on 24-09-2014 09:22 AM
The party of solidarity turns out to be a nest of vipers, who bite and bite and bite again.
MONTHS after Kevin Rudd was deposed as prime minister, and in the wake of Labor’s disastrous 2010 election campaign, he wrote a blistering assessment of Julia Gillard, arguing that voters saw her as a “backstabber” lacking legitimacy who had led the government to near annihilation.
Mr Rudd described his toppling in June 2010 as a “Shakespearean” plot-line riddled with falsehoods about his government’s performance… “This was an entirely fabricated post-facto rationale for a leadership change that was driven in large part by political ambition — an attempt to elevate the reasons for leadership change above crude politics to the highest reasons of state,” Mr Rudd said…
Mr Rudd wrote that one of the strongest supporters of the coup was former minister Tony Burke, who was motivated to turn on him by the prospect of becoming deputy prime minister. He wrote that Mr Burke “offered himself unsuccessfully” as a running mate to Ms Gillard two months before the coup.
JULIA Gillard has described Kevin Rudd as deeply flawed because of his difficult childhood and concluded that he could never get “enough applause, approval, love’’ despite rising from humble roots to become prime minister.
In a withering character assessment in her autobiography, due out today, Ms Gillard said her one-time ally — who would not have become Labor leader “without my intervention’’ — was “tragically incapable of changing his behaviour’’ and had to be dumped…
Reprising years of Labor infighting, Ms Gillard reveals in My Story that she had been exposed to Mr Rudd’s “menacing, bullying words” in the past and came to the conclusion in February 2010 that he was not coping with his job.
She insists in the book that she refused to discuss a leadership change with any of her colleagues until June 23 that year, when a newspaper report questioned her loyalty to the leader. On that day she turned to Tony Burke, a key leader in the NSW Right, to discuss whether she should resign or challenge for the leadership. “I left that discussion knowing that if I did seek the leadership, Tony would support me,” she said. “To feel such loyalty and support helped stiffen my spine.”
on 24-09-2014 10:36 AM
Troy Bramston Columnist AUSTRALIAN SEPTEMBER 24, 2014
Kevin Rudd calls Julia Gillard a coup plotter and backstabber
...
MONTHS after Kevin Rudd was deposed as prime minister, and in the wake of Labor’s disastrous 2010 election campaign, he wrote a blistering assessment of Julia Gillard, arguing that voters saw her as a “backstabber” lacking legitimacy who had led the government to near annihilation.
Mr Rudd described his toppling in June 2010 as a “Shakespearean” plot-line riddled with falsehoods about his government’s performance, Labor’s re-election chances and the notion the coup was in the “national interest”. He said those excuses were designed to mask Ms Gillard’s overweening ambition.
“This was an entirely fabricated post-facto rationale for a leadership change that was driven in large part by political ambition — an attempt to elevate the reasons for leadership change above crude politics to the highest reasons of state,” Mr Rudd said.
Part of Mr Rudd’s secret submission to Labor’s election review panel, which has been obtained by The Australian, steams with bitterness over his treatment. He is defiant about his government’s record and lashes Ms Gillard and the “faceless men” who supported her, including Bill Shorten, for “ripping the party apart”.
The disclosure of part of Mr Rudd’s damning submission to Labor’s 2010 national review committee chaired by Labor elders Steve Bracks, Bob Carr and John Faulkner comes as Ms Gillard’s memoir, My Story, is published today. Mr Rudd provided a detailed written rebuttal to “the arguments advanced for a change in the leadership” by Ms Gillard and her supporters who plotted to bring him down. He had given an oral submission to the review team in December 2010.
He said there was “no formal or informal warning” by any minister or MP “of changes that needed to be made if a leadership challenge was to be avoided”. Mr Rudd characterised his removal as “a total surprise to me — as I expected (it was) intended”.
“The extraordinary step of deposing a first-term sitting prime minister can only be explained if we assume those planning for a leadership change concluded that due process might damage their chances of success,” he wrote. “Reasons offered for the leadership challenge were, in the main, post-facto rationalisations to mask the real political ambitions that were at play.”
When Ms Gillard replaced Mr Rudd as prime minister on June 24, 2010, she argued as justification that the government had “lost its way”. Mr Rudd mocks this rationale and argues the words were market-tested before the coup.
Mr Rudd wrote that one of the strongest supporters of the coup was former minister Tony Burke, who was motivated to turn on him by the prospect of becoming deputy prime minister. He wrote that Mr Burke “offered himself unsuccessfully” as a running mate to Ms Gillard two months before the coup.
Mr Rudd argued his government was not “chaotic”, its “policy challenges” were not insurmountable and it had a “clear political narrative”.
But he acknowledged “heavy political weather on four policy fronts” — asylum-seekers, climate change, the mining tax and stimulus program waste — and accepted “ultimate responsibility” for those polices. Others, he said, were not blame-free.
