THE FACTS:

The OzCar affair is a political issue that occurred in June 2009 and refers to allegations that Treasurer Wayne Swan and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd tried to secure special treatment for car dealer John Grant, who is also a friend of the pair.

Opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull accused Mr Rudd of giving Mr Grant special attention on the back of an alleged email sent from the Prime Minister’s Office to the Federal Treasury.

A senior Treasury official, Godwin Grech, said at a senate hearing he thought he saw an email asking for extra attention to be given to Mr Grant’s case.

No such email has been located.

OzCar is a scheme that offers financial assistance to car dealerships in difficulty.

The Government has denied that any such email exists and the Federal Police are investigating whether the email has been made up.

Mr Rudd has asked the Auditor General to investigate the OzCar affair.

THE VIEWS:

Michelle Grattan for The Age:

“The OzCar affair is turning into a confusing battle of bluff and bluster, in which the real issues risk being obscured. Putting aside the setting of artificial deadlines and mutual calls for resignation, the core question is whether Kevin Rudd or Wayne Swan tried to secure special treatment for car dealer John Grant.

The Opposition is directing its attention to Swan, now that the evidence suggesting Rudd intervened is becoming flimsier by the day. The alleged email at the heart of the claim about Rudd cannot be found and the Government says it is a fake if it exists at all.”

Editorial in The Australian:

“Wayne Swan needs to fine-tune his response to questions concerning his interest in Mr Grant’s request for government assistance from the OzCar finance scheme for the motor industry. There is no doubting that the Prime Minister would be in serious, perhaps even terminal, trouble if the alleged email in which his staffer Andrew Charlton ostensibly asked Treasury to help Mr Grant turns up. Mr Rudd is obviously confident that it won’t. He stated in parliament that nobody in his office made representations to Treasury on Mr Grant’s behalf, he commissioned a search of office computers that could not find any such email and he has now asked the Auditor-General to investigate. If, as Mr Rudd obviously expects, the Auditor-General concludes it never existed, journalists who asserted it did will look foolish, as will Malcolm Turnbull, who demanded Mr Rudd’s resignation on the basis of alleged evidence he had not seen.”

BREAKING IT DOWN:

A) The Auditor General must be left to assess the case, and everything else is just politicians trying to score points.

There is no value in Australian politicians wasting taxpayers money by debating the topic in parliament. There are other things to focus on; let the police and the Auditor General conduct their investigations.

B) If there was no email sent, those who claimed there was one should be held accountable.

You cannot peddle rumours and get away with it.

WHAT’S YOUR OPINION?

Did Rudd or Swan offer Grant extra assistance?

Have either of these two government ministers acted irresponsibly and, if they have, should they resign?

Is too much time being spent focusing on this issue?

Should those who alleged the email be held to account?