Ute Gate Political Scandal

OPPOSITION Leader Malcolm Turnbull was cleared yesterday over the fake email at the centre of the Utegate affair.

Federal Police investigating a fake email Mr Turnbull used to try to prove Prime Minister Kevin Rudd helped out a car dealer mate said they have closed their dealings with him.

AFP boss Mick Keelty said police had interviewed Mr Turnbull and did not need to deal with him again. “Our interaction with Mr Turnbull, as far as this matter goes, is complete,” Mr Keelty said.

Mr Keelty also defended his decision to reveal that the email at the centre of the political debate was a fake before the investigation was complete.

Mr Turnbull has denied he had any role in concocting the email.

Mr Turnbull last week tried to use the email to force Mr Rudd to resign, claiming it proved he had lied to Parliament when he said he had not asked for any favours to be done for the car dealer who lent him a $5000 ute he used in an election campaign.

At the height of the Opposition’s attack, police announced they had discovered a forged email at the Canberra home of Treasury official Godwin Grech.

*Source news.com.au : Story by Sue Dunlevy- read more

The Opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull found sanctuary from last week’s parliamentary beating – by going to Afghanistan.

It can now be revealed that Mr Turnbull left on Sunday night and spent a day and a half visiting Australian troops stationed in the southern Oruzgan Province. he toured Kandahar air base and the Tarin Kowt base where the troops are stationed.

He told the troops that despite the vigorous goings on at home, both political parties were united in their support for the troops.

Mr Turnbull has been incommunicado while away and, for security purposes, the media was unable to report his whereabouts.

*Source smh.com.au : Story by Phillip Coorey- read the rest of the story.

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd has side-stepped questions about whether he is sorry he borrowed the rusty ute at the centre of the Utegate scandal and instead attacked The Courier-Mail.

In his home town for a community cabinet meeting, Mr Rudd was yesterday on the defensive when asked on the ABC about whether he would give back the ute he borrows from his friend, Ipswich car dealer John Grant.

Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull was bludgeoned in opinion polls this week after he pursued Mr Rudd over allegations his Government gave special help to Mr Grant to secure car industry finance.

But an email at the centre of the claims was last week exposed as a fake.

In response to questions about his borrowed ute, Mr Rudd was humourless.

“On this matter that when you have this entire affair resting on the existence of a forged and fake email and that the various people in politics have prosecuted a campaign alleging that the Prime Minister and the Treasurer (Wayne Swan) of the day are engaged in corrupt behaviour and that that in turn has been reflected in the content and tone of reporting by various newspapers around the country including in Brisbane, I think these matters have been canvassed in recent times,” Mr Rudd told the ABC.

Pressed on the question by 612 ABC Mornings presenter Madonna King, Mr Rudd continued by saying the public wanted the Government to get on with the task of dealing with the recession and creating jobs.

*Source news.com.au : CourierMail : Story by Stephanie Balogh- read more

THE Utegate affair has run over Malcolm Turnbull, with more than 50 per cent of voters accusing the Opposition Leader of being dishonest or deceitful in his handling of the forged email scandal.

The latest Galaxy Poll, conducted for The Courier-Mail at the weekend, finds Mr Turnbull’s credibility is in tatters.

And senior Liberals believe there could be moves within the party to remove him as Opposition Leader within days or weeks, The Australian reports.

After Mr Turnbull’s disastrous call for Kevin Rudd to resign over alleged preferential treatment for a car dealer and Labor donor, the standing of the Coalition and Mr Turnbull has slumped in polling, leaving him in an untenable political position.

Senior Liberals said last night that if parliament had been sitting this week there would have been immediate moves to replace Mr Turnbull, probably with NSW frontbencher and Opposition Treasury spokesman Joe Hockey.

Meanwhile, only 7 per cent of Australians believe the embattled Liberal leader has been open and honest and part of the backlash has been from Coalition supporters.

The poll reveals 23 per cent of all voters, and 30 per cent of Liberal or National Party voters, say Mr Turnbull has been economical with the truth.

While 34 per cent of all Australians, and 29 per cent of Coalition supporters, believe he has been somewhat deceitful, 17 per cent of all voters, and 10 per cent of Liberal/National supporters, go further and say he has been dishonest.

Last week the Utegate scandal backfired on Mr Turnbull after he called for Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to resign over allegations his Government gave special treatment to Ipswich car dealer John Grant, a friend of Mr Rudd’s.

But the email at the centre of the claims was fake, and Australian Federal Police are investigating senior Treasury official Godwin Grech.

Mr Turnbull yesterday confirmed he too had provided a statement to police.

