Utegate (also known as the OzCar affair) refers to a 2009 controversy in Australian federal politics, revolving around allegations made by then Federal Leader of the Opposition and Liberal leader, Malcolm Turnbull, that the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, and/or the Treasurer, Wayne Swan, had acted improperly on behalf of a Queensland car dealer who was seeking financial assistance from a government agency called OzCar, and that they had misled Parliament.
Central to this claim was evidence by Treasury official Godwin Grech before a Senate inquiry in June 2009 that a Prime Ministerial adviser had emailed him asking for preferential treatment for the dealer.
It found no evidence of corruption by the Prime Minister or the Treasurer or their respective offices,[2] but did make adverse findings against Grech, and highlighted numerous administrative failings in the Treasury.
In 2007 John Grant, a Brisbane businessman, donated a white 1996 Mazda Bravo utility vehicle (known in Australia as a "ute") to Kevin Rudd's campaign for use as a mobile electorate office during the 2007 federal election.
[5] In February 2009, Grant made an inquiry to Bernie Ripoll, the Labor member of the House of Representatives for Oxley which covers Ipswich, about possibly obtaining financial assistance for his car dealership under OzCar, a proposed government funding scheme for car dealerships that had lost access to financing as a result of the global financial crisis.
[6] On 4 June 2009, Malcolm Turnbull alleged that Rudd's office had contacted the Treasury in order to obtain preferential treatment for Grant.
[7] Godwin Grech, the Treasury official in charge of the OzCar scheme, also gave evidence to a Senate committee hearing that day.
Grech testified that he had a "recollection" that a member of Rudd's staff, Dr Andrew Charlton, had sent him an email in February, asking that he provide preferential treatment concerning Ozcar to Grant.
[12] A Ford Credit executive also appeared before the inquiry, and stated that Grech provided him with Grant's mobile phone number during a meeting in February 2009.
Turnbull stated, "The Prime Minister and the Treasurer have used their offices and taxpayers' resources to seek advantage for one of their mates and then lied about it to the Parliament".
It remained unclear whether Grech was under suspicion of forging the email himself, or whether he had been the innocent victim of a forgery "scam" designed to incriminate Rudd.
"Malcolm Turnbull's darkest hours as Opposition Leader is upon him with a new poll showing his standing has been dealt a hammer blow by the OzCar affair," wrote Phillip Coorey, chief political correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald.
[26][27] The auditor-general cleared the Prime Minister and Treasurer of any wrongdoing, but made a range of adverse findings about Godwin Grech and Treasury.
[30][31] Turnbull's leadership ratings in the opinion polls never recovered from the affair, and on 1 December 2009, he was defeated in a party-room ballot by Tony Abbott as leader of the Liberal Party.