Fed: PM's ute to go on public road trip

AAP General News (Australia)
08-31-2009
Fed: PM's ute to go on public road trip

By Cathy Alexander

CANBERRA, Aug 31 AAP - The prime minister's infamous ute is to embark on a public road
trip before possibly being enshrined in a museum.

Kevin Rudd's ute made headlines when he was falsely accused of doing favours for the
man who lent it to him, car dealer John Grant.

Now Mr Grant has agreed to personally drive the Mazda ute to the annual Deniliquin
Ute Muster in NSW in October, where thousands of ute aficionados are expected to congregate.

Festival director John Harvie was rapt.

"It will be great for the thousands of people to see the infamous ute in its glory,"

Mr Harvie said.

"We look forward to Mr Grant and the ute attending."

Organisers have invited Mr Rudd to attend the muster. They are yet to hear whether
he will accept.

"Let's hope Mr Rudd is even more tempted to come along and bond for one final time
with the ute," Mr Harvie said.

According to Mr Harvie, Mr Grant is fundraising for charities by driving the ute around
the country.

"We hope later to have a big charity function and retire the ute to the Australian
Museum in Canberra," Mr Grant was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the Ute Muster
organisers. He was perhaps referring to Canberra's National Museum of Australia.

The muster takes place on October 2-3.

Mr Grant, a friend and neighbour of Mr Rudd, lent him the ute to use as a mobile office in 2007.

Earlier this year the federal opposition accused Mr Rudd and Treasurer Wayne Swan of
giving special treatment to Mr Grant under a $2 billion OzCar program to provide financing
for car dealers.

But those claims were discredited when it was revealed they were based partly on a
fake email, sparking one of the biggest scandals of this parliamentary term.

AAP ca/cjb/apm

KEYWORD: UTE

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