Swan tight-lipped on Rudd talks

By online political correspondent Emma Rodgers

Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan is refusing to say whether he is investigating the source of explosive Labor leaks and when he last spoke to Kevin Rudd.

The Government is scrambling to keep its election campaign on track after Prime Minister Julia Gillard was forced to confront claims she opposed Labor's paid parental leave scheme and a pension rise.

Ms Gillard angrily defended her record, saying she had questioned whether the policies were affordable but had always supported them.

Mr Rudd has denied being the source of the leaks but speculation has continued over who is responsible.

The Opposition has sought to capitalise on the revelations, accusing the Government of being undisciplined and in disarray.

On the 7.30 Report last night, Mr Swan was repeatedly asked when he last spoke to Mr Rudd but he would not say.

Mr Swan defended Mr Rudd, describing him as "honourable" and said there was nothing the Government could do about leaks.

Mr Swan was asked on Radio National this morning whether he was trying to stop the high-level leaks and whether he had spoken to his ministerial colleagues about it.

"My job is to go out and talk to the people about our plan for the future," he replied.

"I'm not going to go through speculation about where stories may or may not have come from.

"Journalists may want to ask me about these questions and that's entirely legitimate, but what I'm going to talk about is our program for the future."

The ABC has put questions to Mr Rudd's office over his contact with Mr Swan.

Opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey used the leaks to cast doubt on Ms Gillard's commitment to paid parental leave.

"What's now been revealed by these series of leaks from within the Government is that Julia Gillard is not a true believer in paid parental leave," he told AM.

"Quite frankly I've been absolutely stunned at the unravelling of the Government over the last few weeks."

But Mr Swan has hit back with his own attack against the Coalition's paid parental leave policy, after Mr Hockey yesterday hinted there could be changes to it.

"This was nothing more and nothing less than total policy chaos," Mr Swan said.