Huge price to sit level with Rwanda

It feels wonderful. We have finally achieved the same status as that other powerhouse of international diplomacy - Rwanda!

Australia spent some $24 million directly and diverted hundreds of millions in foreign aid to gain the right to play in the same room with the five permanent members of the Security Council as a backward African nation with about half our population and a reputation for supporting a rebellion in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

According to a confidential report by the UN Security Council's Group of Experts, seen by Reuters, Rwanda's defence minister was relaying military orders to rebel leaders who have been fighting the DRC's army since April. Its new seat on the Security Council will provide it with the convenient opportunity to block any proposed sanctions against its officials accused of supporting the rebel forces.

How did media-savvy foreign minister Bob Carr fail to mention this when he hit the airwaves on Friday to crow about Australia's expensive new engagement with the historically corrupt UN? Carr said the win proved Australia's values were respected and the nation was considered a "good global citizen". What then does the support for Rwanda indicate about the global recognition of its values?

But an examination and comparison with our new UN panel partner was not the only commentary that the Gillard Labor-Green-independent minority government elected to deliberately ignore last week.

Whilst Prime Minister Julia Gillard was ensuring a headline in the Times of India with an honorary award for Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar she also gave a tentative green light to uranium sales to India in a speech which had Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh glancing at his watch (a clear sign of misogyny on Gillard's recent definition).

Kevin Rudd was provoking renewed leadership speculation, and the opposition was looking at allegations relating to the use of the union "slush fund" which Gillard has admitted setting up for her former boyfriend, former AWU union boss Bruce Wilson, and examining the government's record in office through the senate estimates process.

Tasmanian senator Eric Abetz said Gillard must say whether as a partner at law firm Slater & Gordon she wrote to the WA Corporate Affairs Commission vouching for the legitimacy of a "slush fund" she set up, the Workers Reform Association, after the commission questioned its bona fides.

According to a report in The Sydney Morning Herald, the commission objected to the registration because the association appeared to be a trade union body which should have been registered under the more rigorous provisions of the Industrial Relations Act. It has been claimed that up to $672,925 allegedly stolen by Gillard's then boyfriend was collected from companies for the association - purportedly for the purpose of ensuring safety in workplaces.

Abetz also said Gillard must address allegations from former AWU official Ralph Blewitt that she was not present when he signed a power of attorney giving Wilson authority to act on his behalf, despite her signature appearing on the document as having witnessed it.

Other questions hang over more recent legal actions, notably the $730,000 spent by Attorney General Nicola Roxon on 17 lawyers to reach a $50,000 settlement with James Ashby in his suit against former Speaker Peter Slipper and the Commonwealth.

Further questions have to be asked about Roxon herself, and her decision to comment on the Ashby case while it remains before the courts, her decision to assist Slipper avoid the media before his court appearance, and her decision to brief barrister Julian Burnside QC, who failed to win court approval to appear for the Commonwealth in the failed mediation talks between Slipper and Ashby.

It has also been revealed that Gillard's own creation, Fair Work Australia, has spent more than $1.8 million on outside legal and accounting advice during its investigation of the theft of Health Services Union funds. That figure does not include the cost to taxpayers of the launching of FWA's court action against Labor MP, Craig Thomson, who, with Slipper, provides the votes necessary to keep the Gillard government in office.

 As grubby as the Slipper and Thomson matters may appear, it was even more disconcerting to learn there is no funding for the government's National Disability Insurance Scheme beyond the current forward estimates. After all the sanctimonious posturing, the government has provided only a quarter of the funds needed for the first phase of the NDIS.

In all its announcements, the government sought to leave the impression it had committed to a full national roll-out of the NDIS by 2018-19.

In estimates, the Department of Finance confirmed it had not.

Treasurer Wayne Swan admitted on Lateline that far from being funded, the NDIS was, like the Gonski education reforms, "out there for public discussion" and current funding was only for trials.

Estimates also managed to partially lift the veil which has shielded the Not Bloody Necessary broadband program from scrutiny. Under questioning, it was revealed that after more than three-and-a-half years, the NBN Co has managed to sign up only 6400 households to its fibre network. That's less than five households a day since the NBN Co was established in April 2009.

There are a total 24,000 households connected across the NBN's three networks - fibre, wireless and satellite - and at least 9000 of those transferred from the Howard government's Australian Broadband Guarantee program.

Still, as one opposition senator said, the customer service should be good. NBN Co has about one employee for every 15 paying customers.

Still wondering where your tax money goes? Consider that about $2 million has been spent flying 260 asylum seekers from Christmas Island to Nauru - an average airfare of more than $7600 per asylum seeker. By contrast, Qantas has return Sydney to London flights for less than $1800.

Every illegal people smuggler boat that arrives is now costing taxpayers $12.8 million, or more than $172,700 for every person onboard.

It puts the cost of cosying up to good global citizens like Rwanda in perspective