Law and Disorder
SBS One, 8.30pm
Wednesday Nov 18
THE first of this involving three-part series on whistleblowers centres on Andrew Wilkie, the former intelligence officer who quit his job to challenge the Governments justifications for going to war in Iraq in 2003.
Wilkie is an articulate and affable bloke who comes across as an extraordinarily level-headed and moral individual. He risked losing it all, because, as his wife puts it, “he cares about Australia and he cares about Australia doing the right thing in the world”.
The show is unapologetically biased but the subject matter demands that it is so.
A revelation of how Wilkie’s tell-all book was censored after his lawyer took it to the Government before publication shows just how difficult it’s been for Wilkie to convey his account of the truth, even after his suspicions were proven valid.
After the breakdown of his first marriage and unable to find another job in Canberra, its encouraging to see that six years on, Wilkie has managed to make a fresh start in Tasmania with a new wife and their two children (though I could have done without the footage of everyman Wilkie drinking beer with the boys at the docks). Currently running a small business with his wife importing rugs from the Middle East, its clear Wilkie’s heart still belongs to politics – next year he plans to run for state parliament.
The Age Green Guide
