best at what?  he had the gall to blame ADF for leaking to the press when his own office leaked like a selective sieve...

as for the ex-Minister blaming all and sundry, perhaps he should be looking at the NSW Right or ex staffers if he wants to hunt down his "leakers" 

then again, PM&C leak like a sieve as well.... 

funny how lapses of judgement are always someone elses fault... 

... how can you not feel sorry for a face like this.

AG, I have but a fleeting sympathy for him.

He was quite happy to accuse everyone in the ADF by association of undermining him, and yet despite the fact that the Inspector General has cleared all of those who were in a position to actually do anything, of doing nothing of the sort - he still does the sub-cutaneous dig and threatens to take legal action against anyone he suspects of  involvement (one would think that if he had that much evidence against anyone he would have given it to the AFP or the IG)

so, he's happy to impugn the reputation and integrity of the very Dept that he had charge of, and yet wonder why the respect took a slide.

and this fool thinks that it was triggered by him trying to bring reform into he organisation?  geez louise, everyone has been looking for reform.

lets hope that Combet gets the job 

Faulkner has taken the job.

Thank goodness its someone who's capable 

Just curious, given that the ADA isn't exactly on the Christmas card list of anyone on the political left, what motivated james to not only praise Fitzgibbon, but publically rank him above all the ministers Howard put up? It seems a very strange sort of thing for him to say.

nfi.  odd as I've heard him hook into the Dept (minister) for not dealing with APA in an aggressive manner...

it's not as if he's hugh white trying to ingratiate himself into another job....  

I think it is a shame Fitzgibbon was given the portfolio in the first place. Defence is probably the most challenging ministry and logically deserves the most senior and talented minister available, not the guy who while regarded as a top bloke is also the intellectual lightweight of the team. He was the wrong person for the job and although he may have done just fine in another, less intense portfolio, he lost his job for petty, insignificant indiscretions.

 

I wonder if defence actually needs an increase in the number of junior ministers to share the load and allow the senior minister to better concentrate on the big picture.

That was why it seemed so odd. He has nothing to gain by praising an unpopular minister & even less to gain by the implicit criticism of the Libs, who I would generally see as more natural allies. I have to figure Fitzgibbon was doing something right or James would have taken the easy course & just shut up.

 

On the new minister - what do you think of Faulkner? Strikes me as the kind of guy that the Defence bureaucracy will struggle with. I get the idea that they like to run the show themselves. If Senate estimates are any guide Faulner is not someone you can get anything by. Might make for a fun few years.

Mr Combet becomes Minister for Defence Personnel, Material and Science and Minister Assisting the Minsiter for Climate Change.

on another note, I'm betting snowden had a solid talking to by the boss as well.  hence combets elevation without word on the associated impact on snowden.

and at least we don't have to worry about situational leaks coming from the Ministers office anymore 

it's a bit ferking rude for the prev incumbent to bitch about leaks when it was his office that made a select cohort of journos swim in scoops.... 

good riddance.

if we'd had falkner or combet in the first place then we probably would have never seen this side show evolve