Sydney/NSW
November coup plotted on Julia Gillard - pressure on Kevin Rudd to push The Daily Telegraph
KEVIN Rudd is being urged by key backers within the Labor Party to challenge Julia Gillard for the leadership as early as this month.
Labor figures behind the push for the former PM to take back the job he was removed from last June have confirmed he was now being advised by his closest confidants not to wait until next year but to launch a challenge as early as the second last week of November.

Senior sources within the NSW Right claim the leakage of support away from Ms Gillard, who flew out to France last night for the G20 leaders' meeting, was snowballing.

"There are three things that are certain: there is a leadership challenge under way, Rudd doesn't have a majority yet but has enough numbers to be a contender, and they are strategising about how to get it done," said a senior NSW right-wing source.


But there was mixed support for the idea of an early move, with some MPs claiming they would "deliver the leadership" to Mr Rudd in February - if he waited.

In a sign the PM is now taking seriously the threat of a challenge, an internal counter-offensive has been launched to shore up her leadership.

The PM is reported over the past week to have lobbied key affiliated union officials with influence over caucus members to stick with her. Treasurer Wayne Swan is also believed to have privately warned several NSW Labor colleagues that he would resign if they supported a move to return Mr Rudd as leader.

The Daily Telegraph revealed two weeks ago that federal NSW Right MPs were softening in their support for Ms Gillard following the bungled Malaysia asylum seeker deal and their deepening concerns about the PM's poker machine reform deal with independent Andrew Wilkie.

Should Gillard be replaced with Rudd? Tell us below

"It sent Gillard and Swan's office into a panic. Swan has told people that he would quit if we went to Rudd but I doubt he was serious. He wouldn't want to be remembered as the bloke that brought down a Labor government," a senior member of the NSW right said.

Mr Swan would not comment last night.

Parliament has only one sitting week left after this week, during which a full meeting of the Labor caucus - required for a ballot - could be held. The next opportunity would not come until February when parliament returns from the summer break.

Sources close to Mr Rudd said he was well advanced on a policy pitch to address Labor's desperate electoral problems over issues including asylum seekers, the carbon tax and problem gambling.

One senior Labor figure, a Rudd supporter, claimed business was starting to "get edgy" over the government's unresolved leadership crisis.

"Business knows it's a question of when and want it sorted," they said.

Despite Mr Rudd's commanding public popularity, a boost in support for the government if Ms Gillard was rolled was not assured. Secret Coalition research conducted recently concluded voters believed the country was drifting.

Voters believe Labor's policies were out of synch with mainstream values, targeting key policy areas including the carbon tax and asylum seeker policy. They also expressed concern at the influence of the so-called faceless men.



and shes left the country... my god shes game..

progressiveslol wrote on Nov 3^rd, 2011 at 7:11am:




sitting here in my little suburb in ACt you can hear the knives being sharpened...lol..at first we thought it was frogs..but now we know..

they are in the batcave honing their swords..

progressiveslol wrote on Nov 3^rd, 2011 at 7:24am:



shes out of town dont forget..poo does that mean swanny is in charge...maybe two knives needed prog..lol

skippy. wrote on Nov 3^rd, 2011 at 7:38am:


Rudd is the cause of many (if not all) of the problems that plague Labor in Canberra. I can't understand why they'd go back to him. It's a bit like a soccer coach removing a goal keeper who lets in 7 goals only to bring him back on for the second half. It makes no sense whatsoever to bring back Rudd.

skippy. wrote on Nov 3^rd, 2011 at 9:41am:


Have you (and his other supporters) forgotten how dismally he polled in the dying stages of his Prime Ministership??? Whitlam could have polled better.

I don't think that anyone (other than Rudd himself) really wants Rudd back at the helm of the ALP - or the nation - perhaps the Libs are more concerned about this prospect than the Labs are!?

As for the Leadership of the Liberal Party: I suggest that you right whingers start listening to the underlying concerns being revealed by Tony Abbott's projections - it is he who is worrying about the security of his own leadership and the standing of his own policies in the eyes of both the Coalition's financial backers and the broader voting public!

With the infinitely-more statesmanlike Turnbull looking more the proper leader of the Liberal Party every day, Tony Abbott and his fellow religious righteous Liberal powermongers are keen to distract the public attention from their own internal party woes!

Moreover, it is pure nonsense for any pollster to seek public opinion, as to the preferred leader of only one of the 2 major parties - especially in the context that Abbott ascended by a margin of 1 single vote!

skippy. wrote on Nov 3^rd, 2011 at 10:13am:


At the end, Rudd was polling below 40% while Abbott was polling close to 50%. Don't know where you're getting your flimsy numbers from...

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Personally, I hope she is not removed. I want her to be PM at the next election so I can have the joy of joining millions of others in voting her and her incompetent government out of office!