Our pollies don't resign when they're caught with their snouts & trotters in the trough, oh, no - they have bad memories ("I don't remember") or received bad advice ("I wasn't told").

Our head pollie, Little Johnny, offered the excuse "non-core promises" for lying a few years back, and now Oz can offer the world a new reason for not knowin' nuffin' - deafness.

It surfaced in the wonderfully entertaining AWB (Australian Wheat Board) Bribes for Saddam Enquiry - a bloke who knows nuffin' cos he's hard of hearing!, and was also only included in the delegation sent to Iraq as a decoration! For this role he earned the best part of $1 million.

nice work if you can get it

sandra