Bob Brown, I am stunned

I AM stunned by Senator Bob Brown’s revelation on ABC and in the Mercury that he has twice been offered bribes and done nothing about it.

I am particularly stunned that he did not report the alleged $250,000 bribe by a group of business people during the Labor-Green Accord. How could he not report this to police during a period when the focus was on the royal commission into the attempt by Edmund Rouse to bribe Labor MP Jim Cox to cross the floor and vote with the Liberal Party?

If the royal commission was current when the alleged bribe took place, I’m sure that it would have been possible to broaden the inquiry to investigate any group of businessmen willing to bribe an MP, keeping in mind that one of the big problems for the commission at the time was that Rouse refused to name any accomplices.

I also don’t understand Senator Brown’s explanation that he was concerned that he could be sued for defamation if he reported the attempt by a person representing a media organisation to bribe him with nearly a million dollars of advertising and promotion. What, the Greens afraid to do the right thing? Surely not!

How could he be sued for making a police complaint unless he went further and publicly revealed the details of his complaint? In any case, what else is parliament for if not as a place for MPs to raise issues without fear or favour under the protection of parliamentary privilege?

Why should Senator Brown continue to protect the media organisation that allegedly attempted the bribe for all those years? Was he afraid the Greens would suffer as a result of raising it – from lack of coverage, or biased coverage?

I find this whole story totally at odds with the Greens’ policy of openness and their repeated calls for royal commissions or inquiries into corruption over many years.

Michael Lester,
New Town