Is that the sound of a passing buck whistling on by?

Prime Minister John Howard appeared at the Cole Inquiry this morning and it appears to have been a damp squib affair. Any Australian who thinks its government is astute, on-the-ball, accountable and transparent has surely been proved wrong in evidence given to the Cole Inquiry by Howard, Downer and Vaile. While Miss Eagle does not wish to prejudge Cole's findings, she does not have great confidence. AWB is almost certain to bear the brunt of any findings with the likelihood of the distant and uninvolved (as far as the Cole Inquiry has been concerned) UN getting some opprobrium. As Mike Steketee says, "if no minister is to be held to account, that points to something very rotten in our system of government. "

Miss Eagle believes that time is an element that is frequently discounted. The three ministers along with Commissioner Cole and Counsel Assisting the Inquiry, John Agius SC, have their actions or lack of action exposed through this Inquiry. Miss Eagle likes the old Buddhist saying -"you may forget your actions, but your actions don't forget you".