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Kevin Rudd - Source: Reuters -
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The Australian Labor Party could bring on a showdown with
Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull over the so-called Utegate
affair as soon as their federal parliament resumes on
Monday.
Both sides are battling to maintain the high ground as MPs return
to Canberra for the last week of the winter sittings.
The opposition is demanding Treasurer Wayne Swan resign, saying he
misled parliament over claims the government gave special treatment
to a Brisbane car dealer who was seeking financial assistance from
a taxpayer-funded scheme.
The government has countered by demanding Turnbull produce
evidence linking Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to the
affair.
Coalition MPs have flagged the opposition will centre its
parliamentary attack on Swan when question time begins at 4.00pm
(NZ Time) on Monday.
But leader of the lower house Anthony Albanese will not rule out
the government making a pre-emptive strike against Turnbull
when the House of Representatives begins its sitting at
midday.
It wants Turnbull to prove the authenticity of an email which the
opposition claims proves Rudd misled parliament.
Fake, forged email
The email purports to link Rudd to claims the government gave
the dealer, John Grant, special treatment over other dealers
wanting to access the OzCar scheme, an assertion the prime minister
has denied in parliament.
Rudd says the email is a fake and a forgery.
"I know it doesn't exist because we have made a total search
through the public service of all documents ... it simply does not
exist," he told the Australia's Nine Network on Monday.
Turnbull wants to hear more from the Treasury official who told a
Senate inquiry on Friday that he could recall Rudd's office making
an initial representation on Grant's behalf.
The official, Godwin Grech, was shut down by Labor senators and
his own Treasury senior official, Turnbull said.
"He wanted to say more about that email, but the minute he talked
about it they jumped on him like a tonne of bricks and basically
prevented him from giving his testimony," he told Macquarie Radio
Network.
Swan continues to say Grant was not afforded special treatment by
the government, but won't make public emails and correspondence
backing up his case.
The material was "commercial in confidence" but would be provided
to an inquiry by the commonwealth auditor-general, he
said.
Instead, the treasurer relied on comments from the Motor Trades
Association.
The head of the association has said car dealers desperate for
credit earlier this year were given the same assistance from
Treasury as Grant.
Michael Delaney told News Limited the response to Grant "was
no different from the treatment" other association members
received.
Major crisis
Swan said there was a major crisis going on at the time when car
dealers and other MPs were making representations to his
office.
"This was an extraordinary situation," he said.
Swan rejected suggestions it was unusual for him to be kept
personally appraised of the progress of Mr Grant's case, including
updates going to his home fax.
"People who are claiming it as unusual don't quite understand the
hours that ministers work," he said.
Family First senator says the federal police investigation -
ordered by Rudd - into the disputed email needs to be short and
sharp.
"This (allegation) is very serious and it needs to be resolved very
quickly," Senator Fielding told reporters.
"It doesn't need months, it doesn't need weeks, it needs a very
short sharp quick investigation."
Independent senator Nick Xenophon says an investigation of the
issue should be left to the authorities, and not the partial
judgment of politicians.
"I think we should just let the experts do their jobs," he said of
the Australian Federal Police and the National Audit
Office.
Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown says an independent commission
should be set up to investigate the integrity of
politicians.
"We should be able to deal with these matters at arms length," he
told reporters.
