Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

It was on the record, too. It is an article by Jason Koutsoukis from the Sunday Age of 3 June this year, and it is actually comparing the Treasurer and the Leader of the Opposition. Of the Treasurer, he says:

He certainly has some things Rudd doesn’t.

Such as a sense of humour (has anyone ever seen Rudd really laugh, or crack a joke?). Costello is also a man who makes friends easily, while I’m yet to meet one person who describes themselves as a friend of Rudd’s. (A Labor MP told me over dinner last week that he could not name a single friend Rudd has made in the eight years he has been in Parliament.)

There are also signs that Rudd shares some of the characteristics that made Hewson a poor political leader. He is a workaholic with a short temper, he is quick to blame others for mistakes and is apparently unwilling to listen to other points of view.

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It is also said that Rudd does not respect the intellect of most of his peers and doesn’t mind showing it. Conversely, Rudd doesn’t seem to command the sort of respect from the caucus that a good leader should have.

And didn’t we see that lack of respect as they listened to the pathetic effort of the Leader of the Opposition earlier this afternoon?

We had the statement from members opposite that the Treasurer is in some way loose with the truth—in some way not to be trusted to tell the truth. Again, let me quote a journalist—a respected journalist who understands, I think, the conventions that should govern conversations between public figures and the media. Laurie Oakes, in the Bulletin of 24 April this year, wrote: ‘“I would never knowingly lie,” Rudd told 60 Minutes. That was a whopper right there.’ Laurie Oakes goes on to describe in some detail the untruths that had been retailed by none other than the Leader of the Opposition. As my colleague the Minister for Foreign Affairs reminded the House earlier today, we had the Leader of the Opposition on 27 November last year saying:

I have stated time and time again in the last ten days or so since this last bout of speculation came round that he—

that is to say the then Leader of the Opposition Mr Beazley—

has my support.

How many times did the cock crow when this particular lie was being peddled? Because, within a few days, this person pledging full loyalty was in fact mounting a leadership challenge.

More or less at random, I go through the events of the last seven or eight months, looking at what I suppose can best be described as fables—I do not want to say they are outright lies, but certainly they are not pure and uncontested truth—peddled by the Leader of the Opposition: the story of his allegedly being kicked off the farm; his repeated equivocation and slidings-around over what really happened between the Leader of the Opposition and Brian Burke; and then of course there was the ‘sun lies’ story, the fake dawn service that the Leader of the Opposition’s office was arranging with Channel 7 and which the Leader of the Opposition constantly denied, only to be humiliatingly caught out. There was his fatuous claim about wanting to drive a hybrid car, for God’s sake—such an environmentalist: ‘Yeah, yeah; me, me; I want to drive a hybrid car.’ And when he had to admit that, no, in fact he drove a Ford Territory, he said, ‘I’m only driving a Ford Territory because I can’t get a hybrid car’—a complete and utter fabrication, of course. And then we had yesterday’s little porky to poor Rosanna Harris, who has been utterly deceived by the Leader of the Opposition—and there is no apology from the Leader of the Opposition. He is not going to visit Rosanna Harris to tell her what the real situation is.

A lot is said off the record around this place. For instance, I now quote Paul Daley, the Bulletin’s national affairs editor, who quotes, off the record, someone who supported the Leader of the Opposition, who turned his back on the beloved Kim Beazley, for a final roll of the dice behind Rudd. What does this Labor parliamentarian say about the Leader of the Opposition? The article says:

Indeed, the C word featured so prominently in this Labor man’s description of his boss that I started to shift uncomfortably in my chair ...

For in front of C, he used - unprompted - the following adjectives:

Friendless.

Cynical.

Autocratic.

Egotistical.

Narcissistic.

Short-tempered.

Thin-skinned.

Condescending.

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“He does not ... have a friend in the place ...”

I can understand why, with the kind of misplaced and prissy sanctimony that we saw from this pseudo-leader earlier in the House today. This is a silly MPI. It should not have detained the business of this House.

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