A terrible slur hangs over Chris
What a pity that the editor in chief of The Australian, Chris Mitchell, will not have the opportunity to clear his name before a Senate Committee of the terrible slur that hangs over it that he is not a journalist a Prime Minister can trust to invite to Kirribilli House for dinner without private conversations being disclosed. Poor Chris's reputation is taking quite a battering over this "George didn't know what the G20 was" business. The rumour mill is blaming him for blabbing to his political writer Matthew Franklin about something Kevin Rudd told his guests on the night in question after his phone call with President George W.Bush. Protocol for members of the fourth estate on occasions like this is to treat private dinner table chatter as being private dinner table chatter. Get a reputation for not being trustworthy about such a matter and not only will the dinner invitations dry up but an editor's reputation for honesty gets torn asunder.
Editor Mitchell at least has been keeping a discreet silence about what really was said by whom at Kirribilli that night since the Liberal Party started trying to use the Franklin story as evidence of a Prime Minister prepared to put Australian-United States relations in jeopardy for the sake of an amusing throwaway line while pouring another glass of wine. By acting in this Trappist like fashion The Australian's head honcho has unselfishly condemned himself to the feeding of that rumour mill and the continued trashing of his reputation.
The efforts of Family First Senator Steve Fielding to establish an inquiry into the leaking of the phone call would have presented Mr Mitchell with an honourable way out. Because of the high regard in which he holds the Senate he surely could have felt obliged to answer questions put to him. But, alas, this morning the Greens would not support a reference to a Senate committee. "What Senator Fielding - who is quite new in the Senate - doesn't understand is that the Prime Minister can't and won't be brought before such an inquiry," Senator Brown told Alexandra Kirk on AM before the vote. "Either the inquiry will fail, or if there was a move to force witnesses like the Prime Minister before the inquiry, we end up with a constitutional showdown between the houses, with the potential for journalists to be brought before the bar of the house and potentially sent to the dungeon."
Come to think of it, perhaps a little continued speculation about not being a totally honourable dinner guest is preferable to ending up in a Senate slammer for contempt.
Editor Mitchell at least has been keeping a discreet silence about what really was said by whom at Kirribilli that night since the Liberal Party started trying to use the Franklin story as evidence of a Prime Minister prepared to put Australian-United States relations in jeopardy for the sake of an amusing throwaway line while pouring another glass of wine. By acting in this Trappist like fashion The Australian's head honcho has unselfishly condemned himself to the feeding of that rumour mill and the continued trashing of his reputation.
The efforts of Family First Senator Steve Fielding to establish an inquiry into the leaking of the phone call would have presented Mr Mitchell with an honourable way out. Because of the high regard in which he holds the Senate he surely could have felt obliged to answer questions put to him. But, alas, this morning the Greens would not support a reference to a Senate committee. "What Senator Fielding - who is quite new in the Senate - doesn't understand is that the Prime Minister can't and won't be brought before such an inquiry," Senator Brown told Alexandra Kirk on AM before the vote. "Either the inquiry will fail, or if there was a move to force witnesses like the Prime Minister before the inquiry, we end up with a constitutional showdown between the houses, with the potential for journalists to be brought before the bar of the house and potentially sent to the dungeon."
Come to think of it, perhaps a little continued speculation about not being a totally honourable dinner guest is preferable to ending up in a Senate slammer for contempt.
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