Jane’s Oak Web Design Blog

This morning on ABC Radio, Turnbull is trying to convince listeners that he didn’t ask about the faked email until after Grech gave his evidence in Senate Estimates last Friday.

That is not true!

In parliament back on June 4, Turnball said  “I ask the Treasurer: were there any discussions or communications regarding Mr John Grant’s interest in seeking finance from OzCar between himself and the Prime Minister or between their respective offices?” source: http://blogotariat.com/node/174445

Why is nobody commenting on the time-line of this story?

On ABC Radio this morning I heard Turnbull saying he “acted responsibly in reaction to Grech’s testimony”, but it is clear from the question he asked on 4 June that he was already building a case based on the fake email.

Turnbull should apologise immediately for trying to remove our 2 top politicians from their positions while relying on an unsubstantiated email, which he says he never even saw, and which is now shown to be a fake.

Is any person who can set this chain of events in action, based on a rumour about an email that he never even asked to see,  a suitable person to hold high office?

How much time has been wasted on this stupidity while the government should have been sorting out the emmissions trading scheme?

Taxpayers should be furious! 
Don’t forget that we are paying these people to do their jobs.

How much has this fiasco cost us?

How many hours have Rudd, Swan and Turnbull spent working on this issue?
How many hours have their personal staff, various senators, IT staff and treasury staff dedicated to it?
How many hours have the Australian Federal Police put in since they were asked to investigate it?

Turnbull should be apologising to all Australians for the enormous waste of time and money this stupid diversion has cost at a time when we really cannot afford to be wasting either.

Initially I dismissed this story as a storm in a teacup.  It just seemed so ridiculous.

If PM Kevin Rudd actually did ask someone in his office to check that his mate John Grant was getting fair treatment from the OzCar scheme, I thought, well so what?

Any taxpayer surely has the right to ask their MP to follow up on something governmenty, don’t they?  Isn’t that why we have MPs?  John Grant lives in Kevin Rudd’s electorate and, friend or not, he has the same rights as the rest of us to ask for representation.

As I said, a storm in a teacup. 

But now I see a much bigger picture emerging, and it is quite disturbing.

The whole fiasco has blown up in Malcolm Turnbull’s face now that he cannot produce the email he claims was at the centre of this controversy.

So it begs the question, how did this all begin and why?

It is interesting to read John Grant’s (he is the car dealer friend of the PM) statement in The Australian where he was quoted as saying he had made some initial enquiries about the OzCar scheme :

“like most dealers did” …”When GMAC (Financial Services) and GE decided to pull out of the country, dealers didn’t know what was going on” … “The government came up with a package, and vehicle dealers wanted to know what was happening with it. I did ring to find out what the program was about and I found out that it couldn’t be drawn down by the dealers; it could only be drawn down by the finance companies and banks.  They were the only people who could access the fund, so me as a dealer could get no favours at all. I didn’t ask for any favours, and quite frankly I’m still with the financier I started with so nothing’s changed for me in my life.” source : http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25662824-5013871,00.html

So, assuming John Grant is telling the truth, there was really nothing for him to ask Kevin Rudd to look into anyway.

Therefore, whatever evidence or innuendo is produced as a result of this ongoing saga, it’ based on an entirely false premise to begin with - individual dealers don’t apply for OzCar assistance to the government, they apply through Credit Suisse.

Normally I would classify my interest in current affairs as a ”half-attentive while eating dinner news watcher”, and I reckon most Australians would probably say the same.  The trouble is, from this limited perspective, the message we get is that there is some new government handout and Kevin Rudd is accused of helping a mate get his fingers into the pie.

That’s the message that Malcolm Turnbull and the Opposition hope most people will half hear, and our 30 TV news second stories won’t explain much more than that.  But this scandal goes so much deeper and it is a symptom or the nasty disease that infects Australian politics today.

How many people will spend time researching the details of this story? How many will simply hear the basics as Malcolm Turnbull might hope?

Well, to begin at the beginning, I looked into OzCar and discovered this:
Car Dealer Financing Support: OzCar Enquiries
Any enquiries relating to the operation of the OzCar Special Purpose Vehicle should in the first instance be directed to Credit Suisse in Sydney who are the Australian Government’s appointed managers of the OzCar facility.Enquiries should be directed to Mr Patrick Eng, Director of the Asset Backed Capital Markets Group, Credit Suisse, 02 8205 4536 or Mr Will Farrant on 02 8205 4891.
source: http://www.treasury.gov.au/contentitem.asp?NavId=&ContentID=1536.

