I've always looked at this particular issue through the eyes of an Accounts Payable clerk. There is no way that a competent & diligent accounts payable person would not have asked questions about the invoices in the name of the AWU-WRA Inc. The invoices obviously were not generated from a computerised accounting system. The invoices obviously were generated in a word processing type package. The invoices have sequential invoice numbers. The invoices are not on AWU letterhead with the AWU logo. The AWU-WRA was issued with a separate Supplier Code to that of the AWU by Thiess Contractors in their Accounts Payable system. None of the above would have been the case if Thiess Contractors truly believed they were dealing with the AWU full-stop. And then........... None of the invoices make reference as to exactly "who" was providing any workplace training. None of the invoices make reference to actual times that any AWU trainer was supposedly on site. None of the invoices are really authorised for payment. "OK to pay" without any initials is not a tight internal process. None of the check-boxes on the Accounts Payable forms have been completed. There most certainly would have been confusion within Thiess Contractor's Accounts Payable at the time. There would have been people asking questions and there would have been some not convinced by the responses, but bowing to higher authority.

Sauce, I followed the instructions and got a message saying "thank you it worked"

I am always amazed that the people who shout loudest about Co2 emissions (think movie stars & Labor & Green politicians here) are the very ones who have no second thoughts about jetting here, there and everywhere, leaving behind so many carbon footprints. Hypocrites!

Michael, sometime ago you teased us with the suggestion that you might be able to obtain the bank statements for the AWU-WRA, for the relevant period. Is there really some hope for of this eventuality? We bookkeepers are salivating at the prospect.

I watched that whole press conference today, and Malcolm put that bearded git down later, with a beautiful comment about his manners. It was no contest in the end. Malcolm knows his stuff in this area.

Good that you are back on deck Michael. Sauce has been showing some ambition over the past couple of days. In the case of a "spill", do you have the numbers?

I simply don't buy into the "it was a stunt" theory. There has been too much internal damage. The caucus is deeply divided and openly taking swipes at each other. Who needs an Oppostion when you have an Australian Labor government? The only decent adult thinkers have been sent to the naughty corner and the megalomanic Rudd is still in the Parliament and the other megalomanic Gillard continues her hysterical caterwauing. They are an abomination of a government. If it were a stunt, to flush out Rudd before he was ready, why then the need for the snipes from Ferguson and Fitzgibbon and Carr (the Kim variety)? I could possibly accept that Crean was prepared to take one for the team, and to be appropriately rewarded at some later date, and I could accept that this mob could be so cynical as to try such a manoeuvre, but the internecine commentary from each side of the divide can surely not have been the intended but inevitable result.

The truly pathetic Kevin Rudd has just given a press conference. He has proven once again that he is without equal as a buffoon.

@Thinkaboutit at 7.08pm on 21st March I do take your point and admit that I am at a complete loss to understand just what happened yesterday. However, I can't believe it was a conspiracy. There was too much airing of the dirty laundry and there have been too many casualities. If it was just Simon Crean, I could see that he possibly made himself the sacrifical lamb, to be rewarded at some later date for taking one for the team. But it hasn't just been Crean. It has now gobbled up Marles;Saffin;Husic;Fitzgibbon;Bowen. Kim Carr likely and Martin Ferguson just confirmed he is resigning from the ministry. If it was a setup, there has been mortal damage to this Labor government. Additionally, and irrespective of one's opinion to yesterday's forced adoption policies of the past, any devious politicking around calling out Rudd, would surely have been too big an insult to the solemnity of that occassion, for even this Labor government. Regards

@havago Thanks for your response. That does answer my query.

The bells were ringing for 4 minutes, but Katter was hiding in the loo. On ya Bob. And who else was missing from the chamber? 150 members 144 in attendance (73 to 71 vote) Adams absent Katter missed the vote Who and where were the other 4?

