here are calls for Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull's head if he can't produce an email at the centre of a corruption claim levelled against the Prime Minister and Treasurer. - all of which is smoke designed to hide the fact that Swan and Rudd have clearly lied to parliament about their lobbying. - ed.
Joe Hockey prepared to nail Swan on 'utegate' email
SHADOW Treasurer Joe Hockey has refused to comment about an alleged email at the centre of the OzCar affair, but says Treasurer Wayne Swan can expect a tough week in question time.
Businesses freezing pay and cutting staff
AUSSIE companies are cutting back and cancelling plans in preparation for the year ahead. - thank you Rudd - ed.
Taxi fares to rise by 4 per cent
Taxi fares are set to rise by 4 per cent as taxi operators are hit with increasing costs.
Football club 'paid off' player rape claims
FORMER footy president says club paid off women who claimed they were raped by players.
Water restrictions to be lifted
From midnight tonight, level three water restrictions will be lifted, allowing Sydney kids to once again run under the sprinkler.
No job for Costello: Gillard
Julia Gillard has ended speculation the Rudd government was planning to appoint former treasurer Peter Costello as head of Australia's $60 billion future fund.
NSW Government denies plan to axe teaching jobs
THE NSW Government says it has no plans to axe special education teachers and it is considering expanding support programs for students with extra needs.
Playground funding for fit kids
Playgrounds across Sydney will receive funding to encourage kids to lead active lives.
=== Comments ===
Openness is the first casualty
Piers Akerman
Kevin Rudd has shredded any claim of running an open and transparent government with Labor’s handling of the Senate probe into his favoured car dealer scandal. - This morning, Channel 7’s political journalist/ALP-advocate Riley was working overtime trying to blame Mr Turnbull for Rudd’s mistake. Mr Rudd in parliament clearly stated that no one in government had made representations over the car dealership and that is clearly not true. Mr Rudd specifically stated Mr Swan’s office was not involved, and we know it had been. Mr Rudd said it was a smear attempt to divert from the appallingly bad budget .. this is believable, but not that it was Mr Turnbull attempting the smear.
Tim is spot on in pointing out that such things we are witnessing are not generally isolated, but cultural to the party in power. This kind of rubbish did not happen under Mr Howard, or with Mr Costello. That was no accident .. and neither is what is happening now. - (earlier) - Piers is spot on in observing that the smoking gun is out in the open, but the ALP are trying to misdirect by looking around in the smoke for more evidence they might obfuscate. Friends of the ALP will gather around the banner saying “Youse can’t prove nuffin,” but the truth can be seen in the behavior of Rudd in other issues. Rudd would not have thought he was doing anything wrong .. in fact he might have thought this was clever politics. In fact, had Rudd admitted it it would not have been a hanging offense. However, Rudd has lied about it and involved his wimpier colleagues. Even Tanner prematurely ejaculated a request for more information .. which was given. If we had a competent Governor General this would be very dangerous for the federal ALP.
Thing is, this may fall into the hands of ALP strategists who need to get rid of Rudd because he is blocking them from going to an early election. Rudd is a liability to the ALP and they need an excuse to blame him for their woes to change the guard, like NSW did with Carr and Iemma. But it isn’t good enough to for the ALP to knife Rudd, they have to do it a special way so as to not get tarred too. So tar baby Tripodi had better stay clear.- ed.
===
TAILGATE MATE’S RATES
Tim Blair
**IMPORTANT UPDATE/CORRECTION. See end of post**
Wayne Swan’s claim:
Mr Swan yesterday told reporters that he had met Mr Grant, “a reasonably prominent Brisbane businessman”, three or four times over the years. “He’s not a friend of mine . . a few years ago I did buy a used car from him.”
Mr Swan paid $13,000 for the 2007 Toyota Hilux, which, his spokesman said, was full market value.
If he bought that Hilux “a few years ago” it would’ve been near-new. As for the “full market value”, this will depend on condition and specification; Hiluxs are available in many styles. But $13,000, even for the most basic model, is freakishly low. For example, here’s a 2007 example currently for sale:
The asking price: $18,500. Five grand discount if your name is Wayne. As John Grant says: “Mates are mates, friends are friends …”
UPDATE. Michelle Grattan’s Age report, cited above, may be wrong. Word from Swan’s office is that the Hilux in question is a 2000 model, in which case the price is much more reasonable.
===
TEACHERS REVOLVED
Tim Blair
Kevin Rudd’s education revolution begins:
Almost 2000 classroom teaching positions in NSW will be axed next year.
===
INTEGRITY QUESTIONED
Tim Blair
The Seven Network last night ran a brief extract from a press conference with Lindsay Tanner in which the finance minister questioned senior Treasury official Godwin Grech’s “state of mind” (Tanner’s precise term). No online video or text is available as yet.
If the government is prepared to go this far this early – why, Tanner seems almost to be attacking Treasury integrity – what might it indicate? Oh, and Laurie Oakes will interview Wayne Swan this morning on Nine.
UPDATE. There is a second ute:
Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan remains under pressure over “Utegate”, having admitted buying a Toyota HiLux from the Queensland car dealer involved and personally discussing the businessman’s finance problems.
UPDATE II. Piers Akerman:
Then there’s the attempt to destroy Grech’s reputation. This began yesterday with Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner claiming the officer was under stress when he made his statements.
The campaign against Grech will be cynical and directed from both within the Government and from Treasury because e-mails clearly show senior staffers in the political wing and senior Treasury officials were constantly kept in the loop about the progress of Grant’s applications for funds.