So,  if a car dealer called the PM’s office or the Treasury, they would be directed to Credit Suisse which seems to be widely known on the various motor trade websites I have looked at.

Another thought that occurs to me is this: love him or hate him, you have to admit Kevin Rudd is intelligent and knows about politics.  He cannot have risen to the post of PM without being aware of the nasty tricks and traps that are always lurking in the wings.

Is it even conceivable that such an experienced politician would be caught up in something as fundamentally dumb as trying to get unfair preferential treatment for a mate?  Are we to assume he was home sick on the first day of Politics 101?

In my opinion, there is very little likelihood that Rudd and Grant ever discussed OzCar, and even less that Rudd tried to somehow manipulate things for his friend.

So what about this missing email?

According to The Age, the email was from  a Rudd economic adviser Dr  Andrew Charlton to Gowin Grech in Treasury  and said:

“Hi Godwin, the PM has asked if the car dealer financing vehicle is available to assist a Queensland dealership, John Grant Motors, who seems to be having trouble getting finance. If you can follow up on this one asap that would be very useful. Happy to discuss. A.” source: http://www.theage.com.au/national/rudd-in-car-dealer-crisis-20090619-cr9e.html?page=1

In the Senate inquiry Grech said: “My recollection may well be totally faulty, but my recollection is that there was a short email from the PMO (prime minister’s office) to me, which very simply alerted me to the case of John Grant. I don’t have the email.” (ibid)

Anyone who has ever worked for a company that relies on email communications will tell you that emails don’t just go missing.  Any well run company will ensure that back-up copies of all emails are kept on the email server for a period of time so that they can be referred to if required in the future.  Surely we can expect that our own government follows this most basic code of practice, can’t we?

So, if the email existed, why hasn’t it been produced, along with the email headers to show what machine it was sent from and when?

I was shcoked when I heard Opposition’s Tony Abbott on ABC1’s Lateline say “I hate to sound cynical, but there are such things as searches designed to lose the evidence.”
source http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/

This is surely dirty politics at its dirtiest.

WHAT??? The evidence cannot be found, therefore the accused must have destroyed the evidence.  What an appalling assertion to make.  What happened to the innocent until proved guilty concept?

Next, I think we need to go back to last Wednesday (17/6/09) when:
Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull was accused of bullying … economic adviser Andrew Charlton.
The opposition believes Mr Charlton wrote the document to Mr Grech.
“This whole OzCar issue will be very damaging for you,” Mr Turnbull reportedly told Mr Charlton.
“Let me give you some friendly advice. You should not lie to protect your boss. You know and I know there is documentary evidence that you have lied.” source: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/national/national/general/turnbull-denies-pm-staffer-threat/1545570.aspx

Here we have an incident that appears to have occurred before the Grant/OzCar questioning ever even began in parliament.  If true, it looks suspiciously like Malcolm Turnbull was trying to intimidate Charlton and make him fearful of backing Rudd when the story broke.

So a storm in a teacup turns into a poison chalice - for someone.

If the email turns up, it will be claimed that Rudd, Swan or both, mislead Parliament.
If the email is a fake Malcolm Turnbull’s integrity is shot to hell.

So far it is looking to me as if this email will not be produced.  I feel sure it would have been by now, if it really existed, and various independent experts would have been asked to look at it to determine what the headers revealed about source and date.

Without the email  Turnbull is going to be looking a right wally.

Sooooooooooooooooo….

Why did Malcolm Turnbull start  all this?  He has admitted that he has not personally seen the email. source: http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,27574,25665217-5006009,00.html

Surely now the onus is on  Turnbull to provide full detail of who told him about this email.

Is it possible that this whole fiasco is actually internal Liberal Party politics?

Is it just possible that Turnbull has been set up by someone within his own party?

Is it a coincidence that this story broke the same week Peter Costello announced he was leaving politics?

Is there perhaps a faction within Turnbull’s own party who have “leaked”  false information to him to make him look a fool?

If he was willing to put his credibility on the line based on an email he never ever asked to see a copy of, then whoever was behind this Machiavellian plot to destroy his credibility, was probably quite right to expose him for the fool he must be.

Twitter is a bit strange and I admit, I’m not sure I get it, but I am going to start using it anyway and see where it leads.

Twitter is a free social messaging utility for staying connected in real-time.

Twitter allows its users to send and receive “tweets” which are then delivered to ”followers”, people who subscribe to a user. Twitter is sort of the SMS of the internet.

