He wasn't wrong, but he was wrong to have said it. That's what Ombudsman Paul Rodriguez confessed to in a letter to the newspapers this week. Rodriguez refers to these comments he made on 7NEWS on November the second, when I asked him about his view on the ongoing probes into Social Security and the DFC.
Paul Rodriquez,
[November 2nd, 2005] "...A Senate investigating committee has been working and let me tell you that so far they have reported nothing, and I believe that it is safe to say that they will find nothing that is indictable and the same with the Commission investigating the DFC."
That was on November second, and in today's letter to the newspapers, the Ombudsman says he was wrong to have said it. The letter says, "I would like to make a public apology to the nation for remarks which I made on Channel 7...it was indiscreet to say (what I did) because it could be interpreted that was saying that these enquiries were a waste of time." It goes on: "what I meant was no one would be indicted for criminal conduct as the enemies of the government...hope for." The Ombudsman concludes: "that I do not believe anyone will be indicted is my personal opinion, but I was wrong to give voice to it, because of my official position. It was an indiscretion which I regret."
So, there it is, an apology not for being wrong, because he believes He is right, but for speaking out of turn. Since the second, the Ombudsman's comments have caused quite the stir, earning him sharp criticism in a riposte from the Senate Special Select Committee headed by Godwin Hulse. We'll wait and see if this apology, full-hearted but only half-meant, will earn him respite from that senatorial rebuke.
