For those of us who take interest in societies whistleblowers, and in particular, the case of Allan Kessing as written about in the MSM and here on several occasions previously, take note of the Law & Disorder series program to be aired on SBS1 tonight at 8:30pm.
I watched last weeks program, which profiled Andrew Wilkie and the disgraceful treatment meted out to him by the Howard government over the lies he revealed in the lead up to the Iraq war. News from the UK this week, not that the rational among us didn’t already know, confirms that regime change was the focus of the Bush administration as early as 2001. Wilkie was right to do what he did and stands exonerated for blowing his whistle at great personal cost.
This weeks program focusses on Allan Kessing’s attempt to do the right thing by society, and wind up being accused and punished for doing something he didn’t do. Hopefully, the focus will also fall heavily upon the politicians who told Kessing, either directly or indirectly, that they were on his side. How attitudes change when political expediency replaces political opportunity. As Allan wrote to me when he alerted me to the SBS series,
This is my last throw of the dice – the silence since the Sept 7th press conference in Parliament House has been deafening. Albanese hasn’t even bothered to deny anything.
Allan Kessing has exhausted his financial resources, even to the last pennies of his superannuation, in fighting to have his name cleared of the stain our legal system has poured upon him. He did not do what the charges claimed he did. Allan Kessing is not a stupid man by any degree, and having been a public servant in the Customs Department, would have known full well how the system worked and how to handle what he saw as blatant cronyism on the part of Sydney Airport Corporation and the higher echelons of Customs. Don’t forget, dear reader, that Kessing is a victim of the then Howard government’s attack dog knee-jerk reaction to any public criticism real or perceived, just as Wilkie was. Don’t forget that Max Moore-Wilton, former head of the department of Prime Minister & Cabinet under Howard, was at the time Chairman and CEO of Sydney Airports Corporation. To deny any linkage between that operation and the Howard government is to express naivety at the most extreme levels.
Governments change, but political expediency remains unaltered by time or voters preferences. 2005 seems so long ago when you’re in government, and dragging up old wrongs enacted by former foes when there’s nothing to be gained against the current crop just doesn’t seem worth the while of Anthony Albanese, et al. If you voted Labor two years ago because you thought a change of government might mean better things for our society as a whole, better Freedom of Information laws, for example; better, more protective legal structures for whistleblowers past, present & future; then I’m sorry but you’ve been hoodwinked. Nothing has changed. Only seating arrangements in the House of Representatives. Feel for Allan Kessing, as I do. We’re of a similar age, he & I. I can understand what he means when he tells me tonight’s program is his last throw of the dice. It seems that the law is only on the side of those who can afford it’s gratuitous touch. When the money runs out, and you’re of no further use as a political weapon, you’re just another ‘Joe‘.
Here’s hoping Allan throws 7 or 11 tonight, because he’s still in the game.