I share your sense of having participated in a foregone conclusion. Victoria tried hard to win the warships, but as long as the plans created by the Bush Administration and relayed by multinational defence and energy corporations to and through the Australian Federal Government continue on a predetermined implementation schedule, the whims of any State's comparatively tiny political muscle will only be considered in the form of providing crumbs and scraps left over from the main meal.

When your analysts review the paperwork regarding the contract procurement, if they place faces on the company names they will be surprised how few people are responsible for so much activity.

Mr Bracks, should you find anything untoward has occurred, might I take the liberty of suggesting that you address the problem at its source by sending a request to the Justice Department of the United States of America that they extend their inquires into noncompetitive cartel-like activities of U.S. corporations in countries foreign to their homeland vis a vis the tendering and bidding processes involved in the procurement of Australian defence materiel provision and construction contracts?

If you'll pardon the metaphor, sometimes the only way to plug an overflowing septic tank is from inside.

Yours Hopefully

Richard Tonkin, Adelaide