Turnbull to pursue “utegate”
OPPOSITION Leader Malcolm Turnbull has pledged to pursue the Government “relentlessly” over alleged preferential treatment for a car dealer and friend of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
Mr Turnbull told Coalition MPs at their joint parties meeting this morning that it was not the job of the Opposition to be “shy and reserved”.
The declaration comes after he backed down over accusations that Kevin Rudd misled Parliament over “utegate”.
A Coalition source said only one of half a dozen MPs who spoke about the matter was critical after yesterday’s attack on Mr Rudd collapsed when an email linking the prime minister’s office to a request for help for car dealer John Grant, turned out to be a fake.
“We must not be shy or reserved, our attacks are based on information, it’s our job as opposition to continue the attack,” Mr Turnbull told the party room.
He said they would continue to target Treasurer Wayne Swan who the Opposition believes still has a case to answer over emails which Mr Turnbull said show Mr Grant was granted special treatment by Treasury at Mr Swan’s behest.
“The evidence against Mr Swan is overwhelming, we must pursue this issue right to the end,” Mr Turnbull said.
During debate, MPs told the party room that the Opposition must “stand for something”. It needed to be aggressive in its pursuit of the government and must not turn back.
This included a need to take risks.
Mr Turnbull said Labor had a culture of “cronyism” and Mr Rudd was “rolled gold” Labor.
He said that Labor could not be trusted in its relationships with business.
Mr Turnbull said the issue of the fake email, which police said had originated within Treasury, was not the responsibility of the Opposition.
“We will pursue this issue relentlessly,” he said.
Earlier, Mr Turnbull said he would only apologise to the Prime Minister over the incident if Mr Rudd apologised to him.
“I’ll apologise … for saying he misled the Parliament when he apologises to me for saying I had a hand in fabricating this email,” he said on Channel 7.
“We can have mutual apologies. I’d be delighted to do that.”
Mr Turnbull continues to insist he did not give the text of the email to News Ltd newspapers.
He would not say whether Mr Grech had contacted his office before the Senate hearing, but indicated he had expectations about the official’s evidence.
“We certainly were expecting, based on information we had received, that he would say he had a communication,” Mr Turnbull said.
*Source www.news.com.au staff writers & wires
