FORMER AUSTRALIAN prime minister Kevin Rudd has ruled out the prospect of demanding a leadership contest against the woman who ousted him as premier, Julia Gillard.
Speculation has grown in Australia in recent days that Rudd was on the verge of calling for a ballot on Gillard’s leadership, prompting some cabinet ministers to demand an immediate vote in order to resolve the impasse.
The Australian, reporting that a fight for the leadership could take place as early as next week, reports comments from Rudd who says he is “getting on with his job”.
Although Gillard led the move to oust Rudd in June 2010 – retaining the office of Prime Minister at an election two months later, thanks to the support of a number of independent MPs – he remains a senior figure in the party and is currently the foreign minister in Gillard’s cabinet.
Little immediate action is anticipated, as Rudd is away in Mexico attending a G20 meeting, where he told reporters he had not sought any support “for any concern on that matter, as far as the leadership is concerned”.
He stopped short of giving his backing to Gillard, however, who herself simply said: “I’m getting on with my job. Kevin Rudd’s getting on with his.”
Gillard’s political fortunes have been mixed since taking power: she only retained power in a hung parliament after the 2010 election thanks to the support of a handful of independents, and has failed to win much support in the north of the country.
Melbourne’s Herald Sun reports that matters were brought to a head as arts minister Simon Crean called on Rudd to quit the cabinet if he was not willing to support its current leader.
He said that if Rudd had the numbers within the Labor parliamentary ranks, he would launch a leadership challenge – “but he hasn’t, and he won’t.
“This is a farce. For all the time that he’s been trying to say that he is different, a different Kevin, a new Kevin, all he does is reinforce the old Kevin… Clearly he’s not playing as part of the team,” he said.
The Daily Telegraph suggests that while Rudd is certainly less popular among party insiders, he is much more popular among the public than Gillard.
The power struggle also comes as the incumbent Labor premier in Queensland’s state legislature, Anna Bligh, begins a re-election push – demanding a resolution to the “wild card” question about party leadership.
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