Will wonders never cease?

Howard apo­lo­gies to Rau and Solon over wrong­ful deten­tion.

And he’s making changes to the staff in the Depart­ment. Van­stone’s keep­ing her job and of course, she’s said this has noth­ing to do with Aus­trali­a’s policy on asylum seekers. Of course not. These cases, she says, were ‘com­pli­ance issues’ which is a lovely word for com­plete fuck-ups. Both women have been offered com­pens­a­tion for their ordeals and of course, there’s the rub: in Howard’s gov­ern­ment, apo­lo­gising for some­thing means you’re pre­pared to pay com­pens­a­tion. So, it’s still very unlikely we’ll see an apo­logy to the indi­gen­ous people of this nation or for lying about Weapons of Mass Delu­sion or any of the other things Howard’s slimy gov­ern­ment ought to apo­lo­gise for.

Still – never thought he’d apo­lo­gise for this one either. Some­thing to be said for scath­ing reports: they do get res­ults occasionally.