Rudd slammed

Aussie leadership tensions reach fever pitch

Australian ex-premier Kevin Rudd told to ‘put up or shut up’ by critics in his party.

SYDNEY: Prime Minister Julia Gillard insisted she has strong support from her Labor colleagues as party critics told Kevin Rudd to “put up or shut up” with leadership tensions reaching fever pitch.

Amid speculation that a leadership ballot could come as early as next week, Gillard said she was focusing on the government’s reform agenda.

“I’m getting on with the job with the strong support of my caucus colleagues,” she said yesterday.

Rudd, now foreign minister, was ousted in a shock party coup in June 2010 by Gillard, then his deputy. But she is now badly lagging in the polls and talk has intensified that he is preparing to challenge her for the top job.

Party insiders were cited by the media as saying a leadership ballot could come as early as next Monday, when parliament sits again.

Rudd is currently in Mexico for the G20 meeting and former Labor leader Simon Crean launched a scathing attack on him yesterday, saying he had been “internally disloyal“. He said Rudd needed to be a “team player”. “Kevin hasn’t got the numbers to challenge. He’s well short of anywhere near a majority. He can’t win.”

The Australian newspaper reported that in the 103-member Labor caucus, Gillard currently had the support of 51 MPS while 31 were behind Rudd, with 21 undecided.

Kevin hasn’t got the numbers to challenge. He’s well short of anywhere near a majority. He can’t win. — SIMON CREAN

Asked inmexicowhether Ruddwould challenge Gillard, he said: “That is not in prospect, because we have a prime minister and I amthe foreign minister.”

Gillard herself was asked repeatedly whether she would discipline or sack Rudd for disloyalty, but refused to give a direct answer.

“As prime minister, I’ll continue to showmy characteristic determination to get the job done.”

Rudd on Sunday denied he was preparing a challenge but also insisted he was a changed man and had learned to be less controlling and to consult more broadly.

His comments followed the publication of a video on the Internet showing him in an expletive-ridden rant about a Chinese interpreter.

The two-minute video, uploaded onto Youtube by a user called “Happyvegemitekr“, shows an irate Rudd trying to record a message in Mandarin and railing against the interpreter who wrote the text. — AFP