of our misery? Because assuredly they must know who wrote that email; or at the very least which computer/email account it came from [……]Here is another bit of speculation: if Godwin Grech really was innocent why would he have the need for a hospital bed? If someone completely unconnected to himself originated that email why would its discovery cause such consternation? Would it not have been proof of his innocence?
GG=Walter Mitty, without the fun side of Billy Liar.
IRFAN YUSUF: You write for New Matilda, I think?
I agree with you, Crikey has been extraordinarily fortunate to secure such a fine Canberra observer as BK.
you can see why we’re not a republic
ita always about malcolm
Trevor - re the movie, George & Weedon Grossmith have already written the screenplay. No fees, their being dead. Charles Pooter is the perfect analogy to avoid slander, despite his (comparative) accuity.
I’m disappointed both sides of politics have ignored the wretched plight of Godwin Grech. When MPs such as Jeff Kennett, John Brogden, Geoff Gallop etc suffered mental health issues the tributes flowed. Condolences, get well messages and acknowledgements of hard work came from all corners of the political spectrum. Why Godwin Grech is any different I’ve no idea. I hope he recovers well and accorded opportunities offered others in his situation.
AR - Yes that could get around some tricky legal issues. I am leaning towards Eric Bana as Eric Abetz but cant cast Malcolm yet. Pity about Heath ledger the dark knight would have fitted well.
Dr Harvey M Tarvydas
Well done BK!
I am also writting a book or essay whatever ‘The Toxic Public Servant’ describing the crimes they have perpetrated against me which leave this lot for dead.
My expertise has earned me the nick name ‘psychology, psychology, psychology is everything’.
This Utegate is a plot sporned in a psychopath detention centre.
Even psychopaths deserve compasion, believe it or not, and you have also demonstrated sweet kindness showing such to Godwin.
But he, just as the other two (however very seriously less robust and with profound pathos in his delusion) was cruising through the process with a knife up his sleeve looking for a juicy back in the name of self interest.
Certainly GG confirming the text was his construction as ‘a file note’ is probative, finally, of what actually happened.
But then a rare report today that Treasury IT broke down 3 times in February 09 is also quite worrying too. Possibly the Auditor’s finding.
And GG continues to not be charged by the AFP - why is it so?
The Charlton figure is absolutely absent and silent from any media scrutiny. Not a whisper really. Convenient for the ALP that.
And then over arching is the timing of Costello, or for Treasury officials, perhaps we should say HMV, increasingly shaky postures over this timeframe.
And given the Howard Machine’s record of selective corporate welfare, one suspects a sense of projection in the Coalition in accusing the federal ALP of corporate bias. The great irony is that the ALP are very very biased to corporate mates on any number of sleazy areas of policy. But not proven in this case.
Another great irony is Chris Bowen saying Malcolm Turnbull has no credibility. Oh please, Felix my sides are aching.
Lastly, Turnbull’s ambition clearly clouded his judgement. Like Brogden self destructing after running Bob Carr’s polling into the ground, the thrill of Costello bailing out surely made him drunk on natural opiates.
If only he had raised questions as an effective Opposition, rather than seek to pre empt the democratic choice against Howard, which he effectively did by calling for the PM to resign on prima facie evidence. That’s 20 handy polling points gone, all gone.
On the other hand seeing Rudd squeal in Parliament early on was fun. Watching him white as a ghost hemming and harring on that first Friday night abc tv news update was choice too.
Kevin ‘science’ Rudd, as if.
Bernard, ask yourself the following question.
If Malcolm falls over, who is the beneficiary?
Tony Abbott.
*********(processing time)
Why would Godwin, a man who appears, for all the world, to be a person of a grandiose rectitude, ‘concoct’ an email lie?
For money?
Or for the Faith?
There could be an election next year, Godwin, we must dislodge that lefty convert and position the one man who can be a leader of real conviction. Godwin: it must be done now. Gain Turnbull’s confidence. Leak him material. When the time is right, you strike. Turnbull’s famous lack of judgement will cause him to make outrageous allegations in the Parliament. He’ll be lost. He’ll have no alternative but to resign.
Then, Godwin, THEN, a Real Catholic, a man of Faith, will be our Hope. He won’t win the next election. But he’ll win the election after, Godwin, and YOU are the one who can make that happen. You will be the contemporary John the Baptist.
Only you, Godwin, only you can make Tony Abbot Prime Minister of Australia.
Abbott in Canberra, Clarke and Smith in NSW.
Godwin, we’ll show that goddamned Europe what it is to be a Catholic nation, we’ll piss all over them.
And the beauty of it all, Godwin, is that should it ever fall apart, everyone - especially the press - will blame the Liberals - Treasury - Wayne Swan!! Everyone but you, Godwin.
Help us, Godwin Grech. You’re our Only Hope.
BERNARD. Have you checked whether there is any connection between Tony Abbott and Godwin Grech? Do you know which church each man attends?
Might be worth your while.
How is Abetz getting off so lightly? How does he reconcile his behaviour in this case with his loudly proclaimed Christian conscience. He’s quick enough to decide and voice loudly what he thinks is “moral” for other people. He could have walked away from this but chose to be an active participant.
The Christian Right - whether Catholic or evangelical - subscribe to the (originally Catholic) notion that ‘error has no rights’. That is, if one is not of the faithful, one is in error; therefore, one HAS no rights. Abetz has apparently colluded in an attempt to mislead the Australian people. Within this belief framework described, such an act is justified, because Turnbull - like the remainder of the nation that does not adhere to ultra conservative Christianity - may suffer ‘false witness’. This is due to the assumption that such false witness is for the purpose of bringing the people to ‘right belief’.
