Not so great minds think alike.
Socialist Left Labor MP Ken Travers is Chairperson of the Joint parliamentary committee with oversight of the Crime and Corruption Commission.
Ken Travers is a factional colleague and very close to Jim McGinty. Any misbehaviour by Travers or any of his Left colleagues could see them swiftly dumped from their winnable positions on their Legislative Council election tickets.
The Desert Rat has read with interest Ken Travers comments on the confrontation between Parliamentary Inspector Malcolm McCusker QC and the Corruption and Crime Commission.
Don’t expect to see any comment from Travers that would upset Jim McGinty. The Desert Rat will need sedation if Ken Travers ever says anything that would upset Jim McGinty's bowel.
So, closely read whatever Travers says, and see who is playing the piper and who dances to the tune.
The Desert Rat won’t expect to see any evidence of an independent mind from Ken Travers in respect of Parliamentary Inspector Malcolm McCusker’s dispute with the CCC and his revelations of the CCC's terrifying incompetence.
Travers latest comment reported in The West Australian is :
“It is too early to conclude that the watchdog’s reputation had been damaged by Malcolm McCusker’s report”.Ah! Jim McGinty would approve!
In a recent non-committal oxymoron(ic) contribution to The West Australian’s record, Travers said that he
“acknowledged widely varying facts in both investigations, but said he had faith in both Mr Roberts-Smith and Mr McCusker".
Well done Ken, Jim McGinty will approve of this non sequitur!
Unfortunately, even the Desert Rat knows that the crux of the dispute is about facts not opinion.
In the Desert Rat’s view, Socialist Left and McGinty acolyte Ken Travers will continue to sit on the fence unless he has an opportunity to have a swipe at Malcolm McCusker QC.
The Desert Rat predicts that Ken Travers will say nothing that will upset Jim McGinty and he will never embrace McCusker's compelling demolition of the Smith Beach Inquiry unless Jim McGinty get his head out of the sand; reverses his position and dumps on the CCC. McGinty's cynical media line (“staying on message”) for the present, is, that "the CCC is doing a great job".
The Desert Rat will be combing the media to see if Ken Travers ever expresses a view contrary to Jim McGinty on the CCC.
Don’t hold your breath.
If wrong, the Desert Rat's humility will be boundless. A grovelling apology will be forthcoming and a free repast will be offered, in his sudden unplanned retirement from the WA Parliament.
Desert Rat, I've known Travers for many years and followed his career with a level of disinterest in direct proportion to his lack of talent.
ReplyDeleteOriginally a puppy-dog of a boy who hung around the Metalworkers' Union long enough to get a cushy job with a politician (where he rapidly soiled his own nest), Travers was quick to jump on the McGinty bandwagon when he was offered the spoils of high office (i.e. the purely titular role of Parliamentary Secretary in return for him keeping his stupid trap shut at Left Faction meetings. Even the metalworkers were happy with that deal!).
Travers is nothing more than a rat, and a particularly stupid rat as well.
The fact that McGinty now has him running interference on behalf of the CCC is interesting though - it proves that McGinty is so incontinent with distress at the slow disintegraton of his beloved Secret Police agency that he has completely lost his judgement, as well as his bottle.
Or perhaps McGinty felt it was time to retire his former Secret Police Apologist John Hyde, on the basis that Hyde's many trips to South-East Asia were proving a distraction, or may do so in future?