PM Julia Gillard defends ‘scrutiny’ of Opposition MPs

June 15th, 2012

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

Julia Gillard presser

The PM said she had not seen the document that was referred to in AM’s story. Picture: Ray Strange
Source: The Australian

JULIA Gillard has defended “scrutiny” of opposition MPs, saying it “informs the public debate”.

The Prime Minister was responding to reports that a senior adviser in her office had asked ministerial staffers to dig up information on opposition MPs.

ABC Radio AM’s program reported this morning that the PM’s director of strategy, Nick Reece, called a meeting of ministerial staffers – one from each office.

According to AM, Mr Reece handed out a “to-do” list for gathering information on the coalition’s frontbench team, starting with their “younger days”, as well as maiden speeches, any past ministerial record, study trips, fundraising, any companies they may be involved in, and “potential issues” such as litigation.

The hand-out was accompanied by a spreadsheet on where to get the information including newspaper opinion pieces, company searches, student newspapers and social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter.

AM reported a member of the government was critical of the tactics, saying it was aimed at, “looking for s*** on Labor’s opponents” and deriding Mr Reece’s office as “a dirt unit”.

The PM was asked this morning if she was aware of what Mr Reece was doing.

“First and foremost given all the opposition ever says is ‘no’ to everything it’s not surprising people are scrutinising them to try and ascertain if they’re going to ever do anything else than just say ‘no’,” Ms Gillard told ABC radio in Brisbane.

The PM said she had not seen the document that was referred to in AM’s story.

But she said it was important to counter the “doom and gloom” claims peddled by the opposition about the impact of the carbon tax and the state of the economy.

“I think scrutiny to help people weigh the worth of those ridiculous and extravagant claims is something that informs the public debate,” she said.