Some rather different news judgment in The Weekend Australian compared to The Age:
Howard minister in Burke web
THE Howard Government’s savage attack on Kevin Rudd backfired sensationally last night when Human Services Minister Ian Campbell admitted meeting in his office disgraced former premier turned lobbyist Brian Burke.
lead story, print edition of The Weekend Australian, 3 March 2007.
Burke invitation boasted of Rudd’s presence
[one sentence coverage at paragraph 5]:
Another twist came yesterday with news that federal Liberal minister Ian Campbell met Mr Burke in June last year to discuss a Perth development.
page 6 story, The Age, 3 March 2007.
At 10.15am this morning The Age put on its website the AAP version of the Weekend Australian story.
One sentence on page six is probably close to the inherent news value of the Campbell meets Burke story. But in light of the Coalition beating up the Rudd-Burke meetings this week, the Weekend Australian wasn’t wrong in giving it prominent coverage.
Update: Campbell shot down by friendly fire.
One for the political history buffs: has an Australian Minister ever resigned over a more trivial matter?
Andrew Norton 
Well, falling on his sword may in fact be the only useful thing Campbell has ever done. A fine norwegian parrot impersonation.
Howard can now say that state ALP and federal coalition ministers have resigned over meeting Burke. But Rudd does not.
Leaving aside the petty politics. I though Burke, scumbag he may be, has paid his dues to society? Why does it matter who he meets?
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Winning elections is not a trivial matter. But Campbell had a history as a poor minister.
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It’s still not clear if other Coalition policians have had incidental meetings with Burke over the last few years. It could be a costly strategy.
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Totally agree with entropy and Sinclair. Campbell was an exceptionally foolish and poor Minister. He must have survived the last cabinet reshuffle by the skin of his teeth. One of the main ministerial roles is that of politician. Campbell was simply not good at that profession.
He delayed telling the PM pf his meeting until after the stellar question time performance of Peter Costello. Had the cabinet been aware it could well have been presented in a positive manner and the circumstances vividly contrasted with the Rudd meeting, in which he was seeking favours from Burke.
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