The Omega Scroll

The Omega Scroll

G'day. I'm back on deck and ready to report the next few weeks of action in federal parliament. We can't call it 'our' parliament any more - that much is clear from the Government's behaviour in the two great issues on the table, the terror laws and industrial relations. In both cases, the government has refused to publish its draft laws and wants them to rush through parliament without scrutiny by the people all of us elected to represent us after input from interested citizens provided with the legislation on offer.

The people are now the enemy, it seems, to be fed sedative propaganda paid for by us in the case of the IR laws, and kept in the dark as much as possible on terror laws which will radically shift the balance of power in favour of the state to the extent that if the state harms any of us by mistake or malicious design, either by the government or by fellow citizens who wish any of us harm, we are not to know about it - and that if we strongly criticise the state we can be, on the whim of Philip Ruddock, changed with sedition.

I'll report from inside the government's citadel, formerly know as the People's House, until it adjourns for Christmas, because I've just got a press gallery pass which brought it home to me that I really am now an independent journo working for and accountable to you, the Webdiary Community. "Pass no. 27671, Kingston, M.L, Webdiary Pty Ltd." Deep breath.

It's been a bloody awful, life changing year for me which somehow, some way, is ending on a positive and hopeful note. I've always been a bit of a loner in my profession, often feeling I was fighting on all fronts, including internally at Fairfax as it slowly lost its pride and confidence in its journalism under relentless assaults from a blinkered, asset stripping, selfish management determined to line its pockets at the expense of quality, commercial foresight and a sense of democratic purpose. How sad that the just departed CEO Fred Hilmer took a whopping $4.5 million as a 'bonus' just before management announced further big cuts in journalist numbers and the dire warning that more was to come. An extract from the Fairfax memo to Sydney Morning Herald and Sun Herald staff this week- less than a month after Hilmer's big bonus - announced that after a 10 percent cut in journalists, photographers, editors and designers last year, another 35 would go within weeks. And they're targeting senior, experienced staff, ripping away their mentoring role of the trainees Fairfax employs to do as they are told by management without discussion and with little prospect of advancement. Indeed, Hilmer told Canberra bureau staff just after his appointment that his idea was to train juniors who would go elsewhere once trained.

Here's a short extract from the October 25 memo sent to staff by the editor in chief of Fairfax metro newspapers Mark Scott, who also got a bonus despite presiding over failure:

"Since January 2005, the revenue performance for the company's metropolitan newspapers has been lacklustre. Our metropolitan newspapers are facing significant structural pressures and we expect revenue growth may be modest at best for the near future... Even if the redundancy program is implemented, we will continue to carefully manage page volumes in line with advertising conditions. This will help reduce the impact of any staff reductions on the papers.... If the proposal were to go ahead, our total editorial staff at the mastheads would be reduced by a maximum of 7.5%."

What was that Hilmer bonus for again, the last in a long line of bonuses for failed senior management seen off with million dollar payouts? If he'd accepted his multiple failures to protect and grow the company and not ripped that obscene bonus out of the company, those jobs would be secure for more than another year and SMH readers would not be faced with less news, analysis and investigation in Sydney, across Australia, and from Australian reporters overseas.

And isn't the timing opportune. Just when Australians need detailed, in depth coverage of the terror laws and IR, just when the NSW Labor Government's secrecy and lies over its transport cons are exposing that for them too the people are the enemy, Fairfax management has entangled staff in huge and morale debilitating decisions about their future.

For me, the grief phase of terminating my relationship with Fairfax is over, and I'm looking ahead in the firm and optimistic belief that Webdiary, in its own small way, will keep former Fairfax values alive through the efforts of the Webdiary community.

And I know for certain that I'm not alone, because when I took three weeks off after terminating my contract with Fairfax for material breach to clear my head and look after my Mum many people in the Webdiary community gave their time and talent to keep Webdiary going in style. Thank you to all for the wonderful vote of confidence in what we've achieved so far and what we'll achieve in future.

I got lots of new ideas for Webdiary while I was away, and will write about them for your consideration and comment when the Parliamentary year ends.

One of my favourite Webdiarists, Brigadier Adrian d'Hage, published his first novel this year, The Omega Scroll. I met Adrian many years ago for a very long lunch in Canberra after we'd engaged in vigorous discussion on the merits of the Defence Force Gay Ban when I was working for Michelle Grattan at The Age. He was then the media relations officer for the ADF, and I was surprised and invigorated by the fact that, unlike most people in that line of work, he was happy to engage on the merits. A Vietnam War hero, d'Hage later ran security for the Sydney Olympics before retiring to write. He first wrote for Webdiary after September 11. You’ll find his Webdiary work at Bush's rhetoric gets more disturbing every day (September 19, 2001), More on War Fever (September 21, 2001), D'hage vision (November 5, 2001, on the boat people post Tampa),The d'Hage report: View from Istanbul (16 February 2003, on the Iraq War).

After his book was published he wrote me the following letter, which due to my awful record in keeping track of paper I've just found (new year resolution - learn how to manage paperwork). If an established Webdiarist would like to read his book and review it for Webdiary, let me know and I'll send you a review copy.

Dear Margo,

It seems like an age since we had that "off the record" lunch in Manuka (the restaurant seems to change its name every time I go back!), or indeed another age since I reported from Istanbul. The fruits of my labour are enclosed - and I see we have great taste in publishers!. I enjoyed Not Happy John immensely.

The Omega Scroll is a thriller designed to reach a broad audience, but you will not be surprised to find that there is a deeper message within its pages. The chase for the scroll aside, there is a message about the futility of going to war, and the influence of religion.

It might sound strange, coming from a military man, but I continue to hold to my view that the invasion of Iraq will go down in history as one of the most ill-planned military operations of modern times and the nuclear suitcase threat is real.

Unfortunately, the only senior US officer to stand up to Bush and Rumsfeld was the US Army Chief of Staff General Eric Shinseki, and not surprisingly, he was sacked.

More importantly, our politics in the Middle East are a real threat to the stability of the wider world. The invasion of Iraq with woefully insignificant troop numbers and without the sanction of the UN has provided a fertile breeding ground for Islamic fundamentalists.Regrettably, the coalition policies in Iraq and the Middle East have also been aided and encouraged by the influential Christian Right in the US. Religion has got a lot to answer for, and I make that remark as someone who holds an honours degree in Theology. I entered my studies as a very committed Christian and graduated "of no fixed religion".

The threat of nuclear suitcase first came to my attention when I was heading up the planning for the security of the Sydney during the Olympics, and I went so far as to organise a response in case one of them should surface. There is now considerable (albeit not well known) open source reporting of the existence of these - first raised by Boris Yeltsin's Security Secretary, Alexander Lebed, in a meeting of the US House of Representatives in 1998.

One can only hope that in the future the West will be blessed with some leaders of vision who can address the "why" of all this before one of those suitcases becomes a reality. More than happy to debate this in the pages of your diary! Keep up the good work.

Best regards,
Adrian d'Hage.

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