TEAM UZUNOV 1
JOEL FITZGIBBON 0
Australia’s Defence Minister, Joel Fitzgibbon resigned last night.
TEAM UZUNOV was the first to break the story of the war within Defence Department and Fitzgibbon when an “outsider” Tim Holding was floated to act as a troubleshooter in Afghanistan.
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=8746&page=0
At war with his own Defence Department
By Sasha Uzunov – posted Tuesday, 31 March 2009
The Australian media have finally laid down their pom-poms and ended the cheerleading routine in reporting how tough the Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon was in his war with his own Defence Department.
In January, I first revealed on my blog, TEAM UZUNOV, about the worsening relationship between the Minister and his own Department when an outsider, Mr Tim Holding, a Victorian State Minister, was being floated as go-between or trouble shooter in Afghanistan to gather information not being passed onto the Rudd Government by the Australian Army Chain of Command. Suzanne Carbone, of The Age newspaper, quoted me in her “The Diary” column take down of Holding on February 3.
Paul Daley, in The Sunday Age, on February 1, got the ball rolling in Fitzgibbon’s war against his
department:
“But there appear to be some serious Government doubts whether the facilities the young Australians are risking their lives to build are actually being used by the Afghan people.
“Anecdotal evidence suggests that through its proven methods of intimidation and murder, the Taliban punishes Afghans who dare to use such facilities. There are also stories that, for fear of Taliban reprisals, Afghans are reluctant to work in them.”
During both visits to Afghanistan, the feisty Fitzgibbon had wanted more than just briefings. But despite his best efforts, sources are adamant Fitzgibbon has not been “outside the wire” – a euphemism for leaving the comparative safety of the Australian base – during either visit, much to his frustration.
Later, we had the SASR pay scandal with the Minister now officially at war with his own department over being kept in the dark.
Recently, we had Mr Fitzgibbon apologise for not declaring trips he undertook to China after the story was leaked allegedly by his enemies within the Defence Department.
I am not suggesting anything untoward in Mr Fitzgibbon’s behaviour and respect his privacy. However, the sideshow has taken the focus off the real shooting war raging between the Taliban and Australian soldiers in Afghanistan …
He can vent his “anger” as much as he likes through the media but it will not change the situation. With Australian soldiers fighting and dying in Afghanistan, the Defence Department cannot afford to be distracted by political squabbles over who controls turf.
The Defence Department is a universe of its own. Outsiders who do not know how to operate in this environment get chewed up pretty quick. Mr Fitzgibbon, through no fault of his own, lacks two things: he has never served in uniform and second, he does not hold the aces when it comes to playing political poker with his own Defence Department.
Only one man is capable of doing so: Colonel Iron Mike Kelly, Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Support. “Iron Mike” Kelly is a former Army Colonel and lawyer who has served in Somalia, East Timor and Iraq.
He has the runs on the board: as an Army lawyer with the rank of Major he once wrestled and fought, in true Crocodile Hunter fashion, a warlord during the 1993 mission to African nation Somalia.
To demonstrate his political cunning, he turned the tables on his opponent, the sitting member for the New South Wales Federal seat of Eden-Monaro during the 2007 election.
Iron Mike, who was critical of the then Howard government’s decision to go to Iraq, was holding an election meeting and was heckled by Mr Peter Phelps, the chief of staff of the sitting Liberal member of parliament, Mr Gary Nairn.
Mr Phelps, criticising Iron Mike’s opposition to the Iraq War and the fact that he still served on the mission, said “… And you took part in it willingly because you weren’t sent over there, you volunteered, didn’t you?”
Mike Kelly: “No, I was a soldier, and I did what I was ordered to do.”
Peter Phelps: “Oh, like the guards at Belsen, perhaps? Are you using the Nuremberg Defence? No, no, come on.”
The Nazi Germany comparison would have lost a lot of public sympathy for Mr Nairn’s election campaign, which saw Iron Mike take the seat.
Moreover, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is no stranger to using military glory, such as the awarding of the first Victoria Cross medal for bravery in 40 years, to score political brownie points. So why not appoint Iron Mike Kelly as Defence Minister?
