When Veranda Sandstone & Darth Ruddock were almost wiped-out by the DIMIA tsunami, there would have been one member of little Johnnie Cromwell’s Ministry who probably sympathised with them more than anyone-else: the leader of the government in the Senate & Minister for Defence, the Hon Senator, Robert Hill. 

 
Unique amongst his colleagues, the good Senator presides over a portfolio that suffers little from public scrutiny.  

Speech at Brisbane Customs House, Tuesday, 18 October, for QPILCH

(Queensland Public Interest Law Clearing House) 

By Chris Rau 

This final version, incorporating revised material, amended Saturday, 22^nd October, 2005 

‘At Nuremberg, in early October 1945, the four prosecuting nations - the United States, Great Britain, France and Russia - issued an indictment against 24 men & six organizations of the Nazi Germany.  

Of that 24 only 21 eventually sat down in the trial. The individual defendants were charged not only with the systematic murder of millions of people, but also with planning & carrying out the war in Europe. Twelve Nazi officials were sentenced to hang; three were sentenced to life in prison; four were given prison sentences of 10 -20 years & the rest were acquitted.  

It happened so fast that many didn't see it arrive. As the banner of Halliburton was raised over Australia's Parliament House, the few protesters who dared to attend were taken away for questioning.
Awaiting the arrival of the bulletproof Cadillac carrying President Cheney stood a proud Prime Minister, eager as usual to open the door, while a grinning Cabinet formed a line of honor to mark the auspiciousness of the occasion.

"Thanks, John," said the President, with a courteous nod and an ill-concealed wink. "i'll take it from here."

As they stood at the hour-long ceremony marking the takeover by Corporate Military Personel of Australian Defence activites, the small gallery of approved journalists waited for the response to the President's command that all non-shareholders of Halliburton resign from Cabinet
immediately. None of the Ministers were moving, although it was well-known that at least two rebels hadn't "exercised their stock options."

‘However, now that I am well into my seventh decade of life & very near retirement, I have come to the conclusion that the world basically sucks, that there are few who seem to have the investigative courage to take a good hard look at things that, if discovered, would no doubt destroy one’s image of a land that can do no wrong, one that they believe has somehow received the eternal blessing of God.  

So I must ask: How is it that we have become such a mindless nation, a society populated by deadheads, folks who seem to have little desire to look beyond the thinly-veneered surface of life?