Fed: Abbott defends Turnbull saying he acted honourably

AAP General News (Australia)
08-04-2009
Fed: Abbott defends Turnbull saying he acted honourably

CANBERRA, Aug 4 AAP - Senior Liberal Tony Abbott had defended his boss, Malcolm Turnbull,
saying the opposition leader has handled himself "honourably and correctly " over the
OzCar fake email affair.

Mr Turnbull is due to hold a news conference on Tuesday afternoon after the public
servant at the heart of the affair admitted he faked the email the opposition used to
call on Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Treasurer Wayne Swan to quit.

Mr Abbott says Mr Turnbull could not have ignored the evidence presented to him by
the public servant, Godwin Grech.

"I don't think any credible opposition would have failed to go hard on that material
and that's exactly what Malcolm Turnbull did," he told ABC Television on Tuesday.

"I don't think Malcolm did anything untoward. The idea that a senior, credible Treasury
official would fake an email is so implausible.

"If it was in fiction no one would believe it."

Mr Abbott tried to deflect attention from the issue, saying the government was hurting
in the wake of accusations of "crony capitalism" in relation to the controversy over political
donations in Queensland.

"They (the accusations) do have legs and they are starting to hurt the government and
that's why Mr Rudd and Mr Swan are running so hard on this issue," he said.

AAP keh/rl/it/cdh

KEYWORD: DEALERS ABBOTT

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