If this present government is serious about the Defence portfolio and in breaking with bad habits from the past, then it needs to practice what it preaches.
However, the underlying problem and largely ignored by some in the media with their own agenda is that when you place politicians who have never served in the Defence Forces as Defence Minister, they are too busy trying to make up for it by “acting tough”. We do not need those with emotional baggage to prove their manhood by risking soldiers’ lives.
The delicious irony in all of this is that a new war has emerged, that between the “Desk Warriors”: journalists, strategic analysts and defence experts who have never served in uniform but who hold a vice-like grip on the debate.
Daley, in The Sunday Age article “Unfriendly fire”, on March 29, wrote:
Fitzgibbon has polarised Defence in pursuit of his reform objectives, where a string of ministers before him have effectively surrendered. He has also upset those his allies call the “visiting fellows” – the many strategic studies and defence academics, journalists and think-tank commentators who are close to the generals but whose views Fitzgibbon has largely dismissed.
Up until recently, Daley was a charter member of the Desk Warriors, so why has he turned against his brethren? Maybe there is trouble in paradise?
As a freelance journalist I have, over the years, scrutinised why people without hands-on military experience dominate the defence debate. Daley, together with his Sunday Age colleague Tom Hyland, has dismissed such questioning as irrelevant. Hyland calls it a “curious crusade”.
Oh the delicious irony!
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http://teamuzunovmedia.blogspot.com/2009/03/media-end-cheerleading-of-def-minister.html
Friday, March 27, 2009
MEDIA END CHEERLEADING OF DEF MINISTER
MEDIA END CHEERLEADING OF DEFENCE MINISTER
by Sasha Uzunov
It was a case of the Australian media finally laying down their pom-poms and ending the cheerleading routine in reporting how tough the Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon was in his war with his own Defence Department.What civilians cannot understand is the Defence Department is a universe of its own. Outsiders who do not know how to operate in this environment get chewed up pretty quick. Mr Fitzgibbon, through no fault of his own, lacks two things: he has never served in uniform and secondly, he does not hold the aces when it comes to playing political poker with his own Defence Department.
Only one man, TEAM UZUNOV points out, is capable of doing so: Colonel Iron Mike Kelly, Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Defence.
It was a TEAM UZUNOV blog that first revealed the worsening relationship between the Minister and his own Department when an outsider, Mr Tim Holding, was being floated as go-between or trouble shooter in Afghanistan.Later, TEAM UZUNOV revealed that because of the war between Mr Fitzgibbon and his Department that the only honourable thing was for him to fall on his sword.The media have now revealed that Mr Fitzgibbon has apologised for not declaring trips he undertook to
Chinahttp://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25249324-601,00.htmlJoel Fitzgibbon admits woman friend Helen Liu paid for China trips
Brad Norington and Patrick Walters March 27, 2009
Article from: The AustralianTHE future of Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon was in doubt last night after he was forced to apologise for failing to declare two trips he made to China that were paid for by Chinese businesswoman Helen Liu.The admission drew an immediate call by Malcolm Turnbull for Kevin Rudd to sack Mr Fitzgibbon.Revelation of the trips came after it was reported yesterday a covert investigation by officials from Mr Fitzgibbon’s own Defence Department allegedly unearthed security concerns about his links with Ms Liu. The Defence Department’s internal security agency has begun its own urgent investigation into the allegations that Defence officials spied on the minister…
