Government helps kidnappers

In "Kidnapped photojournalist takes aim at Government" from the ABC/AAP, Nigel Brennan reveals the bungling by the Australian Government in trying to free him from his Somali kidnappers.

"I'm from the government and I'm here to help" - Love or hate Ronald Reagan, he was spot on with this statement.
Typical of activities that the government gets involved with, this life endangering farce cost ten times more than the original estimate and took five times longer.
It's telling that Brennan's family had to sever ties with government help and involvment in order to get the job done themselves.

Here are some of the key bungles, according to Brennan:

• Final ransom was $US658,000 when the average cost is $US54,000
• Captivity was prolonged to 15 months when 3 months is average
• Stephen Smith was "tardy and eventually dishonest"
• Kevin Rudd was "less than involved"
• A number of DFAT personnel believe that they handled the case incorrectly
• 24/7 monitoring of his family's landline by Australian Federal Police failed to pick up two calls from the kidnappers. Hilariously Brennan was making these calls with a gun to his head ... ah those crazy government officials.

The Senate committee is scheduled to report on it's investigations by November 24 so we'll see if the fox has any meaningful comments on it's inability to guard the henhouse.