- In 2007 Kevin Rudd criticised the Howard government for it's abuse of taxpayers' money on political advertisting, promising he would never do that. "I believe this is a sick cancer within our system. It's a cancer on democracy. You have my absolute, 100% guarantee, and each of you can hold me accountable for that." In May 2009 he launched a $38 million taxpayer funded advertising campaign to defend Labor's mining tax, using the loophole that it was a 'national emergency'.
