Beijing Embassygate Gets Plenty Of Air Time On Morning Report

It was good to hear increasing openness from MFAT on Morning Report this morning. But the comments made tend to confirm the problem. We are dealing here with essentially closed institutions, China, Fonterra and MFAT. In all three cases the inclination is not to share information with the outside world. It seems that the Embassy in Beijing wanted to check facts, to get things absolutely right, before reporting this important matter to Wellington. That would be fine in some instances but during that delay more Chinese infants became infected because the tainted product remained on the shelves. The anguish of those made sick and their families is now our anguish. We need to do things differently.