Misha Ketchell writes:

Since Tuesday, when we asked whether the foreign minister’s
daughter, Georgina Downer, should have been awarded a Chevening
scholarship by the British High Commission, subscriber responses have
been fairly evenly divided. Our critics have been most concerned at the
ethics of drawing attention to the foreign minister daughter, and
they’ve argued that politician’s families should be off-limits.

We called back and spoke to Haynes who was perfectly
polite and confirmed that he was awarded a Chevening scholarship while
working for Mr Downer, in 2001. He said he left Mr Downer’s office to
study in the UK and returned to his role as an adviser in 2003. Is
there anything wrong with that? Well maybe.

The British
Government makes no bones about the fact these scholarships are used to
foster stronger relationships between the two countries. No doubt Mr
Haynes rose to his position of influence due to strong intellectual
achievements and is a worthy scholarship recipient. But his position in
Downer’s office makes him an especially attractive candidate when it
comes to the British Government’s aim of forging closer bonds and
building high level ties between the countries.

These
scholarships are the “gift” of the British high commissioner and when
they are awarded to the adviser of a senior political figures two
legitimate questions are raised. The first is – could this substantial
gift be an inducement that could cloud or skew the approach of the
foreign minister and his staff to his relationship with the UK. Is it
not wise for political staff to eschew such “gifts” because of the
perception problems and relationship complications they create?

The
second question is: what sort of chance do those without high-powered
political connections really have when applying for these scholarships?
It’s all very well for the British Government to be open about the
foreign policy objectives of a scholarship program such as this, but if
significant weight is to be allocated to the potential political
influence of candidates then perhaps the academic criteria should be
dropped and the scholarships should be more clearly targeted at
political players.

If we’re to believe the British high
commission, then slightly improved prospects when applying for
scholarships such as these are a natural perk of political office.
Political players who are subject to strict rules on accepting gifts
aren’t so constrained when it can be argued the gift was awarded on
merit, even when an aspect of that “merit” was political influence.
It’s an ambiguous situation that probably suits both sides of politics
and I wouldn’t be holding my breath for a hard-line opposition campaign
on this issue any time soon.

Chris Kenny,
Alexander Downer’s press secretary, is not someone to mince his words.
After our story appeared yesterday asking if it was right for the
foreign minister’s 25-year-old daughter to be awarded a scholarship by
the British high commissioner, Kenny was spitting venom. He told the SMH
Spiked column we were “reprehensible” and “disgraceful”. It’s probably
unwise to speculate about what he said to other news hounds who rang to
follow up the story, but the word muckracker also got an airing
yesterday afternoon and our ears are still burning.

This morning
we rang Kenny to check out a tip that Downer’s senior adviser for North
Asia, trade and economic policy, Brad Haynes, was also awarded a
Chevening Scholarship, while he was working in Downer’s office. Kenny
refused to answer our question, expressed surprise that we were
checking facts, and questioned how we were able to get up in the
morning.