Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

When it comes to the behaviour of this Treasurer, the gap between courage and performance, the gap between a person who consistently and routinely badmouths the Prime Minister yet who stands up at the ‘bully pulpit’ of the ministerial dispatch box and then proclaims to the country at large that he is a person of strong heart and strong courage, underlines the deep hypocrisy which resides in your breast.

When it comes to the whole question of negative smear tactics, why are these matters raised in the parliament? In the last 24 hours, we have had the extraordinary spectacle of the chief of staff of the Special Minister of State engaging in a campaign of personal smear and innuendo against the Labor candidate for Eden-Monaro, Colonel Mike Kelly. His curriculum vitae describes what he has done, including being deployed to Somalia with Operation Restore Hope, and Legal Adviser, First Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment Battalion Group. Yet what we have, Prime Minister, is your chief of staff in the office of that minister going out and describing Mike Kelly as a representative of the Belsen guards.

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