The totally off-topic thread

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medhead said:
A $3000 penfolds gift from the year of your birth (which is subsequently a main discussion point in the thank you note). Hard to believe he'd forget.

But even if he did forget. The path of least resistance would have been to put his hand up, say mea culpa, I didn't think it was worth that much, forgot to declare it in my interests. A few headlines and 3 days later the whole thing is forgotten. Instead he has been caught lying to the corruption watchdog. Hopefully his chief of staff and other advisors are taken out the back and shot for their incompetent risk assessment
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Actually given his position I am surprised he was even allowed to accept it. As a former public servant any offer of a gift had to be recorded including details of who offered it and whether it was either accepted or refused. If it was allowed to be accepted and its value was above a certain threshold ($300?) then the acceptee had to pay the difference between the threshold and the value of the gift to the government.

Given his government was selling its water companies this is a clear conflict of interest. It again shows the appallingly low ethical standards of politicians of all persuasions.
 
medhead said:
He said outright they there was no bottle, he did not receive it. That is a lie if the truth is he didn't remember being given a bottle.
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I am arguing for the sake of arguing but if you have no memory of receiving something then you cannot be lying when you say I didn't receive it. Is there?

So given those circumstances there is no bottle, I did not receive it.
 
JohnK said:
I am arguing for the sake of arguing but if you have no memory of receiving something then you cannot be lying when you say I didn't receive it. Is there?

So given those circumstances there is no bottle, I did not receive it.
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I have the picture that proves you wrong :mrgreen:

BlU57mPCQAEn1bJ.jpg
 
JohnK said:
I am arguing for the sake of arguing but if you have no memory of receiving something then you cannot be lying when you say I didn't receive it. Is there?

So given those circumstances there is no bottle, I did not receive it.
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If someone borrowed $20 from me, and a little while later they claim they gave it to me and I couldn't remember if they did or didn't, then I would say no, I didn't get it or that I don't remember getting it. If someone borrowed $3,000 or even $500 from me and told me they gave it back, I would definitely remember whether I received it or not.

Given the significance of the wine and the value, I'm sure you would remember receiving it, unless of course you equate a bottle of '59 Grange with a box of Coolibah!
 
JohnK, you are arguing for the sake of it. It's a $3000 bottle of Grange. In the year of your birth. Given as a present. If you don't remember such a gift made less than 2 years ago then you have Alzheimer's.
 
Pushka said:
JohnK, you are arguing for the sake of it. It's a $3000 bottle of Grange. In the year of your birth. Given as a present. If you don't remember such a gift made less than 2 years ago then you have Alzheimer's.
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A lot of politicians must have Alzheimer's. :rolleyes:
 
You drink a whole bottle of 59 Grange and see how much you remember next morning let alone 2 years later (lol)
 
Hvr said:
Actually given his position I am surprised he was even allowed to accept it. As a former public servant any offer of a gift had to be recorded including details of who offered it and whether it was either accepted or refused. If it was allowed to be accepted and its value was above a certain threshold ($300?) then the acceptee had to pay the difference between the threshold and the value of the gift to the government.

Given his government was selling its water companies this is a clear conflict of interest. It again shows the appallingly low ethical standards of politicians of all persuasions.
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I agree with you as a former public servant who had to drive 1200 km on country and dirt roads every 3 months to avoid the conflict of flying on a company aircraft. But politicians, my former lords and masters, have a register of interests available to them. The initial failure here is not using the register. This would not be a problem if he had declared the gift. Open government, everyone knows about it they couldn't possible hold it over his head to gain favors.

It's similar to the theory behind security clearances. If all the dodgy things are known then there are no secrets to use to corrupt people.
 
Today's wine specials on Cudo:
Wine To Resign Over: Barry Yourself In a Bottle of McGuigan Bin Series or...
 
whatmeworry said:
A lot of politicians must have Alzheimer's. :rolleyes:
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Nope. Even my Alzheimer's patients remember these big events, and will recount them in detail. They won't remember this morning or the day before but they still do better than the pollies.
 
Just passed Essendon airport in the Skybus on my way to catch my 6:30pm QF flight. Lucky for me it is running 230 minutes late. ;)
 
JohnK said:
I am arguing for the sake of arguing but if you have no memory of receiving something then you cannot be lying when you say I didn't receive it. Is there?

So given those circumstances there is no bottle, I did not receive it.
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I don't remember receiving it is vastly different to I did not receive something. One of our children told us they didn't eat all of their dinner because they didn't see it. If they did not remember seeing it, that is still an [F'ing] lie. Of course they saw the dinner, whether they remember seeing it or not.

There was a dinner, or bottle, and all the evidence says the bottle was received.
 
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