Crean exposes Rudd’s mushroom treatment
17th June, 2010
Just how small Kevin Rudd’s circle of friends and advisers really is has been exposed by Trade Minister Simon Crean, who berated his own department for not giving him advance warning of the Rudd Government’s announcement of the mining tax.A report in the Sydney Morning Herald makes clear today that Mr Crean was in the dark about the giant new tax and Henry Tax Review, and also the decision to delay the emissions trading scheme until after the election, Nationals’ Leader and Shadow Trade Minister, Warren Truss, said today.
On May 10, Mr Crean told senior bureaucrats in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade that he did not want any more “surprises”, and these officials must find out about upcoming Government policy from other departments.
“Just how senior do you need to be in this dysfunctional Government to know what’s going on?
“Simon Crean is Trade Minister, a former Opposition leader and a key number cruncher in getting Mr Rudd into the Labor leadership,” Mr Truss said. “Yet he has been given the mushroom treatment by the Prime Minister.
“Mr Rudd has made a series of spurious claims in recent days about alleged wide consultation with the mining industry and the Australian people about this new and dangerous mining tax.
“Obviously that is a fraud – not even his Trade Minister knew what was coming.
“Mr Crean also told the Parliament on Tuesday, in an answer to my question, that ‘of course I was consulted’ about the mining tax. It certainly now appears that he has misled Parliament and a proper explanation is needed.
“If the Trade Minister, responsible for advancing the interests of our exporters, including miners, is in the dark about something of this importance, then heaven help us all.
“The performance of Rudd Labor is truly amateur hour. This is no way to run a Cabinet, a Government or a country,” Mr Truss said.
