Thread by @beneltham

Even for the seemingly rock-bottom standards of our Commonwealth government, the past week has been a desperately grim parade of malfeasance and sleaze.

Some low-lights include:

* a federal court case establishing that two of the former Employment minister's most senior staffers broke the law leaking the AWU raid to the media

* Senate Estimates hearing that the Federal Police and the DPP would have laid charges, if two Ministers had cooperated with police. They didn't.

* the Director-General of ASIO publicly stating that someone in the government leaked a false report about border security during the debate over the Medevac bill

* Senate Estimates hearing that the Department of Home Affairs held a secret one-week tender, with a single bidder, to contract $420m worth of security on Manus and Nauru

* the Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs misleading Senate Estimates about the contractual relationship of the Commonwealth (he claimed that a director of that security firm, Paladin, who is up on 106 fraud and money laundering charges, was not involved; he was).

* the government re-opening a jail on Christmas Island to prevent desperately ill refugees on Manus and Nauru from receiving proper healthcare on the Australian mainland

* the Finance Minister forgetting he hadn't paid for a $2700 airfare to Singapore, paid for by a company run by the Liberal Party treasurer, that the finance Department awarded a contract to, and that he "booked" by calling the CEO of a travel company/Liberal Party treasurer

* Senator Michaelia Cash, the Minister supposedly responsible for answering to Senate Estimates on issues relating to Home Affairs and A-G, refusing to turn up and answer Estimates questions, presumably because she doesn't want to answer Q's about her legal troubles

* Senate Estimates hearing that something like 2,000 Australians had died (yes, died) after receiving a #robodebt notice, including hundreds who the Department knew were vulnerable and were supposed not to get one

* the Agriculture Minister calling for a boycott of Coles, and telling people to shop at Woolworths, while holding shares in Woolworths

* on the upside, the fibre-to-the-node NBN is apparently on target with its roll out. Oh, that's not an upside. I give up

Oh, and I just realised @gpaddymanning wrote pretty much the same thing this arvo. Jinx.