Hawke to be VIP as dam victory celebrated

Hawke to be VIP as dam victory celebrated	23.04.2008

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Rudd`s lobbyist `lie` exposed

KEVIN Rudd said he was "stuffed around" on a trip to get out of meeting Brian Burke, his office says.

Have Your Say

Latest Comments:

Ummm Col, maybe YOU should check the AEC website. Matt's figures look right on the money for mine (ALP 43.38%, Lib 36.28% + Nat 5.49% = 41.77%). Doesn't your union teach you basic math?
Posted by: Jay Sherman of Brisbane 4:34pm today

I thought THIS was gonna be a COFFIN NAIL...!This is NOTHING!!!Wowww... some emails regarding dinner?BFD!STREWTH mate - some people (media especially) need to get a LIFE!
Posted by: Croc for Dinner 4:30pm today

If this is the best that the Liberal opposition can come up with thenLabor will be in power for so long that the Howard regime will look as short to history as it was on ideas, standards and ethics.
Posted by: Craig of South Perth 4:29pm today

Hey Mark of Sydney- I voted Labor and guess what? You got what I deserve mwahahahaha.On a serious note, Rudd and co. have proved themselves to be responsible. responsive and dignified this far, so I think my vote was well placed.
Posted by: Phil Mud of Melbourne 4:27pm today

First big chink out of the armour in the 'Ruddernaught' machine.You can compare this "white lie" and the stench of Brian Burke that hangs around Rudd with Howard's "never-ever" GST which was used as one of many barbs against him until the end.
Posted by: Jay of Melbourne 4:25pm today

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Emails between Rudd, Burke released
Questions raised over relationship
Read the contents of the emails
Vote: Does Rudd`s `white lie` damage his cred?

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd has admitted he used a "diplomatic pretext" to get out of an arranged dinner with disgraced former Western Australian premier Brian Burke.

Mr Rudd today said it took some time for him to realise that having dinner with Mr Burke was a bad idea.

"I did say that I`d be prepared to attend such a function and it was only after that that I became concerned about it and changed my mind," Mr Rudd said on ABC radio.

Asked why his discomfort was not immediate, Mr Rudd replied: "Well, these things take a little while to sink in.

"I reflected upon it, I saw - or was told by my office - what was being proposed and said that sounds fine.

"And then it just sort of started to sink in that this was appearing to me to be too much.

"That`s why I then subsequently said that there are some reasons, and in fact I probably used a diplomatic pretext for saying I couldn`t be there in order to attend the dinner and we should do it some time the following year."

What was said

Even so, the email exchange does seem to suggest Mr Rudd wanted the dinner meeting with Mr Burke and 10 senior journalists to proceed.

"Brian, This looks great. Is there room for my senior adviser . . .? regards, Kevin" a November 29, 2005 email from Mr Rudd says. And on December 5, Mr Rudd asks if the dinner could be postponed.

"I`m really sorry to do this, but I am being stuffed around a bit by DFAT . . . rather than withdraw from the dinner at the last minute, could I be rude and put it off until next year," Mr Rudd`s email says.

But Mr Rudd, who was Labor`s foreign affairs spokesman at the time, said he had not intended to proceed with any such dinner with Mr Burke the next year.

Copping the blame

Although the emails were sent by Mr Rudd`s staff, the Prime Minister today said they had been sent on his behalf.

He said he would have had occasional telephone conversations with Mr Burke, but "not a whole lot", and the pair had met only three times.

"With the benefit of 20-20 hindsight you just wouldn`t have done this," he said.

"But ... the fact of the matter is that when this contact was had between myself and Mr Burke, none of the matters which are currently on the record through the CCC inquiry were on the record. I was unaware of them.

"But I think this was a mistake on my part. Back last year I took it on the chin and that`s what I`m doing now."

All WA ministers had been banned from meeting Mr Burke, a convicted fraud. Several, and a former Howard government minister, were subsequently forced to quit after their associations with Mr Burke came to light.

The email exchange coincided with a period when Mr Rudd, then Opposition foreign affairs spokesman, was positioning to challenge Kim Beazley for the Labor leadership.

Opposition attacks

The Federal Opposition said that Mr Rudd had a "chatty, intimate" relationship with Mr Burke.

Mr Rudd is expected to come under fire in parliament as the Coalition pursues contact between the Labor figures.

Opposition frontbencher Tony Abbott said there were a "very different" tone to the emails compared with Mr Rudd`s description of events last year.

"Clearly he had a chatty, intimate relationship with Brian Burke, plainly he was looking forward to Brian Burke`s assistance in various ways and this idea that any contact with Brian Burke was almost accidental is just wrong," Mr Abbott said.

"Kevin Rudd must have known that Brian Burke was persona non grata with the premier of Western Australia and yet Kevin Rudd was plainly wanting to engage Brian Burke in his grand plan to gain the Labor leadership.

"What we have seen revealed in the last 24 hours is someone who is not quite what he seems and behind the carefully cultivated public image is a very Machiavellian politician."

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Today`s Top Picks

Rudd`s lobbyist `lie` exposed

KEVIN Rudd said he was "stuffed around" on a trip to get out of meeting Brian Burke, his office says.