Last night’s edition of Four Corners was instructive.

“Most cabinet ministers in the former Howard government did not realise that workers could be worse off under Work Choices, former workplace relations minister Joe Hockey says.”

Other things the Howard Cabinet didn’t understand:

That innocent people might die if we helped invade Iraq.

That putting asylum seekers in high security detention could be construed as harsh and inhuman treatment.

That the Australian Wheat Board was giving lots of money to Saddam Hussein.

That there would never, ever, be a GST.

That we could say sorry to black people.

That the Australian flag was not a party political symbol.

That climate change was a bit of a worry really and quite possibly our fault.

That Don Bradman couldn’t help.