No-one told me rules banning notes in leaders' debate: Kevin Rudd
From: The Australian
August 12, 2013 4:57PM
KEVIN Rudd insists he was never told he wasn't allowed to bring notes to the leaders' debate.
The Coalition has accused the Prime Minister of cheating in the debate with Tony Abbott by using pre-prepared notes, in a clear breach of the rules.
But Mr Rudd said it would have been odd for him to appear on TV watched by millions thinking he could do something “on the sly”.
“You can't. So I acted in good faith and everyone would accept that,” he said.
“If someone had said to me it was not proper to take notes along to a debate, then, sure, that's fine. I was in receipt of no such advice,” Mr Rudd said.
Mr Rudd used notes when he debated John Howard in 2007 and also uses notes for media appearances.
He says that's because he prefers to be as accurate as he can, citing questions in Sunday's debate about productivity under Labor's Fair Work Act versus the Coalition's WorkChoices.
..............“There's a limit to how much you can scribble down on the palm of your hand,” he said.
“There's a limit to how many of Mr Abbott's three-word slogans you can actually get there to remember them all.”
Mr Abbott thought it was “odd” that Mr Rudd had turned up with a stack of notes and said he'd been told not to bring any.
But he said the important thing was that both were able to talk about their plans.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/election-2013/kevin-rudd-accused-of-cheating-in-lea...
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