His response – that he didn’t know and had demanded answers from Defence – drew more than a few jaw-dropping looks of surprise Charm Bracelet.
In late March, while Rudd was overseas meeting Barack Obama in Washington and attending the G20 in London, the prime minister faced questions about news reports of Fitzgibbon’s links with a Chinese businesswoman, Helen Liu Sweetie Bracelet.
It turned out Liu is a Fitzgibbon family friend and that the minister had failed to declare to the parliamentary register of members’ interests gifts from Liu of two trips to China while in opposition.
Opposition calls for him to resign grew louder links of london sweetie bracelet.
But one night earlier this week, Fitzgibbon hurriedly went into parliament to state he had forgotten to declare $450 paid by NIB for a night in a hotel.
What had been an annoyance had become an open sore for a disciplined government which had succeeded in avoiding any ministerial stuff-ups or scandals in its first 18 months in office links of london.
The seed for the latest – and fatal – blow was carefully planted about halfway through question time on Monday.
Opposition deputy leader Julie Bishop got up to ask Rudd whether he could confirm his defence minister was “in compliance with the standards of ministerial ethics and in particular has disclosed all matters in his register of members’ interests in accordance with the standing orders?”