http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/kevin- ... 6005025715
Hissy fit claims anger Kevin Rudd
So Rudd either had a hissy fit or leaked the whole storyA FURIOUS Kevin Rudd has accused his Cabinet colleagues of lying over claims he stormed out of a meeting to finalise Prime Minister Julia Gillard's health reform plan.
The Foreign Minister was forced to declare Ms Gillard had the "full backing" of her Cabinet, after it emerged he had opposed in Cabinet her backdown on plans for the Commonwealth to become the dominant funder of health and hospitals.
But Mr Rudd's accusation that colleagues were telling "basic untruths" about his walkout sparked counter claims from a senior minister that he had leaked the whole story to destabilise the Government.
State premiers will meet with the Prime Minister in Canberra today, and are expected to sign off on her compromise plan of a 50-50 health funding split and a new transparency agenda for hospital performance.
She has dumped Mr Rudd's original plan to become the dominant funder of hospitals by clawing back GST funding, despite months of wrangling and expenditure to try to get the deal through.
Senior government ministers told the Sunday Herald Sun Mr Rudd opposed the plan in federal Cabinet on Thursday night before "storming out".
But Mr Rudd claimed his abrupt departure was to catch a plane.
"Let me just say this: I think it's pretty sad when some folk go out there and tell basic untruths about the way in which our Cabinet meetings are conducted," he said.
"The truth of it is this: when we discussed these matters in Cabinet most recently, I left the Cabinet room, I think from memory about 7.25pm ... to catch a 7.55pm flight, the last one, from Canberra to Sydney.
"That's the fact, that's the truth. How others might choose to describe it is a matter for them."
One Cabinet minister said Mr Rudd's behaviour at the meeting was "definitely on the hissy-fit end".
But another said it was "not a hissy fit", before accusing Mr Rudd of leaking the whole story himself.
