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Thursday, June 17, 2004



No question: John Ashcroft is the worst attorney general in history ...

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: Facing up to conflicts of interest
Lies, postage stamps and stationery brought a sad end to Richard Face's political career, but his demise has a sting in the tail for politicians.
The issue of a cooling-off period for ministers before they take up lucrative positions in the private sector not a million miles from their portfolio has been around for years.
The Greiner Government tried to introduce a two-year cooling-off period, but it was largely ignored by its own departing ministers.
IN ITS report, ICAC has recommended new rules for departing ministers. It says they should include a process for approving or advising ministers about offers of employment before or after they leave office, a specified cooling-off period before they can accept work in their former area of responsibility and, most importantly, some way of "appropriately enforcing the rules".

· Three other states have codes of conduct [ Elsewhere The Independent Commission Against Corruption: Face should be charged ] [ Which is worse:... Tough choice. ICAC report (PDF Format)
· · See Also Wild Factional Fists at Punchbowl: Liberals may sack brawling recruits
· · · See Also The political elites of Australia: France's most profound contribution to the post-Cold War order was made by doctors, not armies [ Malcolm's seen Labor's enemy - and it's Peter Garrett: Raising the spectre of the former rock singer being under the dictat of a shadowy central committee
· · · · See Also An American officer referred to the Abu Ghraib scandal as a moral Chernobyl [Link Elsewhere 50-page PDF version of the memo: We may have to start using blunt words like murder and rape to describe what we see]
· · · · · See Also Morality lost, as Australia refuses to acknowledge its implication in torture
· · · · · · See Also Failing to take into account alternative transport solutions or land-use potential
· · · · · · See Also A new independent watchdog body with royal commission powers will be established to oversee the nation's federal crime agencies