He wrote that Ms Gillard ran an “internal campaign” to abolish the carbon pollution reduction scheme and suggested she or her supporters were behind a damaging leak to a newspaper that it had been shelved by a cabinet committee before it was considered by the full cabinet, in order to ensure cabinet compliance.
“(Gillard) sent me a written communication saying that under no circumstances could she, or would she, support an emissions trading scheme going to the next election,” Mr Rudd wrote.
Nor did Ms Gillard support an early election or double-dissolution election on climate change.
While recognising the “postponement” of the CPRS was “wrong”, Mr Rudd said it was necessary to “prevent a total split in the government in an election year led by (Gillard’s) implacable hostility to the ETS”.
On asylum-seeker policy, Mr Rudd accepted responsibility for the increase in refugees travelling to Australia. He noted that Ms Gillard was a persistent internal critic of the government’s policies but never had any “credible” alternative ideas.
“(Gillard) in particular argued that it was inconceivable to risk the re-election of a Labor government on the basis of prevailing asylum-seeker policy settings,” Mr Rudd wrote.
“(Gillard) consistently argued for new policy options but failed to offer any until the week prior to the 23rd of June.”
Ms Gillard advocated “what has become known as the East Timor Solution”. But Mr Rudd “did not believe it to be credible” as it would undermine Australia-East Timor relations and was likely to fail. Ms Gillard subsequently championed this idea but it was not supported by East Timor and never implemented.
Mr Rudd also lashed Wayne Swan for his botched handling of the mining tax. He accused Mr Swan of “a fatal error of communication” with the mining industry and fellow ministers, including Ms Gillard, over the negotiation of the tax. As “public debate became intense”, Mr Swan “went abroad at crucial junctures” for “non-essential meetings”, he wrote.
Although Mr Rudd accepted “responsibility” for the resource super-profits tax, he said “it cannot be sustained that the treasurer discharged (his) responsibility competently”.
Mr Rudd added that the industry’s campaign against the tax “assisted those in the government seeking a change in the prime ministership”. “(Gillard) supported by (Swan) acted to remove the prime minister at the point when a negotiated outcome with the bulk of the mining industry … was within days of being reached,” he concluded.
Mr Rudd also wrote that Ms Gillard must accept responsibility for the failures of the Building the Education Revolution program and former minister Mark Arbib must be held accountable for the Home Insulation Program, which led to four deaths.
While accepting that Ms Gillard took responsibility for the BER “seriously” and implemented it “effectively”, Mr Rudd said Mr Arbib never raised any concerns about the insulation program with him and “has, by and large, escaped any form of serious public scrutiny”.
Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was scathing of Julia Gillatd after he was deposed as the nation’s leader. Picture: Jack Tran Source: News Corp Australia
on 24-09-2014 10:40 AM
a nest of vipers, who bite and bite and bite again.
Hmmm... LOL
24-09-2014 12:02 PM - edited 24-09-2014 12:05 PM
I think you must like them( or be fascinated by them) as you follow every little news report about them and start a thread about it.
They are 1 or 2 Prime Ministers ago now, most people are interested in what the current PM is or isn't doing.
Have you got any quotes (from reliable sources) where Julia Gillard explicitly states " I hate Kevin Rudd" ?
on 24-09-2014 12:04 PM
24-09-2014 12:11 PM - edited 24-09-2014 12:12 PM
No, I don't think so either. I am sure the average citizen doesn't care less now what Julia said... or what Kevin said....
They aren't in power. Those two aren't the ones trying to introduce very unpopular & unfair budget measures.. that will affect detrimentally the unemployed youth, aged pensioners, families, current and prospective uni students, disabled persons.
When Abbott was asked recently if he wants the average Uni fees to cost students $100 000 like in the US, all he could reply with his well worn quote of ' they don't have to pay anything up front'.
on 24-09-2014 12:11 PM
Well he'd better hurry up before it's too late.
on 24-09-2014 12:18 PM
LOL Joono
24-09-2014 12:24 PM - edited 24-09-2014 12:26 PM
So lets see
All the usuals carrying on abut their undying love for Jules here is OK http://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/The-Gillard-interview/m-p/1526979#U1526979
The fact Ray Martin did a full interview with her is OK
The fact its head lines in every major newspaper and TV outlet today is OK.
The fact she has re-opened the hatred and bitterness in the Labor party is whats news, her hatred and slander of Rudd is news, and so is his reply
HHMMM Just seems to be a lot of personal attacks on me from the usuals in this post, keep going as its funny to see....
24-09-2014 12:30 PM - edited 24-09-2014 12:32 PM
A different perspective is not interpersonal.
The opening post (Bolt's opinon piece) is just that his opinion. People are not obliged to agree with his views. Why is he still fascinated with the Julia/Kevin show? Does he write articles about Abbott now, or LNP MP's. Surely he must have got his mileage out of Gillard and Rudd by now.
People do genuinely wonder why some can only post about Gillard/Rudd even though they are yesterday's news now? Perhaps you could enlighten us, as to why?