Just heard the PM claiming that she hasn't spoken directly to...

Just heard the PM claiming that she hasn't spoken directly to Rudd recently - primarily because they are travelling in different time zones.

Claimed that she had a whole bunch of DFA official with her and implied that they were speaking with Rudd (or his people) - stress implied.

The time difference is around 7 hours - USA behind. So at 8am in Washington it's already 3pm in Egypt and presumably Rudd is asleep.

I think Gillard meant but say that Rudd was on a different planet but instead slipped up and said he was on a different time zone.