You log on to your Twitter page and update your information as often as you like.

My address on Twitter is http://twitter.com/JaneOakWeb

You can also insert your Twitter into any web page, as I have done here: http://www.oakwebdesign.com.au/contact.htm

I intend to use it to advise clients of what I am currently working on.

I have been Googling to find out what value a Twitter might be on a website, so here are some links and useful information.

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5 tips to drive traffic to your website using Twitter by George Susini

1. Convince someone with a lot of follows to talk about your product
2. Build followers your self and advertise to them
3. Post about popularly search for terms with links back to your site.
4. If your site is a applicable create a button for people to twitter about their actions on your website.
5. Don’t oversell, show the value to encourage your followers to visit you site

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Generate Web Traffic by Using Twitter
Twitter is all the rage at the moment, and one of the biggest questions facing businesses and entrepreneurs is how to make this microblogging service drive business to their websites…

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10 Reasons Why Your Business Should be Using Twitter
by smallbizbee

#1 Gain Exposure
Twitter is a great way to gain exposure for your business, product, or service.
You’ll be interacting with thousands of people who have yet to discover you, and what you do.
Imagine being able to tell 1000, 5000, 20000 people or more what you do, and all at one time…with Twitter you can. 

#2 Build Trust
The more people interact with you, see what your character is made of, the more they will trust you.Getting to know the human side of your business is a great way to build trust in yourself, your brand, and your business.

#3 Generate Leads
There are literally millions of people using Twitter day in and day out…some of them are bound to be interested in what you do. Twitter offers an opportunity to expose them to your business, and generate interest in what it is you sell.

#4 Drive Traffic
As you build trust and community, you can occasionally send your followers links back to your site, promotion, or offer.  If done correctly, Twitter can drive hundreds of hits a day to your website. Now that’s a good thing!

#5 Provide Stellar Customer Service
Some of the biggest brands in the world have figured out a very powerful aspect of Twitter, and that is in providing stellar customer service through the medium.  Since you have access to real time communications you can do immediate service recovery, and turn someone’s frown upside down.

#6 Expand Your Network
You’ll be interacting with a diverse group of people on Twitter, more diverse than you could possibly hope to interact with in the offline world. This is an advantage to growing your network, and getting many different perspectives.

#7 Get Feedback
Twitter is a real time conversation and as such it provides a real time mechanism for getting feedback. Bouncing questions off your followers asking for their ideas and suggestions is a gold mine worth tapping into.

#8 Market Research
Using the search functions within Twitter there is an unprecedented opportunity to do market research as it’s unfolding.  You’ll be able to key in on what people are looking for, what they think of certain products and services, and what they would consider buying.

#9 Testimonial Tool
Twitter is a great way to get testimonials about what it is you do.  The viral nature of Twitter makes the best of these testimonials spread like wild fire, and reinforce the idea that you don’t suck – instant social proof!

#10 Build Authority
As you become a trusted friend to your community you will undoubtedly build authority.  The benefits to being the authority on a subject are vast, not the least of which higher conversions, more pricing power, and higher customer satisfaction

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Finally, not content with 5 ideas, or even 10 ideas, here is
Chris Brogan, with a whopping 50 ideas!

