Peter Costello (Higgins, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

All right, it wasn’t this Smith—it was another Smith. I take it back; it must have been a reporter—it was a Smith, certainly, because I have the transcript—who said:

There was no need to dig dirt. Kevin Rudd revealed he had a transplant three and a half years ago on Seven Sunrise.

So, far from this being a great secret, who in fact had revealed this piece of information? None other than the Leader of the Opposition himself! And when it becomes public, who does he try and frame up and fit up with the allegation? None other than the Prime Minister, the Liberal Party and the government. To think that the government would bother itself with a medical condition that occurred many years ago. He is on political life support; he is not on medical life support.

Here we were yesterday when he showed himself to be an ignoramus on tax policy. He cannot name a single rate; he cannot name a single threshold. He has been humiliated in the House of Representatives. And so what would be the logical thing for the government to do? Try and knock that story off the evening news bulletins with an old story about a heart condition? Who in their right mind would think about doing this? Who in their right mind might have the motivation to knock that story off the evening news? I was very surprised myself to see that this story came up last night and knocked the tax story down the batting order on Channel 9. We had the Leader of the Opposition sitting there giving one of his serious exclusives to Laurie Oakes in relation to the medical condition. All right, the medical condition came out last night—but to say that the government would have spiked its own story by putting that out yesterday beggars belief. Let us ask: what possible motivation would there have been? If you don’t want to look at motivation, let me say what the facts are: the government had nothing to do with that, the Liberal Party had nothing to do with that and the Prime Minister had nothing to do with that. To come in here and put up the member for Jagajaga to try and make that insinuation is low, base politics and it tells us something about the low, base nature of the Leader of the Opposition.

Just in case you thought this was not a planned tactic today, we then had the old member for Grayndler, old Mr Dirty Tricks himself, come to the dispatch box. He comes out with this article that was in the Australian some time ago—June, I think it was. Was he so concerned about it in June that he got up and asked a question when it was in the Australian? He has been asking about it every day since June, has he? Did he ask about it on Tuesday? Did he ask about it on Wednesday? So concerned about that article in June, he was, that he just happens to get up in a coordinated way, with the member for Jagajaga, and he says, ‘Poor old Kevin’—poor old Kevin has been subject to a bit of search and scrutiny in relation to his private affairs. I can tell you: I have been in public life for 17 years, I have been the Treasurer for 11 years, and it is not a new thing to have scrutiny of your personal life—it is not a new thing.

Mr Speaker, if you think somebody looking at your financials is a new thing, I do not think you were in this House when Gareth Evans got up and attacked my wife for owning shares. I do not think you were in the House when that happened. I do not think you were in the House when Alexander Downer’s wife was attacked. I do not think you were in the House when Paul Keating attacked Sir Alexander Downer as being some kind of war coward, although he had been a POW in Changi during the Second World War. Oh, boy, we have seen some attacks in this House over the years! We have seen some personal attacks. The Leader of the Opposition, far from having personal attacks, has probably had the easiest run from the media as a Leader of the Opposition in a very long period of time.

It has been an easy run but, at the first sign, he shows himself to be extremely fragile and extremely touchy. He is willing to try to impeach the reputation of other people in order to make a political point. This is not the character nor the behaviour of somebody who is ready to take tough decisions if he ever gets into a position of responsibility in this country. This is not the position of someone who wants to talk about policy. This is the last question time—

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