Disagree with Gillard and it's off to the back bench for you. No adults left on the front bench now. Bob Carr won't have the courage to resign. He truly is a pathetic coward. Oakshott & Windsor are two more snivelling cowards with only their self-interest at heart. Their much vaunted new "paradigm" was nothing other than empty rhetoric. Labour members who think that Gillard is leading you to electoral doom, you could each resign from Parliament, on principle, and precipitate an election. Show some integrity. Give us our democracy back

Michael & Sauce, I absolutely love the new layout. Thanks for all your dedicated work.

I don't believe that today's events were a contrivance by Gillard & Crean. I watched Crean during his press conference and he appeared sincere to me. And why so publically air so much more dirty laundry. This Labor government is all but down for the count, so why invite another whack to the head. Crean said that he was sick and tired of the ways things were going and he wanted to put an end to it. Many of his colleagues will not be able to look at themselves in the mirror tonight, but Crean will at least be able to live with himself. A coward dies a thousand deaths etc........

We deserve an election immediately. The Labor government are a complete rabble, dysfunctional, and unfit to govern. To call a spill and then for there to be no challenger is staggering. Simon Crean has been hung out to dry by his Labor mates. What a bunch of weasels.

As much as I am enjoying the self-destruction of the Labor government (it couldn't happen to a more worthy bunch of goons and sycophants) I am desperate for strong and responsible government now. Gillard is always accusing Abbott of being weak and having "no guts," how about giving us our democracy back Gillard. We need an election NOW

Let the police do their job and don't be second-guessing all the time. It is so very important that this investigation be thorough. Any persons of interest are not going anywhere.

Bob Carr wasn't even elected into our Federal Parliament. Paul Keating's "unrepresentive swill" could well be extrapolated into "unelected swill" in the case of Carr.

The debates serve no purpose other than they are a ratings winner for television. They are a contrivance under which it is not remotely possible to argue complex policies. They are in essence popularity contests, much similar to any number of other television programmes where eviction is the ultimate comeuppance. They are no way to determine who is best credentialled to advance the prosperity of our nation.

Shorten has form on the little Sir Echo front. Prior to agreeing with whatever the PM might or might not have said, he "agreed" with something Swannie had said, even though he didn't know what it was. No courage Billy boy. You ain't PM material. Shorten's quote is approx 1.40 minutes into the video. (Warning, contains video of Gillard & Swann. Parental guidance recommended) http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2012/s3595782.htm

redundant Adelaide is correct in that Piers asked the question "are we going to correct the jobs figures?" Piers had given Cassidy plenty of time after the showing of the clip of Gillard making the false claim, to make a comment. Cassidy had no alternative other than to do so, albeit it begrudgingly, and his mumbled correction was less than enthusiastic. Piers, at the end of the programme, also called out Conroy on the number of NBN connections, a question Cassidy should have put to Conroy during his interview.

Piers was magnificent today on the Insiders. He shamed Cassidy, Middleton and Farr as journalists and rightly so. It was also left to Piers to prompt Cassidy into commenting on the flawed jobs figure which Gillard announced during the week. Piers was as subtle as he possibly could be by saying "are we going to correct the job figures?" and Cassidy begrudgingly mumbled a correction.

@newposter at 10.34am (And Michael, sorry to remain off topic) This link to the Lateline interview is still working, for me at least. http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2012/s3638187.htm

Further to blatantly lying about jobs creation, this government is manifestly unable to state policies which are mutually beneficial. Today's Australian carries the story that in order to build the government's much spriuked NBN network, Australia's IT industry will be highly reliant on migrants with IT expertise. Last night on the 7.30 Report, Chris Ulhman quoted worrying figures around the decline in ICT student numbers. And yet, Gillard has targeted the IT industry as the main beneficiaries of 457 visa applications, where reforms are apparently required. Neither Gillard nor O'Connor have bothered to provide any evidence of widespread abuse of 457 visas. The Labor government needs to display some clarity of thought so that it's daily announcements do not contradict one another. All we are getting from the Labor government at the moment is a "scorched earth policy."

I found this on Catallaxy Files today. I needed a good chuckle. http://catallaxyfiles.com/2013/03/14/the-ant-broadcasting-corporation/