1. Build an account and immediate start using Twitter Search to listen for your name, your competitor’s names, words that relate to your space. (Listening always comes first.)
2. Add a picture. ( Shel reminds us of this.) We want to see you.
3. Talk to people about THEIR interests, too. I know this doesn’t sell more widgets, but it shows us you’re human.
4. Point out interesting things in your space, not just about you.
5. Share links to neat things in your community. ( @wholefoods does this well).
6. Don’t get stuck in the apology loop. Be helpful instead. ( @jetblue gives travel tips.)
7. Be wary of always pimping your stuff. Your fans will love it. Others will tune out.
8. Promote your employees’ outside-of-work stories. ( @TheHomeDepot does it well.)
9. Throw in a few humans, like RichardAtDELL, LionelAtDELL, etc.
10. Talk about non-business, too, like @astrout and @jstorerj from Mzinga.
11. Instead of answering the question, “What are you doing?”, answer the question, “What has your attention?”
12. Have more than one twitterer at the company. People can quit. People take vacations. It’s nice to have a variety.
13. When promoting a blog post, ask a question or explain what’s coming next, instead of just dumping a link.
14. Ask questions. Twitter is GREAT for getting opinions.
15. Follow interesting people. If you find someone who tweets interesting things, see who she follows, and follow her.
16. Tweet about other people’s stuff. Again, doesn’t directly impact your business, but makes us feel like you’re not “that guy.”
17. When you DO talk about your stuff, make it useful. Give advice, blog posts, pictures, etc.
18. Share the human side of your company. If you’re bothering to tweet, it means you believe social media has value for human connections. Point us to pictures and other human things.
19. Don’t toot your own horn too much. (Man, I can’t believe I’m saying this. I do it all the time. – Side note: I’ve gotta stop tooting my own horn).
20. Or, if you do, try to balance it out by promoting the heck out of others, too.
21. You don’t have to reply to every @ tweet directed to you (try to reply to some, but don’t feel guilty).
22. Use direct messages for 1-to-1 conversations if you feel there’s no value to Twitter at large to hear the conversation ( got this from @pistachio).
23. Use services like Twitter Search to make sure you see if someone’s talking about you. Try to participate where it makes sense.
24. 3rd party clients like Tweetdeck and Twhirl make it a lot easier to manage Twitter.
25. If you tweet all day while your coworkers are busy, you’re going to hear about it.
26. If you’re representing clients and billing hours, and tweeting all the time, you might hear about it.
27. Learn quickly to use the URL shortening tools like TinyURL and all the variants. It helps tidy up your tweets.
28. If someone says you’re using twitter wrong, forget it. It’s an opt out society. They can unfollow if they don’t like how you use it.
29. Commenting on others’ tweets, and retweeting what others have posted is a great way to build community.
30. The Negatives People Will Throw At You Twitter takes up time.
31. Twitter takes you away from other productive work.
32. Without a strategy, it’s just typing.
33. There are other ways to do this.
34. As Frank hears often, Twitter doesn’t replace customer service (Frank is @comcastcares and is a superhero for what he’s started.) 
35. Twitter is buggy and not enterprise-ready.
36. Twitter is just for technonerds. 
37. Twitter’s only a few million people. (only) 
38. Twitter doesn’t replace direct email marketing.
39. Twitter opens the company up to more criticism and griping.

Ok, I only count 39 too, but Chris says it’s 50

As if we needed an excuse to waste more time online, Google have just made the browsing experience a whole lot more addictive with their new Wonder Wheel.

Google’s Wonder Wheel offers you related search queries or terms on a visual wheel so you can click around and discover new topics. Your search query will appear inside a light blue circle, with related terms around it.

It’s just perfect for refining those vague Google queries when you are not sure what search terms you should use.

Here are some screen shots of the Google Wonder Wheel when I searched for Oak Web Design.

To get to the Wonder Wheel click the “show options” link.

Next, select “Wonder Wheel”

This is how the Wonder Wheel looks

From here I can travel to either “search engine optimisation” or “adelaide hills”.

Selecting “adelaide hills” I next see this wheel.

When you click on a new link the web  search results change on the right to reflect your new topic.

Oh boy!   Well done Google!

I can really see myself going off at strange tangents with this development.

I was reading the details of Gordon Ramsey’s attack on Tracy Grimshaw, and Tracy’s brilliant response, when I can across this article titled “Face it, Gordon Ramsay, you’re past your sell-by date” which incluced the following comment:

… the theatre of cruelty is officially closing for business. …  We have to ask ourselves; is this the sort of community we want to live in?”

Now, I had not heard reality TV referred to as the Theatre of Cruelty before, but I was impressed by the accuracy of this description.

Whether it is the viciousness of the judges rejecting a hopeful contestant on one of the dancing, singing, talent, cooking or modelling shows, or the teary near nudity of the people on the weightloss shows, it’ seems to me that the emphasis is on humiliating the contestants.

How have we as a society have decided this is good TV?
These shows rate really well - isn’t that sad?

Why does our society get voyeristic thrills from seeing people ripped to emotioanal shreds in front of a TV judging panel?  Is it any better than the hey day of the Roman Colleseum when crowds gathered to see humans physically ripped apart?

I’m not really defending the contestants.  They, for the most part anyway,  know full well what they are in for when they sign up for these shows.  They willing submit to the slings and arrows of the theatre of cruelty in search of their own 15 minutes of fame.

But just because  they are willing participants, does that make it okay for us to watch them weeping an wailing as their egos and self-confidence are ripped apart? 

Reality TV seems to be at odds with a concept of a caring, compassionate community.

Judith Woods, the author of the article I linked to above, is hopeful that “the theatre of cruelty is officially closing for business”.  I do hope this is true.