WHEN it comes to Kevin Rudd and his government's relationship with what's increasingly known as China Inc, it's really the Gordon Nuttall question that comes to mind. Or more precisely the now famous Rodd Martin question.
Nuttall, the former Queensland Labor minister, was recently convicted on corruption charges involving payments of $360,000. As a result he now resides at her majesty's pleasure.
The fact that it took the jury only a matter of hours to reach its guilty verdict was in no small part due to the work of Rodd Martin SC. The chief prosecutor's opening question to Nuttall in the witness box quite probably sealed his fate. His inquiry was as simple as it was deadly: "Three hundred and sixty thousand dollars for absolutely nothing?" he asked.
"That's correct," replied Nuttall, not comprehending that he was already toast.
Nobody, not the Prime Minister nor any of his senior government colleagues in federal politics are yet toast or anywhere near it on the available evidence of their increasingly complex and detailed ties to China Inc: the personal, political and state-run hydra of contacts that it is now clear has given its sustained support to Rudd, his frontbench and the Labor Party in Queensland over a number of years. Read more.