Story by KATIE BASTIANS
VOTERS in the electorate of Stirling were left scratching their heads when they got Labor candidate Louise Durack’s campaign leaflets in the mail this week.
Deposed leader Kevin Rudd features stars prominently on the campaign material with prime minister Julia Gillard’s red shock of hair, which has dominated the public’s consciousness for several weeks, noticeably absent.
Mr Rudd and Ms Durack pose happily in a photo on the leaflet which also says how she is “working with Kevin Rudd to build a better future for Stirling”, is “part of Kevin Rudd’s team”, and “some achievements of the Rudd Government in just two years”.
Ms Durack would not answer questions about the bungle when the Voice rang her to pepper her with questions about whether she is finding it difficult to let go of Mr Rudd, which many in Labor party believe was dumped unfairly.
Instead she shot out this from a ‘spokesperson’ from her own email account: “Please find below a statement as discussed on the phone at your office recently.”
It’s an unusual response given a ‘spokesperson’ is usually a media bugle talking on part of a pollie, not the actual pollie taking on the role of their own spinner.
“A spokesperson for Louise Durack said that a campaign volunteer had recently letterboxed material to approximately 395 homes,” the email said.
“This material which included a statement from former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was originally distributed throughout the electorate in early May 2010.
“Unfortunately the campaign volunteer was not fully aware of the material’s content, when letterboxing this week.”
