House debates Questions without Notice
Diplomatic Protocol
Malcolm Turnbull Wentworth, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition
2:40 pm
My question is addressed to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to the article in the Australian newspaper of 25 October which described in graphic detail a conversation between himself and the President of the United States said to have taken place on 10 October at 10.40 pm. The article stated that, according to an informed source:
... that Rudd was then stunned to hear Bush say: ‘What’s the G20?’
Will the Prime Minister assure the House that neither he nor any person in his office disclosed any of the details of this call to the Australian newspaper?
Kevin Rudd Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister
As both the President’s spokesman and I, together with the US ambassador, have indicated, the conversation with the President of the United States was explicitly about the G20. The fact that the meeting was subsequently convened for the G20, I think, reflects appropriately on the President’s leadership. Any suggestion that the President did not understand the significance of the G20 was simply not accurate, because he did. Furthermore—
Unidentified interjection - Hansard doesn't record who said this
Opposition Members:
Opposition members interjecting—
Kevin Rudd Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister
Let me restate what I was saying, and that is that the conversation with the President of United States was about the significance of the G20, the usefulness of the G20. Any suggestion that the President of the United States was not aware of the significance of the G20 was simply inaccurate. I would ask those opposite, though, on the question of our relationship with the United States: when do we get the apology from the Liberal Party for them describing Barack Obama’s victory as a victory for al-Qaeda? We had the Leader of the Liberal Party stand and say he supported Barack Obama—
Unidentified interjection - Hansard doesn't record who said this
Opposition Members:
Opposition members interjecting—
Harry Jenkins Speaker
No, I have control at the moment and you will sit back there quietly. A few nanoseconds before, I did not, and I was unable to get Prime Minister to take his place but he indicated that he has finished his response.
Unidentified interjection - Hansard doesn't record who said this
Opposition Members:
Opposition members interjecting—
Harry Jenkins Speaker
Hold it. It is the first day of the week. There are three weeks to go. Do not get so excited.
Malcolm Turnbull Wentworth, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition
Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order on relevance. It was a very straightforward question.