"There is a serial killer in Australia and we are going to put a picture up so we can see who it is," a stern-faced Burnett said during a segment on CNBC today.
A large photo of Mr Rudd was then shown.
"That would be the Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd," Burnett said.
"OK, well, do you know what he is doing? He has launched air strikes - air strikes - against camels in the outback."
I laughed rather a lot when I saw this. The "air strikes" make it sound like the PM has launched an anti-camel RAAF attack, but it's actually some sharp shooters in helicopters. Camels are a feral pest that damage fragile desert ecosystems and do multi-million dollar damage to farmland. The article mentions a billion dollars worth of meat and milk that is going to be wasted, well, it's already wasted. No one - apart from a few die-hard bushmen - eats camel meat or drinks camel milk. Australia has a host of domesticated animals gone feral - dogs cats, pigs, goats, donkeys, horse, and camels - I would love to see every one of them gone from the bush, as well as rabbits, foxes, cane toads etc.
Erin Burnett, stick to finance. Leave ecology to those who know what they are talking about.