Ozcar

Australian Story is customarily sympathetic to its subjects. This is natural; they’re its stars. Not with the latest episode on Malcolm Turnbull.

The only problem for Turnbull out of this show is that it doesn’t change anything but underlines, with the mother of all magic markers, the existing public perception that his ruthless drive and ambition will lead him to tread over others in pursuit of his goals.

Bad timing for Malcolm, because tomorrow the Auditor-General will publish a report on whether Kevin Rudd’s office made representations on behalf of Brisbane car dealer John Grant - a friend of Rudd’s - to Treasury and, if so, whether the contact was appropriate. It’s unlikely to contain anything damaging for the Government, and ministers have signalled they intend to try lighting a fire around Turnbull, arguing he has no credibility after calling for the Prime Minister to resign over the matter.

Continue reading "Heat on Turnbull over OzCar" »

Grammar narcs and fans of convoluted construction should do themselves a favour, as Molly would say, and log on to the terrific little blog site http://www.unnecessaryquotes.com/.

Proving that every interest, however esoteric or marginal, can find a home online, the site posts images of hand-written signs from small businesses and community notice-boards where rogue quotation marks have dramatically altered the author’s intended meaning.

The consequences are often sinister.

A sign at a ferry wharf in the US reads:  “Parents” do not leave your children unattended at any time on this dock or vessel.

A courtesy note snapped inside a hotel room says: This room was made up especially for you by “The Housekeepers”, who end up sounding less like a couple of nice Mexican ladies and more like something out of a Steven King novel.

Continue reading "How “email” “developed” to engulf Opposition “leader”" »

8.52pm: That’s a wrap. What a day. That was possibly one of the best episodes of the 7.30 Report ever tonight - Rudd’s line about a “garden variety making-things-up” was a classic.

Thanks to all of you who contributed during the day, particularly to the live coverage of a brutal couple of hours in Parliament. There were well over 1000 comments from readers - you can replay it below. A couple of closing comments:

• Confirmation the email was a fake casts last Friday’s Senate hearing in a different light. Liberal Senator Eric Abetz appeared to be quoting the email when he questioned Godwin Grech. It now seems possible one or both of them knew, or suspected, it was a forgery. And we should ask again why Grech’s superior, David Martine, interfered with the questioning of Senators on certain details.
• Wayne Swan shouldn’t be off the hook. There remains a straightforward question over whether he misled Parliament when answering questions about a mate of the Prime Minister. After the extraordinary theatre in Canberra today it’s easy to lose sight of this. I suppose the question is whether the crippling blow landed on the Opposition today will hobble it for the rest of the fight.

Looking forward to the papers in the morning.

7.08pm Evening news roundup, and Kochie in Canberra. On the Nine Network, Laurie Oakes says Malcolm Turnbull has egg on his face. Rudd joined Peter Overton outside Parliament House for a stand-up interview. He said he had “absolute confidence in the Treasurer”, adding that he had helped “many many many” car dealers. At the end he said Liberal Party elders should tell Turnbull to go.

I would call upon the senior people of the Liberal Party, the experienced hands of the Liberal Party - Mr Costello, Brendan Nelson, Senator Minchin - to tap Mr Turnbull on the shoulder and say it is time to go.

Seven’s news was headed “Turnbull in Turmoil” and had some of the great grabs from today, to wit:

Albanese: “Bring it on”.
Turnbull: “He has lied to this House.”
Hockey: “Have you got something to say Prime Minister? Have you got something to say?”
Rudd: “Be man enough to apologise and resign.”

Seven’s verdict: Swan has explaining to do, but Turnbull’s fighting hardest for his political life.

Something to look forward to tomorrow is Kochie with the utegate latest from Parliament House. As Anthony Albanese might say, bring it on.

5.11pm: Turnbull’s former adviser speaks to the Herald Sun. Excerpts:

A FORMER adviser to Malcolm Turnbull has denied involvement with the email at the centre of the Ute-gate affair…

... There is no suggestion that Mr Lindwall - a former staffer to both Peter Costello and Mr Turnbull -has engaged in any wrongdoing, but it is understood the Australian Federal Police want to speak with him to determine his involvement, if any, in the affair.

Late today Mr Lindwall told heraldsun.com.au he had nothing to do with the fake email.

“I don’t know anything about the email, I can tell you that,” he said.

Mr Lindwall admitted to knowing Mr Grech, adding: “I used to work in Treasury, anyone who worked in Treasury would know Godwin.”

Read the full story here.

5.02pm: Twittermania - Tweeters have been piling in all afternoon with comments on “utegate”. See the stream of utegate comments here.

Continue reading "Live blogging utegate: Showdown in Canberra" »

The OzCar scandal, or utegate if you prefer, involves Australia’s three most senior politicians - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Treasurer Wayne Swan, and Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull. Below is a summary of what each is accused of and how it affects them.

Continue reading "Utegate explained: This is not just about an email or a ute" »

Highlights from this morning’s newspapers of the coverage of the utegate affair. See how the various titles around the country report and analyse the utegate crisis ahead of today’s showdown in Canberra.

Continue reading "Utegate reading round-up" »

Kevin Rudd might think that momentum has swung back his way in the Utegate scandal with the email implicating him and his office looking almost certainly like a fake.

For the PM to have referred himself and his office to the Auditor-General, and to have gone one further and called in the AFP, are the actions of a man who is confident that the continuing sweeps of his email system will not throw up any nasty surprises.

But the more the ALP goes on about the fake email, the more obvious it becomes that it’s the only email the Government wants to talk about - because the others are so damning of Treasurer Wayne Swan, whose conduct has conveniently not been included in the terms of reference for the Auditor-General’s investigation.

Continue reading "Rudd and Swan in quagmire of their own making" »

Hi Mal and Kev,

Busy weekend, eh? Hey Malcolm, how nuts is it that there are questions over your suitability for the leadership when Peter Costello only said a matter of days ago he wasn’t interested in your job? Man, that must suck.

Anyway, one of you is going to have to blink. We’ve been in the political equivalent of a staring match since Friday.

This is just a short note to let you know where I think we’re up to. Malcolm, you have to produce that email, or you’re going to look very silly. But Kevin, don’t think this lets you off the hook either.

Continue reading "To: Turnbull, Malcolm; Rudd, Kevin. Re: Utegate" »

UPDATE 7.35pm: Kevin Rudd has called an Auditor-General’s inquiry into the affair, but is standing by his denials that neither he nor his office has made any representations on behalf of car dealer John Grant, and is continuing a full email search through the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. Follow the news links below for more.

KEVIN Rudd has a whole stack of explaining to do.

His claim that he has done nothing wrong in relation to his car dealer mate John Grant has now officially conked out, and is up on the blocks looking like very much like he sold the Australian people a lemon.

As a result of this afternoon’s estimates hearings it now appears he has seriously misled Parliament over his relationship with his friend and neighbour, who runs a Kia dealership, and who famously lent him a ute as an electorate vehicle. At its worst, it appears the Prime Minister’s office - and possibly even the PM - directly interfered on behalf of the PM’s little car-dealing mate to make sure he got a slice of the federal bailout money for the ailing car industry.

Continue reading "PM’s car trouble more than just a minor bingle" »