The Catholic ultra right is entirely looney. Google around and you will find Catholic appeals to reinstate the French Monarchy. Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite -
that’s when the rot set in!
After seeing and hearing that ‘EVIL BASTARD’ Turnbull again tonight publically, with a smirk and sneer on his coniving lieing deceiving features, pronounce, his only regret in this whole affair is that he regrets ever meeting and knowing Mr Grech. This is the sh-thead who used and bullied someone who he thought had ammunition to bring down a Prime Minister, a Treasurer and God help us a Government. When he realised he himself was in the dunger, he slimes his way towards an exit, which is not open. The PM will see to that. he will be up on a contempt charge and there is no belly sliding out of that. The Government’s majority will see to that. if Turnbull had any sense of intelligence and survival as a person, with some semblance of a reputation left, he would have his resignation written and in at sparrow fart tomorrow. Unfortunately for an egotistical, I am born to be No 1, unrational smart ars- he will not.
He will regret that eventually. In a small room, in a Canberra hospital, an odd looking bespactacled, thin, patient will have a wry smile and take consolation out of a collapsed life, knowing the wanker who used him then caste him aside , to try and protect his own rodent skin, will get his come uppance. That day will come. A very shrewd politician who saw off another distasteful rodent, will never forget what Turnbull tried to do to his career and his life. I wouldnt want to be his enemy.
Kate Mannix I think the only church GG has regularly attended is Canberra Hospital.
Re-read the post from Tom McLoughlin, in the order of the paragraphs 1, 3 ,5… then 2, 4, 6 etc
Thanks for an insightful article Bernard.
I gather GG hasn’t been charged (from Tom’s comment). True? Why not? Isn’t forging an email - (on the surface) to frame a PM & Treasurer - an offense in this country? Especially if you work at senior level in the public service? It seems odd to me. Where I live, people still get arrested for a gram of marijuana or being wobbly on their feet if of dark complexion. Canberra culture is a clearly much more ‘liberal’
I was interested in Kate Mannix’s comment. If GG is an agent of conniving right-wing Catholic conspirators, along with Tony Abbott, then we should certainly know about it. A Royal Commission might be in order.
But is it true? Is there evidence GG is a Catholic at all? Do we know anything about this man or his connections? Did he really just live for his work, taking breaks only for occasional leaks?
From a distance the whole show looks very much like a deliberate set up, with Malcolm Turnbull as the intended victim. Turnbull may well have acted too fast. He accepts that now, of course. But the entire hyped-up atmosphere of Parliament when it’s sitting is designed so blood-sports run fast and furious. If Turnbull (or other opposition leaders) don’t react quickly and pursue leads with vigor, they get accused of wimping out, lacking ‘edge’ etc.
I also wonder: could someone have put Godwin up to this? If so, who? Whoever it was, they certainly seem (to me) well-connected in the Canberra press corp, who to this day are mainly spinning the story as a disaster for Turnbull.
The saga has been a disaster for Turnbull in a sense. It’s a disaster that so many people in the media keep reporting it as a disaster; it’s a problem so many in the general public consider it a disaster.
But why is that? The Masters of Spin seem to me to have played a significant role. An example was provided Malcolm Farr and Chris Ulmann on Australian Story. Their commentaries were overlaid to help the viewing public decide what to think and they did not seem unbiased to me. and came across as applying a rather blatant anti-Turnbull spin.
The attempted destabilization of Malcolm Turnbull reminds me of other cases in recent Australian history. It makes me wonder whether Malcolm is not being sufficiently compliant with powerful vested interests.
Kate Mannix appears to believe those interests are right-wing Vatican types. Is the Holy Grail involved? How about Tim Fischer? I think this is called a ‘conspiracy theory’.
Anything’s possible, I suppose, but I’d like to see evidence.
far too many conspiracy theories
Very well said DavidK.
It’s a well known fact that no-one above kindergarten age ever conspires, especially near the centres of political power. Never happens. No point in discussing it. Move along!
You ‘think’, Bernard? Where is Marion Maddox when you need her?
The Age reported recently that Godwin Grech attended the Catholic St Paul’s College in North Altona. Grech is a Maltese name. Malta is a 100% Catholic country.
That is not, of course, evidence of a conspiracy.
But it suggests that Godwin Grech has a connection to the Catholic Church, which, to a journalist with access to resources, could be followed up. But then, it would be silly to imagine religion could play a part in national affairs/intrigues. There’s no Liberal branch stacking in Phillip Ruddock’s electorate. Connie Fierravanti-Wells did not thank the explicitly Opus Dei David Clarke for attending her maiden speech, and Tony Abbott doesn’t even like George Pell.
The ultra right is like a cult. If it is the case that Godwin has been involved with them, he would by now have been cut adrift. People thrown out of cults can crash. They can even end up in a psychiatric hospital.
In reply to ‘Trevor’, the obvious candidate to play Godwin Gretch would be Tony Martin, but he’s already announced he’s turning down the role:
http://thescrivenersfancy.com/scarcely-relevant/2009/07/01/same-name-fever.aspx
Thanks Kate. Give my regards to the Illuminati.
No one forced Grech to concoct an email, Bernard?
How do you know?