The Australian politics thread

[Matt79]

Won't matter now - the hunt for the email will create enough of a distraction to save Swann.

[pasag]

What a lame scandal.

[howardj]

Originally Posted by pasag

What a lame scandal.

I think it's very Australian - a couple of blokes in trouble over helping a mate who gave them a ute.

Anyway, it's the misleading of Parliament that's the scandal - not the ute.

[Matt79]

It's pretty line-ball whether he misled Parliament. There are some things that suggest he was kept updated on Grant's progress in the OzCar case, but equally, they certainly don't constitute proof that Swan had any idea "what the outcome of that was". For one, we don't even know whether the emails that he was forwarded contained that information, let alone whether he read them.

If, as a fan of the previous government, you're going to suggest that information reaching a minister's office, or even his fax machine, equates to that minister knowing something, you're having a laugh. How many of Howard's ministers went down for misleading Parliament?

Anyway, there's enough room for doubt there that Turnbull and co will beat their chests plenty in Parliament this week, but if they don't produce the email they've referenced it will look like their trying to muddy the waters to distract from their own embarrassment. Not saying it's right, but as soon as they started talking about an email they themselves hadn't seen and trying to draw Rudd into it, they doomed themselves so far as making headway on this issue, and have turned what should have been a winner for them into a big loser. Turnbull having to admit that he hasn't seen "the email" and bat away calls for his own resignation is much more damaging than what's happened for Rudd and Swan.

[Son Of Coco]

Originally Posted by Matt79

So don't go to the sitting. Seriously.

Is that an option? Or would it cause more problems?

[Matt79]

Pollies miss sittings all the time. If an representative missed loads and loads of sittings it would cause a problem in terms of perception and people's willingness to vote for them, but if it was a relatively rare event and for a reason like "all my baby sitting options fell through and someone had to stay with my two-year old child" no-one would be annoyed.

The problem might come if there was a vote, as there was in this case, but even then, its rare that all members are there for votes. With the current mix in the house, unless everyone was there, it would be unlikely that the presence of one Greens senator would cause a vote to be lost that otherwise would be won, or vice versa. Unless that was the case, then this was a case of wanting to be on the record as voting for/against something, and thinking that's more important than dragging your kid into an inappropriate environment and upsetting them in the process.

[James90]

I don't understand Matt's fixation with this and his labelling of SHY as a hippie. It's a one-off circumstance and the child was removed. Sure, she should have made other arrangements but honestly, show some respect. It's not like she sat there eating the thing.

[Johnners]

Was listening to the ABC on the way to work this morning where Mr Rudd was being interviewed and was asked about Swann misleading parliament re: the outcomes. His first repsonse rambled on about the e-mail, which really had nothing to the question posed to him. When it was asked again:

LYNDAL CURTIS: Mr Swan though knew that meetings were happening; he knew the outcome of some of those meetings. He knew Mr Grant's case was being taken up with Ford Credit and with Capital Finance.

How is that not knowing at least some outcomes? And isn't it parsing words into infinity to say that he was talking about the final outcome? Wasn't the clear impression he left the Parliament with that he handed the case over to Treasury, and that was it?

KEVIN RUDD: Can I just say that as Treasurer of the Commonwealth in the midst of the worst recession in three-quarters of a century, the Treasurer has a few things going on.

LYNDAL CURTIS: But he was being kept informed...

KEVIN RUDD: I'm just saying to you...

LYNDAL CURTIS: ...these emails were going to his home fax....

KEVIN RUDD: ...I'm saying to you, I've noticed there's been a lot of commentary, for example, about various materials being faxed to his home. Every evening I would receive hundreds of pages of documents from government departments about any range of matters; some of which I may read, others of which I may not get round to. That is the nature of busy life as a senior minister in the government.

Mr Swan has been into his work in dealing with the whole challenge of the global economic recession. Of course you're going to get a whole lot of stuff sent to your fax.

especially at the bold bit.

[Son Of Coco]

Originally Posted by Clapo

Was listening to the ABC on the way to work this morning where Mr Rudd was being interviewed and was asked about Swann misleading parliament re: the outcomes. His first repsonse rambled on about the e-mail, which really had nothing to the question posed to him. When it was asked again:



especially at the bold bit.

If the Libs can get through the greatest group memory lapse in the last decade when they couldn't remember anything about anything when pressed I think Kevin should be ok Wasn't Alexander Downer's defence back then that he doesn't read everything that is sent to him?

[Johnners]

Really have nfi, and don't particularly care tbh. I'm just loving the fact that Rudd essentially offered a "He was busy" excuse

[Redbacks]

"My dog ate it"

Pretty sure Howard claimed similar during the AWB scandal that some documents they sign without reading (yeah sure in the particular case) and it's probably true in most cases, they are working their bollocks off and make errors as a result. You can't really be in politics, recieve a gift and think their is no obligation to favour someone slightly, derr..they wouldn't give you anything otherwise.

Irony strikes again, a Ute has come to the rescue to quash climate change debate over the ETS this week
*whole thing was set up by big business IMO

[Burgey]

A couple of interesting things in this:

1. the email must be false, because if youre in government you never, ever call an inquiry without first knowing what the outcome will be.
2. if the email is false, I wonder where it came from (I'd bet somewhere in Sussex Street Sydney as a starting point for the search).
3. if the claims turn out to have little or any basis in them, where does it leave the Coalition? With Costello gone, if Turnbull takes a big hit from this, to whom would they turn? Pyne? LMAO. Abbott? The selectors regard him as something of a loose cannon.

In any event, looking forward to QT today, and the inevitable MPI thereafter.

[Craig]

They interviewed a Labor backbencher on the ABC mid-day news and Malcolm Turnbull was described as "the Liberals Mark Latham".

[Burgey]

Oh Dear.....

Grech questioned over faked OzCar email - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

[Son Of Coco]

Originally Posted by Clapo

Really have nfi, and don't particularly care tbh. I'm just loving the fact that Rudd essentially offered a "He was busy" excuse

Yeah, that was the point, it's the same excuse that was used before, with memory lapse added in for good measure.