"In a speech on Monday night, [Australian Labor Party shadow foreign affairs spokesman Robert] McClelland said a Rudd government would lobby Asian nations for clemency for mass murderers such as terror boss Osama bin Laden and the Bali bombers." Bad move, report Gerard McManus and Fay Burstin in the Herald Sun, especially with the anniversary of the Bali bombing coming up.

"The Opposition Leader [Kevin Rudd] was forced into an embarrassing about-face amid a wave of outrage from the victims of the Bali bombings and condemnation from Prime Minister John Howard."