CANBERRA - Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd is facing censure over accusations that he was behind news reports about a phone call with US president George Bush, in which Mr Bush appeared unaware of the G20 group of nations.
Just days before travelling to Washington for a financial summit called by Mr Bush, Mr Rudd used his parliamentary dominance to defeat rival accusations that he or a senior adviser had called the outgoing US leader a "fool".
Conservative opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull said: "The prime minister's fingerprints are all over this. Every letter, every paragraph, is dripping with his DNA."
The White House has rejected accounts of a private phone call last month between the two leaders, carried in the Australian newspaper. In the article, Mr Bush is said to have asked Mr Rudd: "What's the G20?", referring to the group of rich and emerging nations, including China and Brazil.
Mr Rudd faced two days of questioning in parliament and refused repeatedly to deny that he or his staff had leaked the content of the phone conversation, which reportedly occurred on a night when Mr Rudd was having dinner with the Australian's editor.