PM 'surprised' Rudd didn't challenge

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has given her first interview since surviving yesterday's leadership showdown and said she spent last night hanging out at home with her dog. Picture: John Feder Source: News Limited

• Says she spent the night hanging out with her dog as Tim is away
• Kyle Sandilands asks to be new Arts Minister
• Jackie O sympathises about working in male-dominated industry
• Rolling coverage from Canberra | How Gillard survived
• 'Can we restart Australia?' | No Sunrise for KRudd

JULIA Gillard has given her first interview after surviving yesterday's leadership showdown, talking about how she spent last night at home alone with her dog Rueben.

The Prime Minister gave a jovial interview with controversial radio host Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O on Sydney's 2DayFM this morning.

Jackie O sympathised with the Prime Minister about working in a male-dominated environment.

She praised the Prime Minister for being feisty in parliamentary question time yesterday.

"Is it bad that I love it when you get angry," Jackie O said.

A smiling Kevin Rudd pictured with Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O earlier this month. Picture: 2 Day FM

Sandilands, who is better known for his brash commentary than interviews with Prime Ministers, asked to be appointed as Arts Minister after Simon Crean was sacked yesterday because he had "hung out with Snoop Dogg".

"I want to offer my services free of charge to be the new Arts Minister because I have hung out with people like Snoop Dogg, Guy Sebastian," Sandilands said.

"I've been in Priscilla Queen of the Dessert; I was an Asian prostitute so I am across the arts. I'm your man."

Ms Gillard said there could be a few problems with his appointment.

"There is a couple of problems, like you can't be a minister unless you are a member of parliament but what I might be able to do is when appoint the new Arts Minister I'll tell them get straight on the phone to Kyle and work it all out," she said.

Ms Gillard was also pressed on what she got up to last night after the spill.

"Tim's away at the moment so it was just me and Rueben the dog," she said.

"I was happy enough to hang out pat the dog and get some sleep."

Ms Gillard's office said the interview with 2DayFM had been locked in "for weeks" because she had a long-standing commitment with them to hold an Easter egg hunt for sick children from Sydney's Bear Cottage at Kirribilli House on Sunday.

The Prime Minister followed up her chat on 2DayFM with a more hard-hitting interview with the ABC.

She conceded she was "surprised" Kevin Rudd chose not to contest the Labor leadership yesterday.

And she said that any future agitating for a Kevin Rudd return would be laughed off.

"I think if anybody wanders into a journalist's office in the future claiming to have the numbers sheet they will be met with laughter," Ms Gillard said.

"This is over."

She said she expected more people in her team would stand down after the resignations of key Rudd backers Richard Marles, Joel Fitzgibbon, Ed Husic and Janelle Saffin from senior positions.

Simon Crean, who called on the spill yesterday, was sacked.

"I anticipate there will be a few more people considering their position," Ms Gillard said.

But asked specifically on the future of senior cabinet ministers and Rudd backers Chris Bowen and Kim Carr, the Prime Minister would not be drawn.

"I will consider that and look at what is … the best team to go to the election," Ms Gillard said.

"I am not dealing with issues of the ministerial reshuffle now."

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I didn't lie to Qld parliament: rookie MP

A ROOKIE Queensland MP has denied he lied to parliament over extra phone lines installed in his electorate office.

The Courier-Mail newspaper published private emails between Redcliffe MP Scott Driscoll and his wife, Emma, saying they proved he was using the phone line to run a retail association he used to head.

Mr Driscoll had told parliament on Tuesday the phone line was installed as part of a "community hub" where local groups could access wi-fi and communication services.

The besieged MP reiterated the point again in parliament on Thursday.

"I most certainly have not lied to parliament and I find such a claim to be contemptuous and disgraceful," he said.

Mr Driscoll said the "sensational" article was false.

"My wife's terminology in private emails to me is not relevant to my actions as an MP," he told parliament.

"I welcome any legitimate scrutiny of my work as the member for Redcliffe."

Mr Driscoll said he suspected the allegations against him stemmed from people who were "jealous" of him winning a seat in parliament.

The first-term MP has been forced to defend himself against a raft of allegations in recent weeks, including claims of sexual harassment, financial mismanagement and improper business dealings.

Mr Driscoll said he'd done nothing wrong other than failing to declare that his wife received more than $500 in income from a private company she runs, an error he would rectify.

The Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) is investigating some of the allegations levelled against him.

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CMC boss didn't check file error was fixed

THE head of Queensland's crime and corruption watchdog didn't check if staff fixed an error that meant that secret Fitzgerald inquiry files were released to the public.

Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) chairman Ross Martin has told an inquiry he found out about the error in May 2012, and told staff to fix it.

But the problem was not fixed until months later, in September.

Mr Martin has blamed a communication breakdown with a senior staffer.

The Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Committee is investigating the error, which resulted in files from the Fitzgerald inquiry into police corruption being released decades early.

The documents contained information, including unproven allegations, about targets and informants at the centre of the corruption probe.

Mr Martin on Friday said he learned of the problem in May last year.

He said he immediately asked the CMC's director of information management, Peter Duell, to make sure only documents from public Fitzgerald hearings could be accessed.

He said he believed Mr Duell understood the request and fixed the issue.

"I thought that he was of one mind with me about this but it seems at hindsight we were at cross-purposes," Mr Martin told the inquiry.

The CMC chairman admitted he didn't check with Mr Duell or other senior staff that the matter had been resolved.

"I left it on the basis that I would have expected them to bring something to my attention if there was a problem," he said.

On Thursday, Mr Duell told the inquiry the accidental release was due to a reclassification error.

Mr Martin last week announced his resignation as chair of the CMC but said he was leaving for health reasons.

His resignation came amid pressure from Queensland Premier Campbell Newman and other ministers for him to accept responsibility for the blunder.

Mr Martin said he didn't realise at the time how significant the blunder was.

He said he was only aware in May that surveillance logs had accidentally been released and was not aware of other sensitive documents being made publicly available.

Mr Martin said he had asked Official Solicitor to the CMC Sidonie Wood to investigate what he thought at the time was a "relatively modest mistake".

"I rather thought I'd delegated the idea to Sidonie Wood and left it to her to pursue," he said.

When asked whether Ms Wood ever reported back to him, he replied: "I don't think so".

Mr Martin said he used his judgment at the time and couldn't be expected to oversee an investigation every time a document was misnumbered.

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Dead men 'didn't make enemies'

Two men aged in their 60s have been found dead in a property in regional Victoria.

A SECONDARY crime scene over the suspected murders of two prominent sheep breeders has been established in East Bendigo.

Douglas and John Streeter, both in their 60s, are thought to have been discovered by John's wife in the front garden of the farmhouse at Natte Yallock in Victoria's northwest about 5.30pm yesterday.

The men are believed to have suffered gunshot wounds to the head and chest.

Police have now converged on a property at Pipers Lane in East Bendigo, about 90km away.

Homicide detectives are investigating the incident, which has rocked the small Natte Yallock farming community, 200km northwest of Melbourne.

Elders Bendigo district wool manager Adam Millard, centre, visited John, left, and Douglas Streeter at their property on Wednesday and said it was business as usual.

Police do not believe the double fatality was a murder-suicide, but have not revealed if they are searching for a third party.

The brothers had recently struggled with ill health, a neighbour told 3AW radio.

Relative Alan Streeter said the family were unsure how the brothers had died.

Distraught family members briefly visited the grim scene and were said to be "inconsolable".

Police at the farmhouse where the bodies were found. Picture: Kris Durston

The deaths happened 1km along Streeter Lane, at the home of John Streeter.

Douglas lived in nearby Avoca, about 17km south of Natte Yallock.

Robert Vance, a councillor and former mayor of the local Pyrenees Shire council, has known the men all his life and was struggling to understand what happened.

"It is just beyond belief," he said.

Investigators at the scene yesterday evening. Picture: Kris Durston

"I just cannot put any sense to it whatsoever.

"They don't make enemies. They are not those sort of people.

"They go out of their way to help people."

Mr Vance said locals were in a state of disbelief.

"I guess time will bring the truth out," he said.

"It is just so hard to understand at the moment."

Mr Vance said he had known the men all his life and had done national service with Douglas in the late 1960s.

The family had bred Merino sheep in the area for at least three or four generations, he said.

Elders Bendigo district wool manager, Adam Millard, said he had visited the brothers at the property on Wednesday and there was no hint of the tragedy which unfolded.

"We talked business just as normal ... there was nothing," Mr Millard said.

"They were upstanding well-known locals , until it is resolved everyone will be in shock.

"The Streeter's have been around forever."

Mr Millard said John and Doug were active members at the football club, often volunteering to fire up the barbecue.

An Avoca resident said the brothers were respected in the area, and the town was devastated by the deaths.

"I knew Doug, he was an absolute gentleman," the business owner, who didn't want to be named, said.

"It is a shocking loss, we are just trying to come to grips with this."

The men were key members of the Lodden Valley Merino Breeders Association and they were at a sale just last week, 3AW reported.

President Norman Weir said he was in "disbelief" over the news of their deaths.

"They were very good farmers, a long family history. They have been members of the Natte Yallock area for generations," he said.

Ambulance Victoria spokesman John Mullen said they were called out to an "extremely serious incident".

Detectives remain at the scene, with the lane cordoned off.

They are appealing for anyone with information about the deaths to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or visit www.crimestoppers.com.au

- with AAP

jon.kaila@news.com.au

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