Thursday 28th of March 2024

all tip, no iceberg .....

all tip, no iceberg .....

from Nicholson .....

One wrong right does not make a good whatever

From the ABC

PM rules out sacking Santoro over biotech shares

Prime Minister John Howard says his Minister for Ageing did the right thing by donating the profit he made from selling shares he had failed to declare.

Santo Santoro is resisting Opposition pressure to resign after he failed to declare thousands of dollars worth of shares in a biotech company.

He donated the profits from their sale to charity and the Prime Minister says any further action against the Senator would be unreasonable.

"Everybody can from time to time be guilty of inadvertence," he said.

But the organisation which received a donation from the sale of shares owned by the Federal Ageing Minister says it is not a charity.

The president of the Family Council of Queensland, Alan Baker, says it is a non-profit group with members including the Salvation Army and the Catholic Church.

"We will lobby governments for pro-family causes like family taxation reform, and against prostitution, against pornography, against child abuse, we are very much a pro-family organisation and we seek to influence public policy along pro-family lines," he said.

Labor's Wayne Swan says it is a matter for Mr Howard to handle, but is highlighting the resignation of Ian Campbell who stepped down from Cabinet after revelations he held a meeting involving the disgraced former Western Australian premier, Brian Burke.

"There's a clear double standard here," he said.