Rudd snubbed Iemma's pleas for help

KEVIN Rudd rebuffed Morris Iemma a fortnight ago when the then NSW premier asked for his support over state electricity privatisation.

KEVIN Rudd rebuffed Morris Iemma a fortnight ago when the then NSW premier asked for his in-principle support over the privatisation of the state's electricity assets.

The rebuff came at the end of three days when Mr Iemma found the Prime Minister declined to return his phone calls.

When he finally spoke to Mr Rudd late on Wednesday, August 27, the then premier said: "I am asking you to support me on a matter of principle. My concern is that MPs who support the elected government on electricity privatisation should not be threatened or rolled in their preselections."

Mr Iemma wanted to be able to invoke Mr Rudd's name when addressing his caucus on such threats. But Mr Rudd refused to get involved or offer any help.

"I don't want to establish a precedent," he said in refusing the premier.

By that stage, the prospect of Mr Iemma carrying the NSW parliament on the electricity sell-off was fading quickly though he had not given up.

In September-October last year, during a meeting in Mr Iemma's office, Mr Rudd, as Opposition leader, told the premier that if he deferred the battle over privatisation until after the federal election then Mr Rudd would help if the NSW state conference became a problem.

Mr Iemma tried belatedly to pursue this offer after the conference in May this year voted by a huge majority against privatisation. At that time the premier tried unsuccessfully for three days to speak to Mr Rudd to canvass how he might help.

In his August 27 phone discussion with Mr Rudd, Mr Iemma wanted to address threats being made to MPs supporting his sell-off plans. Anxious to salvage his policy in the teeth of opposition from the trade unions and the state ALP conference, Mr Iemma asked without success for a limited statement from Mr Rudd, not on the merit of privatisation but on preselection integrity.

Mr Rudd's formal public position has been for electricity privatisation. Mr Iemma told colleagues that Mr Rudd had never offered "more than lukewarm" support. In practice, the Prime Minister stayed far away from the NSW conflict, being advised it was a lost cause.

Mr Iemma was widely seen to be living on borrowed time. The NSW machine, linked to Mr Rudd via former general secretary, and now senator, Mark Arbib, campaigned to replace him with Natham Rees, now Premier.

Mr Iemma tried to reach Mr Rudd for three days starting from Sunday, August 24. At one point, Mr Iemma had a terse exchange with a senior Rudd staffer. "Oh, I get the message, I know what's going on," he said in mounting frustration.

When the two men were together at the Sydney welcome home ceremony for the Olympic team early on the morning of Tuesday, August 26, Mr Rudd told Mr Iemma, "Yes, we will talk" and said he would ring that afternoon. There was no phone call.

After he was rebuffed in May by the NSW conference, Mr Iemma's fallback was to have the ALP national executive issue a finding that privatisation was not inconsistent with Labor's national platform. This is the reason he was anxious to speak to Mr Rudd.

In truth, the premier had no hope. His anti-privatisation opponents had a majority on the national executive.

When approached yesterday, a spokesman for Mr Rudd said he he did not comment on talks with other leaders.