An email affair perpetuated by Turnbull. So are you saying Turnbull started this unfounded saga to allow Rudd to hide behind it? Did I read that correctly?
Caught out doing what exactly?
No, as usual you got it wrong. He is using it to try to divert the heat from him to Turnbull
Lying to Parliament.
KEVIN Rudd may well survive the most serious crisis to hit his government, but Wayne Swan looks to be on shaky ground.
Evidence in a string of emails between Mr Swan, his staff and Treasury officials, and Senate Economics Committee testimony from many involved, point to a special deal for Mr Rudd's car-dealer friend and supporter John Grant.
Unlike the email that supposedly contradicts Mr Rudd's assurances that he sought no favours for Mr Grant, there is no doubt about the the Swan email trail.
Tabled in a Senate Committee hearing, they give astonishing insight into how the machinery of government can be mobilised for a mate.
They reveal how far Mr Swan and his officers were prepared to go to help Mr Grant, when he sought other financing options for his Ipswich car dealership.
Mr Swan told Parliament that he treated Mr Grant like any other car dealer. But the emails clearly say otherwise.
How many other car dealers were important enough to spark a flurry of emails between Mr Swan's office and Godwin Grech, the senior Treasury official in charge of the $2 billion OzCar trust set up to prop up the industry?
The message to Mr Grech was clear: Mr Grant's problems were a priority. He treated them as such.
One email reminded him that copies were going to the Treasurer's home fax. Other emails were copied to no less a luminary than the head of Treasury, Ken Henry.
Why did the Treasurer and head of Treasury need intimate details of the problems of an Ipswich car dealer? Particularly during the global financial crisis, which was swamping the world.
Firstly, Westminster principles demand that ministers resign if they do not tell the truth in Parliament. Mr Swan told Parliament that Mr Grant received the same assistance as anyone else. He also told the Parliament that he was not aware of the outcome of Mr Grant's case.
The email trail and Mr Grech's testimony seem to knock out those defences.
But even if Mr Swan succeeds with a technical argument that he has not misled Parliament, there is a broader question for which he should be held accountable: why was so much government energy expended on a mate of the Prime Minister?
That is Third World-government stuff; it is not the way Australians expect their governments to be run.
Mr Rudd says that neither he nor his office had anything to do with Mr Grant's dealings with Treasury.
Mr Grech thought the Prime Minister's office initiated the contact and said he recalled an email to that effect, though he couldn't be sure.
A search has failed to find such an email and, until it turns up, Mr Rudd is safe.
If it does surface, the Government will move heaven and earth to sacrifice a few foot-soldiers to save the most popular Prime Minister since Bob Hawke.
Wayne Swan, his fellow Queenslander, may have to take one of the first bullets.
I didn't say you were always wrong Stan
No, as usual you got it wrong.
, but you seem a bit obtuse today.
You obviously haven't kept up with what is going on. Since you seem to have a thirst for guidance this may help;
All parlimenarians have mislead parliment.
Steve Lewis quoted the email, allegedly from Mr Rudd's adviser Andrew Charlton, as saying: "Hi, Godwin, the PM has asked if the car dealer financing vehicle is available to assist ... John Grant Motors, (which) seems to be having trouble getting finance.
"If you can follow up on this asap that would be very useful."
Mr Turnbull said he had no copy of the email and had been relying Mr Lewis's reports.
Your intervention is appreciated, Kennas. Some members can't help being abusive, sarcastic, etc, it seems. Says more about them than those they are abusing.I think it would be more prudent not to jump to anyone's defence here. Looks to be some uncertainty as to what's actually gone on.
And there's no need to be abusive towards any other members to voice your opinion.
This comment goes for me also.Y You also assume that Rudd haters are former Howard supporters. My objections to Rudd are not based on any ideology, but simply on his obnoxious character.
Ping Pong
I would have thought so too. The footage I watched on The 7.30 Report, however, clearly showed this occurring. It is further confirmed in the transcript provided by Kincella.kincella
Julia's suggestion that Grech was under pressure to "shut up" is laughable.
He was required to provide a recollection of events as he understood them, and that could be supported by relevant materials. Parliament takes a dim view of any attempts to nobble - or hobble - public servants that are required to testify at hearings.
You seem to have intimate knowledge of all that goes on with the Federal Police, to the level that allows you to be completely certain of their ethics and non-political alignment.Tainting the Federal Police is equally ludicrous. They will do their job and report exactly what they find, whether Rudd likes it or not. This is not like the Haneef case where they relied on a chain of evidence that was poorly based, and adopted inquiry techniques that presumed guilt from the outset.
Nor is this like the Children Overboard affair, where Howard hushed the truth for as long as possible, and buried its findings in report a year later under the innocuous title of "A Certain Maritime Incident".
Calliope has appropriately responded to this silly assumption.Pathetic supporters of Howard's decimated Liberal Party eagerly latch onto anything they can, and hurl it at Rudd with vented spleens.
Yes, here I completely agree. Rudd so far is doing all he can be expected to do. As a result he is looking much more healthy than his friend and colleague, Mr Swan, who may be in a bit of trouble.Yet Rudd, unlike Howard, isn't hiding, procrastinating, or looking for scapegoats. Short of convening a Senate Select Committee, Rudd has unleashed the Audit Office and Federal Police to look for this much talked about evidence that even Turnbull isn't sure is kosher.
We'll see. You may be right. And if the whole chain of emails were to turn out to be manufactured by Turnbull & Co. then he would deserve to be thrown out. I understand, however, that some of these have already been verified as authentic.This is one heck of a beat up and Turnbull has been foolish to relentlessly pursue something which he now claims not to have evidence to support. Just like Johnny falling for the weapons of mass destruction line, on evidence concocted for another purpose.
© 200Queensland Premier Anna Bligh is backing the federal treasurer and prime minister over the affair.
"I've known both Kevin Rudd and Wayne Swan for a long time," Ms Bligh said.
"What I know of them is that they are people of integrity.
"I look forward to seeing the results of the auditor-general's inquiry."
David Martine saved Grech from a fatal serve, and he should be grateful.GODWIN GRECH: My recollection may well be totally false, faulty, but my recollection, and that's a big qualification, my recollection is that there was a short email from the PMO to me which very simply alerted me to the case of John Grant. But my, my, I don't have the email. We just can't find it.
The issue is not how he did his job.I would concede that Swan may have to tender a better explanation to Parliament if his involvement is greater than initially implied. That said, he is not the first, and will not be the last MP to more diligently represent a constituent than we might come to expect. Guilty of doing his job well! Is something we should welcome from our pol lies.
Your first and third statements contradict each other, Tink.Nothing will come out of this..
They are both in 'checkmate'
so we will wait to see the outcome..
Some junior analyst at ASIO or DSD is laughing his @rse off at the moment because they have it all. Your next mobile call is recorded somewhere. Every (EVERY) email is stored and can be retrieved at the drop of a hat. Let's see who's team ASIO is on.Kennas...I dont believe it all hinges on one missing email...the subsequent emails that were sent to and fro swan and henry and grech tell what really happened...and that was the attempt to provide assistance to the car dealer
The guttersnipes that respond to Rudd on their dislike, rather than evidence, tell the real story: It's just more of the same beat up.
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