Rudd testy at grilling

FORMER Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has hit out at a bizarre Supreme Court interrogation over the handling of his government’s disastrous pink batt insulation scheme.

Mr Rudd, tuning into the Supreme Court via videolink from New York, became testy when the interrogation turned from fact to hypotheticals.

Mr Rudd was called as a witness in a $150 million class action brought by insulation manufacturers, suppliers and installers.

He began his evidence with good humour, guffawing after confirming he was a former PM: “That’s right. And I’ve got the scar tissue to prove it.”

But 45 minutes later, Mr Rudd compared his cross examination to “torture”. The $2.7 billion insulation initiative was part of a $42 billion stimulus package to help protect Australia’s economy from the global financial crisis in 2008.

The program was cut short after four workers in NSW and Queensland were killed.

Mr Rudd told the court he knew nothing about safety risks with the program until a year after the program launched. It was immediately terminated, he said.

What proceeded next was a series of hypothetical questions.

“It’s difficult to think back to ’09 and reconstitute one’s state of mind,” Mr Rudd said.

“I don’t know what else I can say to you.”