FED: Rudd's Burke links to dominate parliament

AAP General News (Australia)
02-17-2008
FED: Rudd's Burke links to dominate parliament

CANBERRA, Feb 17 AAP - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's links with disgraced Labor powerbroker
Brian Burke and new sitting hours will dominate parliamentary question time tomorrow.

Parliamentarians have begun arriving in Canberra ahead of the first five-day sitting
week for the lower house.

The extended hours have outraged opposition backbenchers, who prefer to spend Fridays
in their electorates.

But the main target will be Mr Rudd, with Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson vowing to
pursue Mr Rudd over his relationship with the former West Australian premier in late 2005.

Mr Rudd met Mr Burke, now a political lobbyist banned from any contact with state and
federal Labor MPs, three times in 2005.

The prime minister has denied courting Mr Burke to win support for his leadership challenge
a year later against Kim Beazley.

Emails released today cast doubt on Mr Rudd's reasons for pulling out of a planned
dinner in December 2005.

Last March, Mr Rudd said he realised it was inappropriate and "a step too far" to have
Mr Burke organise the dinner with 10 senior WA journalists.

But in an email to Mr Burke, Mr Rudd blamed DFAT officials for not finalising an overseas
trip and suggested holding the dinner sometime in the new year.

Outside question time, more new MPs will make their maiden speeches on Monday and Tuesday,
while workplace relations, tax cuts, indigenous education measures and the high-speed
broadband rollout will take up most of Wednesday and Thursday.

The Senate does not sit this week.

Instead, senators will spend four days grilling public servants and departmental heads
on everything from broadband, the prime minister's office, immigration and AWB in budget
estimates hearings.

AAP mfh/cdh

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