Radio Australia Today Editorial

The latest on the Aussie scandal of the year

25 June 2009

We should have known that this OzCar scandal was not going to be a short-lived story.

I’ve been blogging about it for three days now, and each day the story gets more involved. It’s also a good lesson in political deflection, with the Opposition, which is in real trouble here, turning defence into attack by continuing its allegations that the Treasurer Wayne Swan really did try to help out the car dealer mentioned in the original, but fake, email.

The Australian public would be right to be a bit confused here. Make no mistake, political obfuscation has been the name of the game over the last few days. But there should be no confusion, because at the centre of this scandal are real issues about the behaviour of politicians and public servants..

In essence, the Opposition leader in Australia, Malcolm Turnbull is accused of meeting with a senior Treasury public servant who has been leaking government information to the Opposition. It could be argued that this was an extreme lack of judgement on Turnbull’s part, because the public servant is accused of fabricating the original email that alleged the prime minister gave favoritism to a car dealer.

Today, Malcolm Turnbull is under real pressure. Some media are reporting that members of his party are very unhappy with him, (which is no surprise given the extraordinary events of the last few days) and at least four Opposition members are expected to commit the rare act of defiance against their leader by crossing the floor of parliament to vote with the government on an immigration bill. This flooring crossing is purely a gesture, since the government has the numbers for the bill to be approved anyway. You should know that this is a gesture that Malcolm Turnbull would not need, not on this last sitting day of parliament before the winter break.

If the floor crossing happens, it will be (in the words of George Harrison) a long cold lonely winter for Malcolm Turnbull.

– Phil