AUSTRALIA'S most notorious ute will go under the hammer at Brookwater Golf Club today.
The 1996 Mazda Bravo at the centre of last year's so-called 'Utegate' scandal will be auctioned as part of a live broadcast by Channel Seven breakfast show Sunrise.
Owned by Ipswich car dealer John Grant, the ute was used as a campaign office on wheels and became known as the 'Ruddmobile' during Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's 2007 election campaign.
It attracted national headlines in June last year when Treasury official Gorgon Grech told a Senate hearing an email from Mr Rudd's office showed Mr Grant's John Grant Motors would receive preferential treatment in the government's failed $2 billion OzCar program.
Mr Rudd returned the ute to his former neighbour in August last year after the Australian Federal Police ruled the email was a fake.
The scandal ultimately cost former Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull his job and almost cost Mr Grant his marriage and his Brisbane Street business.
Mr Grant did not return calls from The Queensland Times yesterday, but an email from a Channel Seven publicity manager said money raised from the auction would be donated to Meals on Wheels.
The Sunrise team will be at Brookwater from 5am to 8am today, with Channel Nine's Today in d'Arcy Doyle Place from 4.30am.
The breakfast television rivals will visit Ipswich to celebrate the city's 150th birthday and compete for precious ratings points.
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PAUL TULLY: PaulGTully@gmail.com
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