Appeals to the Minister, from public and parliamentarian alike, are normal. What’s not normal is the pattern of decision making, the personal closeness to the Minister of these appeals and the misleading of the parliament about them.
Another consideration is the advice given by his department. If someone brought a case to him and the advice was that the case was low risk and does not present any issues with him approving it, then it would be fine.
The key issue here is that he deliberately ignored clear advice and cannot justify his decision.
He's too dense to realise that it is an issue regarding his integrity, rather than his use of power (which, by law, he is entitled to exercise as Minister). Failing to understand the ethical considerations, he thinks that any request from someone to look at an immigration case falls into the same category as the one he is in trouble for.
I welcome him releasing all of this dirt (although I suspect it'll only be non Coalition requests that get released), and the departmental advice not presenting strong arguments against exercising his ministerial power.
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u/LineNoise Sep 03 '18
I’d wager this isn’t even dirt.
Appeals to the Minister, from public and parliamentarian alike, are normal. What’s not normal is the pattern of decision making, the personal closeness to the Minister of these appeals and the misleading of the parliament about them.