The Daily Telegraph is responsible for publishing an email, later showed to be fraudulent, that has seriously compromised the career of opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull. The email was possessed and possibly created by a public servant by the name of Godwin Grech. So what does the Tele do? Apologise for running a false email? Analyse the scandal? Add to the serious ongoing commentary about UteGate?
No. They make fun of Grech’s garden.
Godwin Grech is no longer one of those faceless public servants.
The man who overnight became a political hot potato has two Facebook fan pages, is known for living in a house with a big and amusing palm tree in the front garden …
How proud you must be to have your bylines slapped on this tabloid trash, Janet Fife-Yeomans and Alison Rehn.
30 Comments
WTF is Joe Hockey doing? On Lateline he refused to acknowledge that the e-mail is fake. Seems to me Hockey is helping Turnbull dig his own grave and wants to hop in with him. I’m getting the impression that the Libs have a hell of a lot to hide.
Without a doubt, they’ve got heaps to hide, they keep telling us that Swan is the boss of treasury! So what? Godwin Grech is their mole, Godwin Grech is responsible for his own output. Malcolm and Joe have been a little bit too clever for their own good.
Quick question (genuine question) – is it illegal or against the APS code of conduct to do the sort of thing that ole Godwin has?
If a public servant provides information to the press for example, and it turns out to be false, can they be penalised/sacked/prosecuted?
Gotta admit though, the concept of a palm tree in Canberra is pretty humerous. Totally irrelevant, but humerous.
LOL the Tele don’t think very highly of their readers do they?
as for Turnbull you know things are bad when even the Australian comes out against you.
WTF is Joe Hockey doing?
WTF is Abbott doing? he was on ABC radio this morning saying the alleged leaks from Treasury were actually part of a plan of deliberate misinformation by the government. His evidence for this? that the media knew when the AFP raided Grechs house. Did it not occur to the man that the media has been camped outside his doorstep since last week and would of seen when the police showed up? Unbelievable!
baldrick @ 3: it’s illegal. If Grech is found to have leaked PS information to the outside he will be sacked and charged. the other question is those who received the information knowing it had been obtained illegally. I reckon this is why turnbull, hockey etc refuse to acknowledge their sources.
The worst thing about all this? Godwin can’t even do a Zoo or Ralph shoot as a result of this!
Sexism!
I love that they introduce it with “GODWIN Grech is no longer one of those faceless public servants” as if that’s not BECAUSE WE’RE GOING TO SIT OUTSIDE HIS HOUSE ALL DAY HARASSING HIS VISITORS AND NEIGHBOURS.
Of course, the person who leaked information from DFAT to Andrew Bolt was never even investigated, let alone charged. The only ones who get into trouble are those who leak to the opposition, or who leak information that is damaging to the government. If it’s damaging to the opposition or provides a diversion for the government, they can do their worst with impunity. Alexander Downer, where are you now?
reveal sources i mean.
yes, the scenes of the press knocking on his door brought home to me just how filthy you have to play when your trying to scoop information ahead of your competitors.
LOL @ Baldrick #7.
I’m sure someone will fancy Grech but yeah I don’t see him doing a MSM photo shoot, maybe one of the more exotic web sites will make him an offer.
another thought: IF Grech has been leaking to the coalition, i wonder if he’ll sing if charged?
Must remember to replenish popcorn this week.
“another thought: IF Grech has been leaking to the coalition, i wonder if he’ll sing if charged? ”
The email is a fake, If Grech produced this fake I imagine he’ll keep his gob shut???
What I want to know is why Turnbull and Hockey haven’t resigned yet? Typical arrogant Liberal pricks!
RobJ @ 13 – not that I am fans of theirs, but they have nothing to resign about! No one resigns in politics, they are either pushed (read threatened with demotion/sacking), not elected again, or see no further career advancement. I have lost count of the number of calls for politicians resignations this year (from other politicians mind you).
Peter Costello – realised that he was not going to get the top job – gone.
Fitzgibbon – I would bet my left bollock that he was told to submit his resignation or face the much more public spectacle of being demoted.
RobJ: ABC news reckon Grech has been leaking other stuff to the coalition over years. this is illegal, as is deliberately procuring or knowingly receiving illegally leaked government information, which is why i reckon the coaltion are suddenly all mum on their sources. Utegate is suddenly bigger than just a faked email.
“but they have nothing to resign about!”
Yeah, they do, but I concede, they’re no worse than many of their colleagues on either side of the house.
“Utegate is suddenly bigger than just a faked email.”
I realise this confessions, the point I’m making is that someone created this fake email, I’m guessing it was {Sorry, we can’t have even speculative assertions about potential criminal activity when a police investigation is ongoing. I’ll try to preserve your follow-on point with some minor editing – Toby.} If Turnbull and Hockey conspired {in the creation of this fake email – Toby} – that Baldrick would be another reason they should resign if it pans out that way.
Confessions – not having a go but do you have a reference to your claim that it is illegal? I would like to peruse the relevent legislation/document myself for intellectual reasons.
cheers
I find it funny that some in the opposition (Hockey) are trying to say that they are protecting their sources and are trying to ensure things are in the open. As a defence he points to Rudd and the AWB.
