Holy utegate Batman ! What happened there ?
Friday 19 June was a fascinating day in politics. We were introduced to Godwin Grech at a Senate inquiry. He seemed a mild mannered Treasury official in anguish over testimony that contradicted the Prime Minister.
Monday 22 June was gobsmacking. The Federal Police raided Godwin's home in the morning. Found evidence on a home computer that the alleged damaging email from the Prime Minister's department to Godwin at Treasury had been concocted inside Treasury. By mid-afternoon the Feds had announced their findings to the world. And thereby exculpated the Prime Minister from the Opposition's assault on his credibility. Malcolm Turnbull's case against the PM for misleading Parliament collapsed. With a hiss.
Other than a gloating and more than usually sanctimonious Prime Minister, the big winner is going to be Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan. His goose was all but cooked by the actual emails tabled before the Senate inquiry on Friday that showed unequivocally that the Treasury officials had been asked to treat Kev's mate Mr Grant with special attention in his request for funding. Now no-one cares that Swannie misled Parliament about this. The allegation against the PM has collapsed and Swan looks like he will sneak through under the ensuing rush of emotions: disbelief, gloating, exasperation, relief and schadenfreud.
Mal has suffered a prosecutor's biggest nightmare. The key prosecution witness spectacularly failed to come up to proof.
It in fact looks a bit like he was played. There are a thousand unanswered questions here. Here's a few that leap out:
Who the hell is Godwin Grech?
Did Godwin concoct the email from Andrew Charlton in the PM's office to himself in Treasury which contradicted the PM's statement to the House?
Why did he concoct it?
When did he concoct it?
Why wasn't it found and released by the Government earlier?
Who did Godwin leak it to?
When did Lewis at the Telegraph get it?
When did the Opposition get it?
When did the PM's Office find out about it?
When did Treasury find out about it?
Why were Treasury officials trying to stop Godwin giving evidence about it to the Senate inquiry on Friday?
Why were Labor Senators trying to stop Senator Eric Abetz ask Godwin questions about it on Friday?
If the Government knew about Godwin and his email, why didn't they tell Parliament?
Why weren't the Police called in earlier?
Why did the Police make such an early announcement of their findings?
What more evidence do the Police have about Godwin?
The list could go on and on. But will we ever be told the answers to these questions?
Tell me again does anyone know what happened to that enquiry into how the people smuggler boat was burnt to the waterline off Christmas Island in January? The Navy wouldn't tell us at the time how it happened, and neither would the NT Police. It was kind of important then.
Will this be the same: the real facts forgotten because the main event has passed?
Friday 19 June was a fascinating day in politics. We were introduced to Godwin Grech at a Senate inquiry. He seemed a mild mannered Treasury official in anguish over testimony that contradicted the Prime Minister.
Monday 22 June was gobsmacking. The Federal Police raided Godwin's home in the morning. Found evidence on a home computer that the alleged damaging email from the Prime Minister's department to Godwin at Treasury had been concocted inside Treasury. By mid-afternoon the Feds had announced their findings to the world. And thereby exculpated the Prime Minister from the Opposition's assault on his credibility. Malcolm Turnbull's case against the PM for misleading Parliament collapsed. With a hiss.
Other than a gloating and more than usually sanctimonious Prime Minister, the big winner is going to be Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan. His goose was all but cooked by the actual emails tabled before the Senate inquiry on Friday that showed unequivocally that the Treasury officials had been asked to treat Kev's mate Mr Grant with special attention in his request for funding. Now no-one cares that Swannie misled Parliament about this. The allegation against the PM has collapsed and Swan looks like he will sneak through under the ensuing rush of emotions: disbelief, gloating, exasperation, relief and schadenfreud.
Mal has suffered a prosecutor's biggest nightmare. The key prosecution witness spectacularly failed to come up to proof.
It in fact looks a bit like he was played. There are a thousand unanswered questions here. Here's a few that leap out:
Who the hell is Godwin Grech?
Did Godwin concoct the email from Andrew Charlton in the PM's office to himself in Treasury which contradicted the PM's statement to the House?
Why did he concoct it?
When did he concoct it?
Why wasn't it found and released by the Government earlier?
Who did Godwin leak it to?
When did Lewis at the Telegraph get it?
When did the Opposition get it?
When did the PM's Office find out about it?
When did Treasury find out about it?
Why were Treasury officials trying to stop Godwin giving evidence about it to the Senate inquiry on Friday?
Why were Labor Senators trying to stop Senator Eric Abetz ask Godwin questions about it on Friday?
If the Government knew about Godwin and his email, why didn't they tell Parliament?
Why weren't the Police called in earlier?
Why did the Police make such an early announcement of their findings?
What more evidence do the Police have about Godwin?
The list could go on and on. But will we ever be told the answers to these questions?
Tell me again does anyone know what happened to that enquiry into how the people smuggler boat was burnt to the waterline off Christmas Island in January? The Navy wouldn't tell us at the time how it happened, and neither would the NT Police. It was kind of important then.
Will this be the same: the real facts forgotten because the main event has passed?
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