Turnbull tars Rudd with NSW Labor brush

Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull is ramping up attempts to tar the Rudd government
with the same brush as the scandal-ridden Rees Labor government in NSW.
With parliament due to return for a fortnight next week, Mr Turnbull has used a
message on YouTube to accuse Labor both federally and in NSW of attempting to
hoodwink the public with media spin.
The federal opposition is expected to set its sights on Deputy Prime Minister Julia
Gillard over the tortured workplace award modernisation process and the government's
massive multi-billion dollar infrastructure school building program.
In a YouTube message released late on Friday, Mr Turnbull asks voters to think about
the NSW Labor Party machine and its part in the installation of Kevin Rudd as
federal Labor leader over Kim Beazley in 2006.
"NSW is the worst-managed state in Australia, it's a disgrace, it's a catastrophe,
and it's the product of a Labor Party that is dominated by spin over substance," Mr
Turnbull said, standing in front of a bushland backdrop.
"The same Labor Party machine that put Nathan Rees in as premier, made Kevin Rudd
leader of the Labor Party in Canberra."
Mr Turnbull accused Labor of wasting money in what he called untargeted economic
stimulus spending aimed at building "Julia Gillard memorial assembly halls" around
the country whether they're wanted or not.
He pointed out that Labor has required schools to keep signs denoting the Nation
Building stimulus project outside schools until March 2011.
"This is politics and spin above substance and government, it's how NSW got into the
state it did today, and it's where Australia is heading under Kevin Rudd," Mr
Turnbull said at the conclusion of his message.
Labor argues that the stimulus spending had to be rolled out quickly in order to
meet its aim of tackling head-on the impact of the global economic crisis on
Australia, particularly on employment.
The government was forced on Thursday to accept advice from the Australian Electoral
Commission that its Nation Building signs are advertisements and must be marked with
authorisation stickers during an election campaign.
Government Service Delivery Minister Mark Arbib said the government would put
authorisation stickers on 5,000 signs and move those signs within six metres of
schools used as polling places on election day.