Turnbull Warns Pm Of Hang-ups
The Age
Wednesday November 5, 2008
MALCOLM Turnbull claims the next US president won't trust Kevin Rudd after the damaging leak of an inaccurate version of his recent telephone conversation with President George Bush.
Mr Rudd's embarrassment over the leaked discussion, in which the two talked about using the G20 in the international financial crisis, has increased with reports now spreading in the media overseas, appearing in Britain, Asia and elsewhere, as well as in Washington after an official denial.The Australian newspaper published an account of the phone call, which Mr Rudd took in his study at Kirribilli House in Sydney on October 10.It quoted Mr Bush asking: "What's the G20?".The editor of The Australian, Chris Mitchell, was dining at Kirribilli when the telephone call took place.The US Administration denied Mr Bush had said this, and the denial appeared in The Washington Post.Mr Rudd this week also said Mr Bush had not asked the question attributed to him. But the affair continues to reverberate.The PM's office refused to say how the detailed leak of the conversation happened; it would not comment on speculation that the call could have been overheard by dinner guests.But a spokesman for Mr Rudd said yesterday he took the call in his study and "the only person in the study with the Prime Minister was a notetaker" from his office. President Bush also had someone monitoring the call.Mr Turnbull said Mr Rudd had allowed a version of the call to get into the press, designed to make him "look like a diplomatic encyclopedia and make Mr Bush look stupid"."There is nothing that he could have done that could have done more damage to Australia's reputation in Washington than that," he said."What it means is that when the next president is in office, whether it is president Obama or president McCain, and a call comes in from the Australian Prime Minister, that new president will be told, 'Don't say anything to the Australian Prime Minister unless you want to read about it in the newspaper'."Mr Turnbull said Mr Rudd "in one stroke has undermined our reputation for confidentiality, our capacity to deal in a confidential and professional ways, not just with the United States but with the heads of other governments".He again challenged Mr Rudd to explain the circumstances of the story or call in the police if he did not know them.He said it was making headlines around the world.Former diplomat Bruce Haig said the incident was a "silly thing to have happened", but what was worse "is the slowness with which the Government has moved to distance itself from the statement".
© 2008 The Age
