WEE think the most amazing thing about this election was the fact that the off-mainstream press (MSM) were so stunningly accurate with their predictions of a Labor win. When many were wavering and worrying about the ‘narrowing’ or Rudd just messing up, the poll watchers were calmly asserting that there was nothing to worry about.

And on the night it seems they were dead right. WEE must say, that we didn’t really believe the wise old sage, Possum, would be right – although WEE were confidently predicting a Labor win to friends and sundry, back in the deep recesses WEE had our doubts.

And then, on the evening of the election broadcast (admittedly before Queensland votes had begun counting) WEE were still wavering, worried sick that Howard and his cronies would win their unwinnable election.

But to great relief, Possum and Pollbludger were proved correct. And Howard was swept from office.

Highlights of the night included the roar from the crowd in the tally room when the ABC showed a graphic of Bennelong with Maxine McKew ahead of John Howard. Also Kerry O’Brien claiming that there, ‘was a swing to the ABC’. Priceless. It could possibly be Freudian slip of the century – in that it confirms everything the Howard huggers and ABC haters have mythologised about what’s wrong with the national broadcaster.

And finally, the change of government. It’s noticeable. There is a different feeling out there in the community now. A collective sigh of relief that Howard has gone. A slight jolt when an announcer on TV mentions the Prime Minister and you see an image of Kevin Rudd. We’re still getting used to it. Eleven years is a long time, and it’s been a long time between drinks for compassionate and respectable government. Let’s hope that Rudd can deliver the goods.

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Howard hits states again – National – smh.com.au

It might work, but WEE hope that the good burghers of Queensland will see through this act. WEE hope they’ll see through Howard’s sudden feigned outrage at people being forced into these mergers.

Along with a hospital in Mersey in Tasmania one really has to take these interventions with a grain of salt. Howard is simply out of control. He will stop at nothing to get back in. It is kind of sad in a frightening way. As happened to poor Dawn in Welcome to the Dollhouse John Howard should really go home and right an essay on dignity. Because he is certainly not displaying any at the moment.

He is probably betting on the fact that no-one will remember all of these bizarre tactics if he wins the next federal election. He is really just trying to secure his place in history and hoping to hell he can leave the stage with dignity (the way he should have left late last year).

And he will stop at nothing to do it. He won’t mind trashing any convention to remain in power. He will tell any lie, slander anyone who gets in his way. It will either work (WEE hope it won’t) or he will retire a very diminished politician who will have trashed his (questionable) legacy for the sake of his own ego.

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From the start of this saga, WEE had given the Government the benefit of the doubt. Maybe there really was something that the AFP had on Haneef. WEE were content, despite the uneasiness of the continued extensions of Haneef’s detention, to let the AFP do their job and trust that the judicial review of the case would ensure a reasonable outcome. But then it started…

Government ministers couldn’t help themselves, commenting on the case. Ruddock, Downer, Andrews and Howard just couldn’t keep their mouths shut. This wasn’t for the benefit of the case, it was to try and draw the opposition out – to try and get a rise from Rudd. And the longer Rudd resisted the more bits and pieces of information dribbled out. That was until it became apparent that the AFP had made some errors in the investigation.

Mick Keelty blames the time zone difference between Australia and the UK for some of the confusion. Good grief, its 2007 not 1807. However, when push came to shove and they had to make some charge against Haneef to justify all the carry on surrounding the case, the judicial system operated as it should and granted bail to the accused.

This is where things started to go off the rails and the Government really started to overstep its power. Kevin Andrews, a grubby character if ever there was one, and a committed Christian, decided that based on some evidence that only the AFP and he have been privy to (and which seems to be the only piece of evidence not leaked to the press!) he would revoke Haneef’s working visa. This truly was an act of a complete bastard. A mean, nasty and vicious act – and an act that was political in its motive.

And make no mistake, this was not an act that Andrews dreamed up all by himself. This one has all the hallmarks of a classic Howard maneuver. Try and win a political point over Labor under the guise of anti-terror laws. They have used this time and time again. And unfortunately for the Gold Coast registrar Haneef, he was in the way, and disposable (and deportable).

What they didn’t count on was the whole AFP case unravelling quite so badly. Unravelling to the point that the DPP had to drop the charges against Haneef.

If the Coalition had been able to resist their insatiable desire for a political wedge to damage Rudd, they wouldn’t be in this mess. If they had let the AFP do their job without the running commentary. If Haneef could have waited patiently for the case against him to be dropped after investigation, then none of this grandstanding would have been necessary. None of this visa nonsense would be necessary and the whole thing could have been a shining demonstration of how the terror laws could work – even in the case of an innocent person being detained.

But no, our grubby leaders couldn’t let that happen. And it begs the question. Did they really introduce the terror laws to protect Australia? Or did they introduce them to create the circumstances for political show trials? Show trials designed to keep the community in fear? Show trials to try and goad the opposition into questioning their outrageous treatment of any poor bugger that gets detained on flimsy or false evidence?

These are the questions we should reflect back on these men who think nothing of dragging Haneef through mud. Of course they will squeal like stuck pigs that this article is written by someone soft on terror, that WEE haven’t seen the evidence against Haneef, that WEE would prefer to see someone get killed in a terror attack that protect the nation. What rot.

WEE cannot stop asking these questions. The veil of suspicion must fall on the Howard government. It is they who have betrayed our trust in this case. It is they who have behaved in the most appalling way. It is they who are threatening the national security of this country through their abuse and disregard for natural justice and common law.

Do not let Andrews cast further suspicion onto Haneef as he tried to do by commenting on the haste with which the poor doctor left the country last night. Rather let us reflect on the haste with which Andrews made his decisions about this case, and the suspicion this arouses about the Government’s motives for such actions. Get suspicious about everything this Government has done and will do in the future under the guise of terror laws and ‘protecting’ Australia.

Question their utterances, now matter how Downer extreme. Question their actions. For in our view these are not the actions of men with the countries interest at heart – this are men who are acting in their own self-interest, and in the interest of maintaining power.

And finally, can WEE just make the observation that the quiet dignity and grace that Haneef has shown since his release stands in stark contrast to the hysterics of the grubby men who pretend they are protecting Australia.

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