[Kharon]

The lamentations of a Halfwit.

You know, P7 plays darts the same way; deceptively economical, lethally accurate and always with a purpose. Crafty bugger knew I’d take the bait and sit through the whole ASA one man show after reading his post. Well I did, there are a few comments which I could make but won’t. I reckon the messages delivered by Halfwit are self evident, his problem being that the bluster and rhetoric is being studiously ignored while the subliminal messages are being clearly ‘read’ on the ‘Bull-pooh’ meters of some very shrewd individuals, which tells a whole different story. One thing I will say though, if ever a woman the quality and calibre of Fiona Nash gave me a ‘long stare’ such as the one Halfwit got; I’d fold up my tent and quietly bugger off, any sensible man would. Not Halfwit though, he seems immune, lost in his own self image and believing the world perceives him as he sees himself.  

O wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!
It wad frae mony a blunder free us,
An' foolish notion:
What airs in dress an' gait wad lea'e us,
An' ev'n devotion!

Burns - In English for the heathen:-

And would some Power give us the gift
To see ourselves as others see us!
It would from many a blunder free us,
And foolish notion:
What airs in dress and gait would leave us,
And even devotion!

P2 has spotted the disconnections and raised the ante’ somewhat. “Passing strange” indeed is the sudden flurry of documentation being piled up for the Senators attention. An old wheeze which, in bygone days may have worked. Miles of paper to plough through, the wording deceptive, all designed to wear the reader down to a point of ennui or belief. The spin off being that once ‘accepted’ these documents can and will be used in defending the indefensible.  “Ah, but we covered that on page 3239, paragraph 22 (b) Senator” (smirk). Not a clever move with this Senate crew methinks, but, we shall see.

The really fascinating thing is what is not coming out of the ASA. Despite the volume of documents being tabled; why is there a strange lack of FOI requests being made. Unless the FoI requests are being denied; all of ‘em since 2015; about the time Halfwit took over. Perhaps its time Aunty Pru put in a FoI request asking for the amount of FoI application made since 2015 and why non seem to have been successful. Anyway, its on the BRB agenda, so we shall see.

#471 - If it quacks like a Duck.

P2 – “In an effort to track down the documents released under the ABC's FOI request, I made a visit to the ASA FOI Disclosure Log. Unfortunately if you refer to the FOI Disclosure Log webpage - see HERE - you will discover that the last entry was on the 28 August 2015 and in fact the last update (website administrative visit) was on 30 September 2015.”

That Sir, is an interesting little sidebar. I would like to know a little more, the ‘timing’ could be coincidental; but then again – given the ructions about then – you have to wonder.

So what’s happened to the FOI requests? Perhaps there simply have not been any FOI requests made during the period; unlikely, but possible. Perhaps due to a staff shortage there is no one to update the records – nah; Halfwit reckons he had 900 too many on the books; so that’s a non sequitur. Which leaves us with the notion that the FOI requests are being knocked back, therefore no update required.

The intensive, probing Estimates questioning before the Staib departure and the hiatus which followed, should, IMO have prompted a barrage of questions. There was a CEO up to her arse in alligators, some very awkward questions to which answers were being demanded; and, the Halfwit white ants as busy as hell. Shirley, some bright media spark, at very least, would be curious enough to go the FOI route. Maybe someone did and the requests were all knocked back – hence a clean disclosure log for what – 18 months. Well, you do have the right to remain silent rather than incriminate yourself. I wonder if it has come to the stage where a 'full dress' criminal investigation is the only answer to the ever deepening pit the ASA is digging; it would clear the air (so to speak).

The defences and barricades are being raised at the ASA top table; I doubt they are robust enough to withstand a full on assault. The current hot favourite on my tote is for ‘Whostoblame’ to quietly slide out of the rear exit and Halfwit to be transferred to the pencil sharpening department. The game, as Holmes would say, is afoot.  The 'tote' is open.

Toot toot.