The original
article that started it all
Rudd’s diversionary tactics are to concentrate the populations attention on the existance or not of the email that Gordon Grech referred to before his superior’s shut him down. He must be very sure it doesn’t exist but that still doesn’t explain Grech’s testimony and Martines attempts to shout it down.
The Age quotes Kevin Rudd;
“What is at stake in this entire debate is the integrity of Mr Turnbull and his core claim that at my request, my office made representations to the Treasury on behalf of Mr John Grant.
“Who supplied the contents of this fake email to the Opposition? Who in the Liberal Party has read this fake email? What did they do with it after they read it?”
What a deplorable defence. Accuse your accuser of the same type of offence. It’s not a ‘fake email’ yet and its unlikely anyone supplied the Opposition with a copy. They are simply quoting the outcome of the Senate hearing.
Sheer blather!
The issue is much deeper than that. Swan has clearly mislead the house (lied) and Rudd has most probably done the same.
Considering Swan says he hardly knew Grant it beggars belief that he would then aproach Ozcar, requesting personal attention be paid to Grant’s case without Rudd telling him to. And why would Ken Henry take an interest in one of what must be hundreds, even thousands of applications for assistance without a good reason – like the PM told him to as well.
A series of emails that emerged on Friday as a result of intense questioning of Treasury officials by the Opposition in Senate estimates hearings revealed:
- Mr Grant’s case was handled personally by staffers in Mr Swan’s office and by senior Treasury officials;
- Mr Swan was kept informed of the progress of the case, including via his home fax; and
- Treasury head Dr Ken Henry was also kept in the email loop as to how Mr Grant’s application was being treated.
Despite all this, Swan is on record as saying Grant did not get any special treatment.
I watched the video of Grech being interviewed and two things stick in my mind. First, Grech acted like he had explosive information that he believed to be true but felt if he mentioned it his career was terminated. Secondly, Martine, the man sitting along side Grech, acted like he too knew the truth and was going to do everything in his power to stop Grech uttering it. He pulled rank on Gretch and refused to let him answer a simple yes-no question three times. In effect he took over the chair of the Senate hearing from the Senators – that’s how important it was to him to keep the info under wraps.
In a sense, Rudd’s diversionary tactic is working. It gives the ABC a decent spin to make Turnbull’s resignation the issue and lets the tabloid TV say something without having to think about it.
By 7:30 Sunday evening Ch 7 News lead is “Turnbull has only hours to go before he must resign”. No mention of the original accusations. Like there wasn’t a collection of emails and faxes proving Swan had mislead the house and that the video of Grech’s testimony never happened.
My take on the episode is that Rudd did tell people to look after Grant and that Swan, possibly Henry, but definitely Grech, did as they were told. I’d imagine it has been a very bad weekend for all concerned but I have no sympathy for those who abuse power and then lie in the House about it. I have plenty of sympathy for Grech and hope he has covered his arse and survives.
The eventual outcome might be that no one resigns but one thing is for sure; the voters perception of Rudd’s ethics has been severely damaged.
UPDATE: I listened to the debate in the House and saw Rudd on TDT and the bulk of the questions have not been answered. The email mentioned by Grech may or may not be a forgery. One found on his computer at home appears to be, but no one has stated categorically (that I have read or heard) that it is the one he was referring to at the hearing. When the AFP says it is so in a formal report then I’ll believe it
On TDT Rudd states the entire fracas is based on a forgery. No it isn’t – the entire case does not rest on one email. The emails and faxes of emails involving Swan have yet to be answered satisfactorily. The ALP don’t want to talk about them of course but they will be raised again. If the email from Rudd’s office is a forgery then either another email once existed where Rudd communicated his wishes or it was made plain by some by other means. I simply don’t believe that Grant didn’t get preferential treatment.
All in all though, the ALP have handled it rather well, but then when TDT is prepared to give the PM 5:40 minutes free time to put his case and no right of reply for the Opposition then they should be doing well.
The TDT talking head tried to pin Rudd down on Swan but he just repeated his “Swan is doing a wonderful job” line.
I hope that’s not the end of it – I look forward to tomorrow’s developments with baited breath.
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