Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

As members opened their newspapers this morning they would have been struck by a series of headlines that would have transported them back to 1975: the Sydney Morning Herald, on page 1, ‘States forced to rely on Ruddbank’; the Australian Financial Review, with a reference to ‘Turnbull in push against “Labor bank”’; the Age, ‘Bank mooted to boost infrastructure’; and the Australian, on page 1, ‘‘‘Kevlani” bankroll plan’. But it took the Daily Telegraph to bring it all together. What were these newspapers referring to? Malcolm Farr, national political editor, pointed out that the federal government is considering the creation of an infrastructure bank which would borrow billions of dollars and lend it to states for capital works. He quoted the Prime Minister:

Mr Rudd said it was the “normal thing” for the Government to examine all appropriate measures “to properly support infrastructure investment into the future”.

The article went on to reveal how this proposal would work. Apparently:

… Mr Rudd was asking chief executives of senior banks to travel with him to the Middle East early next year to help raise money for investment projects across Australia.

The road show would visit the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in late January, sources said.

…            …            …

A spokesman for the Prime Minister said Mr Rudd’s travel schedule … had not yet been decided.

But:

… Mr Rudd had made it known he would like business leaders to fly with him when he visited countries.

Now the ‘Kevlani’ bankroll plan brings us back to the world of one Khemlani. Maybe only a few members will remember 1975. I was studying constitutional law at the time, 11 November 1975.

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