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

My question, again, is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to his claim yesterday that the Kirribilli function was no more than ‘hospitality provided by me’. Does the Prime Minister recognise that Kirribilli is not his house and that it belongs to the Australian people, or does he agree with the member for O’Connor’s statement today—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Mackellar, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The Leader of the Opposition and other members opposite have asked this question again and again in different forms and in fact it has been answered in full. It is out of order.

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am listening carefully to the leader’s question. He has not completed his question. I call the Leader of the Opposition.

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

I refer the Prime Minister to his claim yesterday that the Kirribilli function was no more than ‘hospitality provided by me’. Does he recognise that Kirribilli is not his house and that it belongs to the Australian people, or does he agree with the statement made today by the member for O’Connor:

It’s his house and we say it’s his house ...

Prime Minister, don’t the Australian people deserve something better than a Prime Minister and a government who now regard the national estate as purely a fundraising vehicle for the Liberal Party?

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before I call the Prime Minister, I indicate that the Leader of the Opposition would be well aware that he should not debate questions. He would also be aware that the Prime Minister is not required to comment on statements made by backbenchers. On that basis I call the Prime Minister.

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very happy to answer the question. I do not regard Kirribilli House as my house and I do not regard the Lodge as my house. I recognise that I am greatly privileged to occupy both of those residences at the present time because I happen to be Prime Minister of this country. I know that my predecessors—or most of them—would have adopted the same attitude.

But seeing that the Leader of the Opposition has persisted with this falsehood that the function held last Friday week was a fundraiser for the Liberal Party—which it was not—perhaps I might draw the attention of the Leader of the Opposition to a memorable paragraph in a book entitled The Fixer: the untold story of Graham Richardson, written by Marian Wilkinson, who is hardly a journalistic promoter of John Howard, to put it mildly. I think she almost competes with David Marr—no, not quite—as somebody who is fairly uncharitable to the current Prime Minister.

This particular book describes, on pages 262 and 263, an event that took place at Kirribilli House in the winter of 1987. As I remember, in the winter of 1987 Bob Hawke was the Prime Minister and I was the Leader of the Opposition. So I remember the winter of 1987 extremely well. It was a winter of some discontent for the Liberal Party of Australia and, in political terms, a winter of some comfort for the Australian Labor Party. The book spoke of a gathering at Kirribilli House in these terms:

The guest list for the night, if not secret, was certainly handled discreetly. The invitees were coming to Kirribilli House for what was, in reality, an exclusive fund-raising dinner.

Let me read on, because I can assure you that it gets infinitely better than that, Mr Speaker. It goes on to say:

Among the millionaires—

Lindsay Tanner (Melbourne, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Tanner interjecting

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Melbourne is warned!

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We don’t like 1987, do we! Even though they won that year, they do not like the uncomfortable reminder of their own hypocrisy. The book goes on:

Among the millionaires and multi-millionaires on the guest list was also Graham Richardson. He was there, quite simply, to put the hard word on the guests for their money after the delicious food, expensive wine and expansive speeches. He hoped that each of the men might be good for anywhere between $30 000 and $100 000—

and this was in 1987; if it were constant dollars, it would be a lot more—

comfortably lining Labor’s war chest for the election. The cheques would be collected after the election—this way the donations could be written off to the party’s administrative fund or its corporate entities. The confidentiality of the donors and the size of their contribution could be protected.

When the Leader of the Opposition asks about fundraising at Kirribilli House, that is what he ought to be talking about—not an entirely legitimate event that I held there last Friday week. I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.