Rudd 'couldn't care less' about US leaks

Kevin Rudd says he doesn't give a damn about a classified United States document
that describes him as a "control-freak" and ambassador Jeff Bleich says the pair are
actually in a "bromance".
As the US and Australian governments worked to again play down the latest WikiLeaks
cable story, which shows the US describing the then prime minister as a control
freak, the website continued to publish more secret documents.
"We're good mates. You've probably seen us walking around the lake together. We're
having a little bromance," Mr Bleich told reporters on Wednesday.
Reacting to the cable, Mr Rudd appeared in the media multiple times before midday
(AEDT).
"I couldn't care less," he told reporters in Brisbane.
"If I was to get together the number of colourful things written about me, including
by (journalists), it would fill up the Brisbane telephone directory.
"I make no apologies whatsoever for being attentive to the detail of my work," he said.
"I will always attend to detail to the best of my ability. It's important to be on
top of detail."
Mr Rudd was also defended by Prime Minister Julia Gillard and a host of frontbench
colleagues.
"Kevin Rudd is a man who throughout his adult life has devoted himself to expertise
in foreign policy," Ms Gillard told reporters in Melbourne.
"He's bringing that expertise to bear for the Australian nation and doing an
absolutely first class job."
Frontbencher Simon Crean said Mr Rudd was held in "enormous regard" across the globe.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott had a different take on the "control-freak" cable.
Mr Abbott said it was pretty clear Mr Rudd's "style was a problem".
"But it didn't need the release of confidential information to know that," he told
reporters in Darwin.
"You only needed to listen to Labor members around the corridors of parliament.
"They're the sorts of comments that were being made by his fellow members of caucus,
and it now seems that not only did the caucus know what he was like, but our allies
knew what he was like and yet he's still there as foreign minister."
As the WikiLeaks story unravelled on multiple fronts - including the arrest of
founder Julian Assange in the UK - one academic called for the 39-year-old
Australian website chief to be named Australian of the Year.
"Even if he (Mr Assange) has somehow technically breached a law concerning the
dissemination of classified information, that in itself does not make his actions
ethically wrong," Charles Sturt University's Edward Spence said.
"Unlike a lot of corporate journalists today, Mr Assange is fortunate through the
wonder of the internet to be free of any commercial or political interests that
increasingly constrain and hamper independence and integrity."