AWB Fiasco IV

Let’s sumarise the debate. Beasely, ‘Tricky’ Rudd and their co-travellers have raised the Cole enquiry to international prominence by politicising the process in their mindless pursuit of a government. Eager for a Ministerial scalp they have pre-empted the enquiry results and given succour to our enemies. The US wheat board, also hoping for a scalp for commercial reasons, are ecstatic. It gave them ammo to go to Iraq and put pressure on tthe Iraqis to buy US wheat and not Australian. With a good percentage of the ALP hating the US, I wonder whether the irony of their aiding and abetting the US Wheat Baord will come to their notice. Probably not. The big losers in this debate are the Australian Wheat farmers and by extension, the Australian economy. Winners include the US but not the ALP. Yes…I know, Newspoll gleefully records a loss of support for the government in their latest guestimate but don’t think for a moment that it’s a long term thing. The ALP are making mileage as they defend the high moral ground but that ground is historically indefensible as Corporations and businesses of all scales realize that to trade in certain parts of the world one needs to factor in ‘fees’. Do you think it only started with the advent of the Howard’s government? Of course not, it’s been the norm for commercial enterprises to pay ‘fees’ for decades. Certainly throughout the Hawke-Keating years but I can’t, for the life of me, recall anyone demanding those two erudite ALP leaders micro-manage private enterprise contacts. The ‘crime’ was victimless. Iraqis got fed….Aussie wheat farmers got paid. On the other hand, the ALP’s hysterical pursuit of Ministerial scalps is full of victims and they are all Australians. Farmers and AWB staff to name two groups. No winners here…not good.