INVESTIGATION? WHAT INVESTIGATION?

Howard haters (here, here, here and here) are all worked up about the government's failure to know about the Australian Wheat Board's kickbacks to Saddam Hussein. It would be interesting to know how they feel about Western Australia's Labor Education Minister's ignorance:

Embattled Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich has accused the former director-general of her department of not telling her about a corruption probe.

Ms Ravlich said today she believed former Department of Education and Training (DET) chief Paul Albert concealed the Corruption and Crime Commission's (CCC) investigation into DET's handling of allegations of sexual misconduct by teachers.

"Absolutely, I am saying that,'' Ms Ravlich told reporters.

The minister says she only found out about the investigation when the CCC briefed her four days before releasing a report in October.

The report found DET paid insufficient attention to managing the risks of sexual contact between teachers and students and gave greater weight to employee welfare than to the safety and protection of children.

It's just not fair to expect a minister to know about a child sex crime investigation going on in her own department.