Tony Abbott hoses down Kevin Rudd's suggestions he discussed NBN with Rupert Murdoch

Updated

The Federal Opposition has rubbished suggestions Tony Abbott discussed the National Broadband Network with media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has accused his political rival of conspiring with Mr Murdoch over the future of Labor's multi-billion-dollar broadband policy.

But Mr Abbott says the NBN has never been a topic of conversation with Mr Murdoch.

"I do from time to time talk to Rupert Murdoch. My discussions with Rupert Murdoch are so secret, I wrote about it in my Spectator diary a year ago," the Opposition Leader told a press conference in Launceston.

"Have I ever spoken to Rupert Murdoch about the NBN? No, I haven't.

Have I ever spoken to Rupert Murdoch about the NBN? No, I haven't. Tony Abbott

"What we have got from Mr Rudd at the moment is further examples of just how thin-skinned he's becoming."

Mr Rudd is caught up in a public row with Mr Murdoch, and has accused him of using his newspaper empire to attack Labor because he sees the NBN as a commercial threat to his Foxtel network.

Mr Rudd has also questioned whether the News Corporation chief would benefit from the Coalition's broadband policy.

Speaking on the ABC's program 7.30 last night, he also pointed out that the plan was launched in studios owned by News Corp.

"I've only just been looking back on the files today and discovered that in fact Mr Abbott's NBN policy was launched at the Fox Studios here in Sydney," Mr Rudd said.

"I would like to hear some answers as to what discussions Mr Abbott may have had with Mr Murdoch on the future of Australia's National Broadband Network."

Turnbull says Rudd is 'not much of a detective'

But Opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull says the Prime Minister is "clutching at straws".

"[The policy launch] was on every station, every network. He didn't have to do much research. It was reported widely," he said.

"[Mr Rudd] looks like Tin Tin but he's not much of a detective.

"His attempt to create some conspiracy theory, to distract from his own failures in Government, is just the latest pathetic performance by the PM."

Mr Turnbull says Mr Murdoch's views on the "reckless, over-expensive" NBN project are shared by many in the business community.

Mr Murdoch has said he likes the "ideal of the NBN", but has questioned how the policy would be paid for.

Amid the ongoing row between Mr Rudd and Mr Murdoch, the News Corp-owned Daily Telegraph paper has taken an anti-Labor stance.

After controversy over a beer shared between Deputy Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and controversial former Labor MP Craig Thomson, the paper is today featuring "Thommo's Heroes".

It depicts Mr Rudd as Nazi soldier Colonel Klink, Mr Albanese as Sergeant Schultz and Mr Thomson as Colonel Hogan - characters from cult TV show Hogan's Heroes.

The paper has previously called on voters to "kick this mob out" on September 7, and declared "it's a ruddy mess" following the release of Labor's economic statement.

Senior Labor figures have brushed off the Telegraph's stance, with Health Minister Tanya Plibersek saying it is "like reading a university newspaper" and Mr Albanese saying Australians would be "pretty offended that they are being told what to think".

News Corporation has previously denied its newspapers are influenced by Foxtel's interests.

"Any suggestion that the editorial position of our newspapers is based upon the commercial interests of Foxtel demonstrates a complete ignorance of both our business and of Foxtel," it said in a statement on Wednesday.

Topics: government-and-politics, federal-elections, federal-government, abbott-tony, internet-technology, information-and-communication, print-media, business-economics-and-finance, australia

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