Fed: Rudd felt 'progressively uncomfortable' about Burke

AAP General News (Australia)
02-18-2008
Fed: Rudd felt 'progressively uncomfortable' about Burke

CANBERRA, Feb 18 AAP - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says he felt "progressively uncomfortable"

about a dinner being organised by disgraced former Western Australian premier Brian Burke.

Emails from November 2005 - released yesterday by the prime minister's office - reveal
Mr Rudd initially accepted an offer to dine with Mr Burke and reporters before offering
an excuse for not attending.

The emails appear to contradict Mr Rudd's earlier recollection of events, when he claimed
to have declined the invitation.

"I just felt progressively uncomfortable," Mr Rudd told reporters today.

"Once I got the feeling that this was not the right thing to proceed with, then I communicated
that."

Mr Rudd repeatedly refused to admit he had told a "white lie" to get out of the dinner.

"I ended up in Perth that day and that night. I could have gone," Mr Rudd said.

"If you've initially accepted an invitation to go and then, which I had, you've become
uncomfortable about it then what many folk do, I'm not alone in this, is you find a diplomatic
way to get out of it.

"My intention was not to go, I didn't go."

Mr Rudd said he was now being totally upfront about the communication between himself
and Mr Burke.

"There's a lot of coulda, shoulda and as I've said on more than one occasion, with
the benefit of 20-20 hindsight, I could have handled this a lot better.

"I didn't, but the key thing here is I decided not to attend."

Mr Rudd said there was no log of telephone calls between himself and Mr Burke.

AAP pv/rl/jt/sp

KEYWORD: BURKE RUDD DINE

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.