UPDATE III. The SMH’s Kerry-Anne Walsh:
Australia’s three most senior federal politicians have laid their careers on the line in a high-stakes game of political brinkmanship over a used-car salesman …
The affair now threatens the career of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Treasurer Wayne Swan or Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull.
How about … all three?
UPDATE IV. Michelle Grattan:
Emails tabled at the Senate hearing show everyone concerned with the Grant case behaving as though they thought it was to be handled with particular diligence.
There may have been nothing improper, but Grant travelled through the process gold class (although he has not received anything in the end). Who knows why? Maybe that car Swan yesterday revealed he bought from him (at market value) just runs very nicely.
===
HEART ATTACK GRILL ATTACKED
Tim Blair
“Leave the Heart Attack Grill alone!” demands long-term Grill fan Garth Godsman. “I hope to get there one day myself.” As do we all …
UPDATE. “The lard in those Flatliner Fries is health food,” emails J. F. Beck. “Do some research,
slacker.”
===
SWAN TAILED
Tim Blair
Brisbane hobby site Larvatus Prodeo finally gets around to posting on a story they’ve thus far ignored, despite compelling local angles:
Apparently, the end of the world is at hand. Kevin Rudd borrowed a ute off a bloke. Or something. It’s a scandal! Apparently.
For weeks, Wayne Swan has been similarly dismissive. Now he’s the coalition’s main target:
Treasurer Wayne Swan must resign immediately over his role in the “damning” OzCar affair, Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull says.
It has been revealed the treasurer’s office lobbied on behalf of Ipswich car dealer John Grant, who was seeking a government backed loan.
Mr Grant is a friend of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd …
“Mr Swan has offered no explanation for any of this and today should tender his resignation,” Mr Turnbull said in a statement.
Swan is sticking to his story and working the fake email angle like a demon. He seems disinclined to mention other emails, already presented to the Senate inquiry. Lenore Taylor summarises:
The Rudd government is facing a political crisis.
The evidence against Wayne Swan suggests he has misled parliament, despite the Treasurer’s assertion that this is not technically true.
The evidence against Kevin Rudd is shakier, essentially resting on the memory of a public servant who admits his recollection may be faulty, and an email allegedly in the possession of the opposition, which the government says is an elaborate hoax.
The text of that mystery email may be found here (unlike other elements of this story, which now can’t be found at all). Another Tailgate scandal – Rudd should’ve held out for a better deal:
Mitsubishi Motors is offering a free goat with every Triton ute sold before August in a novel effort at correcting the economy.
Actually, the economy mentioned is New Zealand’s, which could easily be fixed by a few free goats. Click, click, click for previous Tailgate items.
UPDATE. One of Tailgate’s more puzzling episodes, which shouldn’t be forgotten as events move on, came during yesterday’s Senate inquiry:
Labor senators and fellow Treasury official David Martine spent more than 10 minutes trying to stop Mr Grech answering a question about whether Mr Grech had seen a document from Mr Rudd’s office regarding Mr Grant.
Michelle Grattan:
One would expect Labor senators to try to be obstructionist. But why would David Martine, the boss of Godwin Grech, the man making the allegation, try to hinder evidence being given? Grech was the only one who claimed to have seen the correspondence, but at every turn Martine tried to stop him casting further light on what he might know. Martine’s motives are obscure.
Yes. Yes, they are.
UPDATE II. Now the Feds are involved:
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says the Australian Federal Police will investigate whether someone impersonated a public servant and made up a fake email that is at the centre of the OzCar scandal engulfing the Government …
“Today Mr Turnbull is in full retreat on this claim,” Mr Rudd told reporters in Canberra.
===
VVZZVZWWZZZ MOURNED
Tim Blair
A DC-area widow misses her murdered husband ("He always flew home in time to tuck in our maggots …") and launches a wrongful-death lawsuit.
===
HAVE A NICE DAY!
Tim Blair
Elizabeth “Lizzie Borden” Becton, the Democrat staffer with meat-axe manners, has an entertaining email history. Here she is last year, following the publication of notes from her office:
From: Becton, Elizabeth
Sent: Friday, May 23, 2008 9:55 AM
To: XXX; XXX; Democratic Schedulers
Subject: RE: We Have a Mole Amongst Us
What kind of nasty, petty, poorly written (Did these people graduate from middle school to high school?) site is http://www.wonkette.com? And what a base, narcissistic, illiterate group of readers they have! I will never venture to that site again. It was a total waste of my time. However, this email is for the mole among us. You are a poor excuse for a human being. You are not a team player. If I ever find out who you are, I will gladly advertise that it was you who forwarded the emails to the low-rent wonkette site. I will further inform the Speaker’s Office, Standards on Official Conduct, and all the other appropriate offices of what you did. And if you got paid for it, my lowly, putrid, little wonkette reader, you have committed a crime and you will be punished for it when you are found. I have contacted Telecom and I have informed them of what has happened and since it’s a quiet day, they are checking all the forwarded emails from this list serve.
And to my team players and fellow schedulers, I apologize that I had to include you on this email. This email was intended for the lowly loser among us.
Have a nice day!
Elizabeth Becton
Executive Assistant/Office Manager
Office of Congressman Jim McDermott
UPDATE. In other explosive Democrat news:
House Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) on Friday said climate change bill negotiators are heading back to the drawing board after discussions between Democrats “blew up last night.”
No comments:
Post a Comment