Alexander Downer, Schapelle Corby, and a Home Invasion...

It would probably be fair to say that Alexander Downer as Foreign Affairs Minister in the John Howard Liberal Government that he would have expected to take some heat over any role he could have played in securing the release of Schapelle Corby from Kerobokan Prison in Bali. This might be particularly so considering that Ms. Corby is still in Kerobokan prison and suffering from severe mental illness, including two attempts at suicide.

However, as a former Foreign Minister who has been out of government for some time and who is focused much more on conflicts in other parts of the world, he probably was not expecting a stranger to walk into his home and start abusing him on his failure to get Ms. Corby released from prison and then imploring him to do something to get her out now.

Yet, this was the case last Thursday. Downer was sitting down watching the news at 6.15pm when an elderly woman walked through an unlocked front door, sat down on his couch and then proceeded to give him an earful. There is little doubt that incidents like these get people to thinking about their home security. Without a doubt there is going to be some ramped up security at the Downer household from now on, starting with locking the doors.

It would seem that Mr. Downer was not in fear of his life, and asked the woman who she was, which triggered a tirade that culminated in the old lady suggesting that if Mr. Downer did not get Corby out of jail then God would damn him. Cutting to the chase, Downer called the police, the woman disappeared through his garden, the police arrived, the woman was gone. The police believed that they knew who the woman was and apparently an arrest has subsequently been made.

There is plenty to be said for the passion and commitment of Schapelle Corby's supporters, but it is incidents like these that make one wonder to what extremes some people are prepared to go in pursuit of their cause. A home invasion of the former foreign minister's home is certainly ratcheting it up to the next level.

It is a worrying development, aside from the action being a home invasion, I really fail to see how this sort of thing helps Schapelle and her supporters get her out of jail.

Megawati & Australia

Keeping to the Megawati theme.

Garuda Pilot -- Trial

Captain Marwoto Komar the pilot of the ill-fated Garuda flight that crashed in Yogyakarta on 7 March 2007 is to be tried for his alleged negligence in the deaths of 21 people and the injuries of many more.

The trial is to be held in the Sleman District Court (near Yogyakarta) in Central Java. The trial is scheduled to begin on Thursday. There is to be a panel of judges to hear the case.

The final report by Indonesia's air safety investigators stated that Komar was so "fixated" with landing that he ignored 15 alarms and the pleas of his co-pilot. Nevertheless, Komar's arrest was greeted with protests and claims that the data from the black boxes and other flight recording equipment was inadmissible in a court of law pursuant to prevailing laws, regulations, and practices.

This means that the police would have had to obtain evidence that did not rely on the black boxes or the flight recorder information. Obviously the Office of the Public Prosecutor believes that the police have done a sufficient job in this regard to warrant proceeding to trial.

Alexander Downer Quits

I guess it is no fun being in opposition after a reign as Australia's longest serving Foreign Minister. Alexander Downer has pulled the plug on a rather long and somewhat distinguished political career.

There are, as in any long career, a couple of moments that could have run better that might have seen him as Prime Minister rather than Foreign Minister. Unfortunately, the comment that undid him and saw him dumped as Liberal Leader was a stupid attempt at humour through a play on words.

The former Foreign Minister is moving into a part-time United Nations role as Special Envoy for Cyprus. The major role here is thought to be an effort to revive the peace process between the Greeks and the Turks over Cyprus.

This means that there will be a need for a by-election in his seat of Mayo in the Adelaide Hills. This has always been a pretty safe Liberal seat and it is currently held by 7.1%. This is after a swing of 6.5% against Downer at the last election. However, with the recent results in the Gippsland by-election showing a swing away from Labor, it is expected that this will become a much safer Liberal seat at the by-election.

Labor is even considering the option of not running a candidate which suggests that they are a little bit concerned about being humiliated as the electorate has had a little time to re-evaluate their decision to elect a Labor government.

Anyway, good luck to the fella!

A Schapelle Corby Story With A Twist

In light of the first half of the new documentary about Schapelle Corby and her trip into Kerobokan prison hell in Bali, "Schapelle Corby: The Hidden Truth", the Transport Workers Union are now demanding an apology from Corby's legal defence team. The demand for an apology stems from the defence's contention that the drugs were planted in Corby's boogie board bag by corrupt baggage handlers who were part of an international drug smuggling operation.

Tampoe was fired from the Corby defence team after she was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years. Maybe there is an axe to grind or this is a fella looking for another 15 minutes of fame. The photo is of Robin Tampoe.

Robin Tampoe, who was part of the defence team and by his own account the architect of this particular defence strategy, has admitted that the whole strategy was a complete fabrication and a figment of his obviously broad imagination. The unsubstantiated allegation definitely defames all baggage handlers and suggests that there is a culture of corruption in Australian airports that allows for such things to occur. Now that this sleazy little allegation has been clarified as nothing more than one man's vivid imagination should an apology be forthcoming. Simple answer, probably not.

The other Tampoe claim relates to the former Foreign Minister in the Howard government, Alexander Downer. Tampoe claims that Downer was more aware of what was going on than he ever publicly stated. The claim includes a suggestion that Downer said there was a need to look at the brothers. The Foreign Minister was undoubtedly briefed as were his staff about what was going on. The case had a high profile and involved an Australian citizen overseas facing charges that were likely to see her do serious jail time. Is it possible that Downer took a special interest in the case? It is possible but how active an interest has been played down by Downer himself on the radio over the last couple of days. Nevertheless, the former Foreign Minister has admitted that he did ask if there was any other family members involved. A simple question though is hardly evidence of any particular interest.

Life goes on!