—TEAM UZUNOV is not suggesting anything untoward in Mr Fitzgibbon’s behavior and respects his privacy. However, with a real shooting war raging between the Taliban and Australian soldiers in Afghanistan the sideshow has taken the focus off that…Mr Fitzgibbon was lightly rebuked by the Australian media when it was also revealed he had taken a mate on a joyride into a warzone on board a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) flight.http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/fitzgibbon-defends-friends-afghan-trip-20080730-3naf.htmlFitzgibbon defends friend’s Afghan tripMaria HawthorneJuly 30, 2008Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon says he has no regrets about his decision to take a friend on an official trip to war-torn Afghanistan.University academic Scott Holmes paid his own way to accompany Mr Fitzgibbon to the Anzac Day service in Gallipoli, with the trip also taking in Ankara and the Middle East.But they made an unscheduled diversion to Tarin Kowt after Australian soldier Jason Marks was killed in Afghanistan on their last night in Ankara.The opposition has labelled the trip “Joel’s joy flight” and questioned the additional cost and security risk of taking Professor Holmes, an economics specialist and part-time adviser in Mr Fitzgibbon’s electorate office, into Afghanistan.————————————————-
It is a pity that the Australian media play follow the pack mentality when reporting defence issues. The recent change in that behaviour could be explained that Mr Fitzgibbon’s position has become untenable so the media now feel safe to move against him, without losing the privileges of free embedded trips to the Australian Army base in Tarin Kowt, Afghanistan.Such cynical behaviour by the media does not serve the Australian taxpayer and his or her right to know about the goings on with the Defence Department————————————-
Thursday, March 12, 2009DEFENCE MINISTER MUST GO
By Sasha UzunovCopyright 2009
Regardless of the SASR pay dispute, you know it is time for Australia’s Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon to fall on his sword when he publicly has to wage a media war to bring his department under control.So much has been made by some journalists, acting more like cheerleaders and unofficial spin doctors, about how tough, feisty and angry Mr Fitzgibbon is with the Defence Department.He has launched a well crafted media campaign where he has vented his “anger” at his department over being kept in the dark on a number of issues and the break down in communication of events in Afghanistan. In an unusual move, his predecessor, Dr Brendan Nelson, from the opposition, backed him up in Federal Parliament. Subsequent events, such as the SASR pay dispute, have confirmed what many have been saying for a long time, and that is Mr Fitzgibbon is out of his depth.read
more…http://teamuzunovmedia.blogspot.com/2009/03/defence-minister-must-go.html—————————————————————
Friday, January 30, 2009 –
TEAM UZUNOV
MINISTER ON AFGHAN FACT FINDING TRIP?
ExclusiveTim Holding – Brumby’s man turned PM Rudd’s international man of mystery?
VIC MINISTER WON’T CONFIRM OR DENY AFGHAN TRIP
By Sasha Uzunov
Copyright 2009
Mr Tim Holding, a Victorian State government minister who is a former Australian Army Reserve Special Forces soldier, will not confirm nor deny speculation about him undertaking a short fact finding mission to Afghanistan on behalf of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
A prominent strategic analyst, who has the close ear of governments, and speaking on the condition of anonymity, said he wanted to “float the idea of Mr Holding undertaking a fact finding mission to the Australian base in Tarin Kowt province [in Southern Afghanistan].”read more:http://teamuzunovmedia.blogspot.com/2009/03/holding-peacemakercircuit-breaker.html———————
The Age, Diary Column,
Tuesday, 3 February 2009.
Timmy, don’t forget to pack the water canteen
by SUZANNE CARBONE
TIM Holding was dubbed “Twinkle Twinkle” because he was considered a little star, and he’s really made an impact in the water portfolio with those faulty four-minute shower timers that last for 40 minutes or four hours. But Dim’s moment to shine may have arrived.Former Australian soldier Sasha Uzunov, now a photo-journalist, writes in his blog that Holding (below) could be destined for Afghanistan as Kevin Rudd’s “eyes and ears” on the ground. You see, Holding is well credentialed as a former member of the Army Reserve in the 1st Commando Regiment – and he’s Tourism Minister.A “prominent Canberra strategic analyst” told Uzunov: “Mr Holding is an intelligent young politician with links to special forces. The Australian media underestimate his ability, which is why he would be ideal for the mission: he would slip under the media radar.”The analyst claimed the PM was not happy with the flow of information from Afghanistan so the analyst would suggest Holding embark on a “fact-finding mission” to the Australian base in Tarin Kowt. Diary asked Commando Holding about swapping a fluoro vest for a flak jacket, and he said:….read more