Rudd's adviser 'unable to sleep'
MALCOLM Turnbull has told close colleagues the prime ministerial adviser at the centre of the ute affair admitted to him he was troubled and had not been able to sleep.
MALCOLM Turnbull has told close colleagues the prime ministerial adviser at the centre of the ute affair admitted to him he was troubled and had not been able to sleep.
According to colleagues briefed on the Opposition Leader's version of his conversation with Andrew Charlton at last week's press gallery Midwinter Ball, it was Charlton -- not Turnbull -- who raised his own role.
The two men were seated next to each other at the ball. After talking about a mutual friend, Turnbull says he gave the generic career advice as "one old man to one young man; always tell the truth".
According to Turnbull's version of events it was Charlton who admitted to worrying about the advice he had given Kevin Rudd.
Charlton was "clearly anxious and stressed" but concluded he had given the Prime Minister the correct advice on OzCar.
Rudd instructed his staff to use a BlackBerry to get a picture of Charlton and Turnbull talking. After the ball, Charlton issued a statement saying he had been threatened and bullied by Turnbull, who had warned him not to lie over the affair.
According to Charlton it was Turnbull who first raised OzCar.
A spokesman for the Prime Minister dismissed the Turnbull version of events.
"That is absolutely and completely false," he said. "Dr Charlton has provided a signed statement regarding the events, and placed it on the public record. If Mr Turnbull disputes those events, then he must provide a signed statement and place it on the public record."
Further doubt over Charlton's depiction of Turnbull as a bully has been raised by an email sent on March 2, 2004, shortly after he won preselection for the Sydney seat of Wentworth.
"Dear Malcolm ... I'm excited about the contribution you will make to Australian politics. If by any chance you are in England over the next few months, we Aussie Rhodes scholars would love to have you to dinner. Kind regards, Andrew".
Turnbull did not provide the email to The Australian. Rudd said it had been sent when Charlton was trying to attract speakers for the Oxford Union.
Charlton, a 30-year-old Rhodes Scholar with a doctorate from Oxford, is a published author, UN consultant, development aid worker, University of Sydney medallist and Knox Grammar Dux and Captain.
He crossed from his speciality of economics into politics years before going to work for Rudd, first as a student representative campaigning to unseat University of Sydney Chancellor Dame Leonie Kramer and later honing his opinions in articles for the left-leaning New Matilda and Labor-friendly Lowy Institute.
He dated Labor leader Paul Keating's daughter Katherine, and went up against another former prime minister's offspring, Richard Howard, as part of the Sydney University debating team that also fielded Julian Morrow and Craig Reucassel, now of The Chaser fame.