1. That was a real issue where Australian $ we’re illegally sent to Husseins regime;
2. This whole thing is nothing. A fake email. Not even a real one;
Why are they trying to hide their sources when they have been sold a lemon? (pun intended)
@ baldrick: it is part of the confidentiality and code of conduct stuff public servants sign when they commence – trust me, i used to be a public servant.
Baldrick, I’m not a lawyer, but I’d suggest that leaking information is a pretty clear breach of the APS Code of Conduct, which is part of the Public Service Act. The legislative provisions on breaches are here. I’m not sure whether there are any criminal law provisions that might apply as well.
I used to know a woman who was charged with leaking stuff, but it was found to be “in the public interest”.
maybe Bloods05 is right: it’s different if you leak to journalists.
“{Sorry, we can’t have even speculative assertions about potential criminal activity when a police investigation is ongoing. I’ll try to preserve your follow-on point with some minor editing – Toby.}”
Damn – I’m good at wild speculation
No worries Toby.
As an aside, I had a guy who worked for me “about 10 years ago for about 3 weeks”. Would I ring him if he was in trouble? I doubt it.
Yes I wonder what the true nature of Hockey’s call to Grech was? I would rule out any kind of empathy from the likes of Hockey!
another thought: what are the penalities for people who give false evidence to senate estimates? And we still don’t have an answer to the question from the weekend about whether Abetz had possession of the now fake email contents when he was quizzing Grech.
Turnbull has made this statement: “Labor lie number two is that we made a case against the Prime Minister based on that email. That’s the second lie. We made a case against the Prime Minister based on Godwin Grech’s sworn testimony before the Senate.” http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25683529-601,00.html?from=news.com.au
If this is true why did Turnbull make this statement yesterday:
“The case that Mr Rudd misled the house about the communication (an email initially said to be from the PM’s ofice) is not sustained,” he said on ABC radio today.
“There is no doubt about that.”
He’s an ex-barrister and he can’t get his story straight.
It seems pretty clear that the Liberals in Australia are following the same modus operandi as their Republican counterparts in the US. Captured by extreme right-wing and irrational elements, they will lie, cheat, fabricate evidence, resort to fraud and state that black is white if it will further their base political objectives. A party estranged from their founding ideology, they are shameless opportunists.
Well said Mr Denmore. A good argument for MUCH higher salaries for parliamentarians (and no, I’m not one) because the Right has a particular problem that the Left does not have (or not so much).
That is the difficulty of attracting the best and brightest to serve in Parliament when they can make MUCH more money, for less hassle and aggravation, doing something they probably understand and even like better and in the bosom of their own family and friends, not having to live in a weird shithole like Canberra, by staying in the private sector.
The system worked 100 years ago, when there was much less scrutiny, and the Right could wield power and give and receive favours in relative privacy. Summed up beautifully in the English Public schoolboy ditty, sung to the tune of “Onward Christian Soldiers”:
Lloyd George knows my Father,
Father knows Lloyd George,
Lloyd George knows my Father,
Father knows Lloyd George,
Lloyd George knows my Father,
Father knows Lloyd George,
Lloyd George knows my FATHER,
Father knows Lloyd George,…..
etc. It was a cozy little world (for them). But as the 20th C wore on and turned into the 21st, the scrutiny and the spotlight increased dramatically. What we see going on now in the Fed Parliament is a classic example of the old way of doing things from the Right, that they seem to have difficulty understanding, just doesn’t work anymore (or very rarely). It’s also symptomatic of a bunch of third-raters at work.
It’s extremely difficult for the Right to attract really first-rate people to serve in Parliament, because “serve” really is the word – they are making a BIG sacrifice. I’d suggest this is a problem for both sides.
Of course, another argument could be mounted, that representative parliamentary democracy is a demonstrated failure and what we need is stronger medicine, like for instance, limited Direct Democracy, but that’s probably for another post.
“they will lie, cheat, fabricate evidence, resort to fraud and state that black is white if it will further their base political objectives”
If you have evidence of this then I suggest you forward it to the relevant authorities. Else it is just your opinion. I try to be partisan and see things from both sides but I can’t stand it when people throw mud without the evidence (and I am well aware of the irony in stating this when Turnbull relied on false evidence to smear someone else).
The ‘Right’ as Bertus calls it, are mostly conservative people who believe in the freedom of the individual. The Liberals need to return to their conservative roots. I recall someone questioning Tony Abbot in his blog in the Tele about why family tax benefits and other middle class welfare is needed at all. He stated that families need support – I immediately thought “Well, why did you take away the money from them in the first place??” John Howard was conservative only in his quest for re-election. He turned out to be a selfish, power hungry individual who always stated that he would serve as long as his party wanted him to. He should have been adroit enough to realise that he was leading them to electoral defeat and stood aside.
Anyway, enough ranting. I can’t stand ad hominem attacks against the left and I definitely can’t stand ad hominem attacks against ‘conservatives’ or the ‘right’ as you call them.