*Source Courier Mail : news.com.au Read the rest of the story by Stefanie Balogh here.

June 23 (Bloomberg) — Australian opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull said he can’t substantiate his claim that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd lied to parliament, adding to calls for him to resign.

“The case that Mr. Rudd misled parliament is not sustained,” Turnbull told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio today. “There is no doubt about that.”

Turnbull was forced to end his attack on Rudd after Australian police yesterday debunked a piece of evidence at the center of his accusations. An e-mail Turnbull cited as proof that Rudd helped a car dealer friend apply for assistance from a government fund was forged, police said. Rudd last night said Turnbull, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive, “has no alternative but to resign” over the affair.

That view was supported in newspapers and radio shows today and the issue dominated parliamentary question time. Turnbull’s credibility is in “tatters,” the Australian Financial Review wrote in an editorial. An article in the Brisbane Times, with the headline ‘Leader Who Cried Wolf Ridiculed by Crowd,’ questioned the opposition leader’s tactics and judgment.

“To use a cricket analogy, this is like a new batsmen going in and trying to hit the first ball he faces over the fence without looking at the bowling and working it out,” said Norman Abjorensen, a political analyst at the Australian National University in Canberra. Turnbull “has had the whole thing blow up in his face.”

‘Utegate’

Australian politics over the past five days has been dominated by ‘Utegate,’ named in reference to a utility vehicle similar to a pick-up truck that Brisbane car dealer John Grant lent Rudd during the 2007 election campaign. Turnbull, 54, traded blows with Rudd, 51, and Treasurer Wayne Swan, 54, over whether they gave Grant preferential treatment for the A$2 billion ($1.6 billion) Ozcar fund for car dealers, which has yet to give out any assistance.

“Mr Turnbull has some very serious questions to answer,” Rudd told reporters in Canberra today. His “integrity I believe has been fundamentally undermined and it is important therefore that Mr. Turnbull does the right thing and resigns.”

The e-mail was purportedly from Rudd economic adviser Andrew Charlton to the Treasury Department. Treasury official Godwin Grech last week testified before a parliamentary inquiry that Rudd’s office contacted his office on behalf of Grant, Rudd’s friend and neighbor.

“I may have made the mistake of relying on Mr. Grech’s testimony in the Senate committee,” Turnbull told the ABC.

‘Messed it Up’

“Malcolm Turnbull has simply done what the opposition is supposed to do, although he messed it up a little bit,” said Nick Economou, a political professor at Monash University in Melbourne. “Turnbull won’t resign unless it is demonstrated that it all came from the opposition.”

Police found the e-mail to be false after officers searched a Canberra property and Treasury offices yesterday and interviewed a 42-year-old man they didn’t name. Media outlets, including the ABC, have reported it was Grech’s house. Neither the Treasury nor Grech will comment on the report or police search, department spokesman Tony Murray said.

Grech, head of the OzCar program, told a Senate inquiry on June 19 that while his memory could be faulty, he recalled a short e-mail alerting him to Grant’s case. Grech is a former employee of opposition lawmaker Joe Hockey.

“I sent a message to his phone on Saturday and that was it,” Hockey told ABC radio today. “I haven’t spoken to him in years.”  Turnbull said this evidence formed the basis of his claims against Rudd and Swan. The e-mail, according to a copy released by Rudd’s office, was reported in News Ltd. tabloids on June 20.

Polls

Support for Turnbull’s Liberal-National coalition climbed 2 points to 47 percent, according to a Newspoll survey of 1,148 people published in the Australian newspaper on June 16. The government’s support level dropped 2 points to 53 percent. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.  Rudd’s government is pressing ahead with its legislative agenda this week, including its climate plans and increasing taxes on alcoholic beverages packaged like soft drinks.

“We are continuing to get evidence about how climate change is accelerating,” Climate Minister Penny Wong told ABC radio today. “We want this legislation debated and voted on this week.”

Turnbull co-founded Internet service provider Ozemail Ltd. in 1994 and was co-chairman of Goldman’s Australia unit between 1997 and 2001. He ranked 182nd on BRW Magazine’s annual rich 200 list last year with a family fortune of A$178 million.

He studied law in Sydney, was a Rhodes Scholar and defended former intelligence agent Peter Wright against the British government’s attempts to suppress his memoirs. He worked as a journalist from 1976-1980 for publications including the Bulletin magazine in Australia and the Sunday Times in London. He was elected to parliament in 2004.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gemma Daley in Canberra at gdaley@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: June 23, 2009 05:29 EDT

*Source Bloomberg.net