THE PRIME minister of Australia will be decided on Monday, not by the people of Australia but by the 103 MPs and senators of the Labor party’s federal caucus.
Though a phony war has been going on for months, the battle for who will lead Labor – and the country – began in earnest yesterday when former prime minister Kevin Rudd officially declared he was challenging current prime minister Julia Gillard.
Ms Gillard deposed Mr Rudd 20 months ago in what he yesterday referred to as a “coup”.
Mr Rudd resigned his position as foreign minister in dramatic fashion on Wednesday through a press conference held at 1.30am in Washington, where he was on an official visit.
He did so because of what he said were attacks on his integrity. But that was playground stuff compared to what has followed since.
Treasurer Wayne Swan said his colleagues were “sick of Kevin Rudd driving the vote down by sabotaging policy announcements and undermining our substantial economic successes”.
“The Labor party is not about a person, it’s about a purpose. That’s something prime minister Gillard has always known in her heart, but something Kevin Rudd has never understood,” he said.
Ms Gillard compared Mr Rudd’s campaign to a reality television show. “The choice that my colleagues will make on Monday is about who should be prime minister of this nation,” she said.
"It is a choice about who's got the strength, the temperament, the character, the courage to lead this nation – who's got the ability to get things done even in the face of adversity. This is not an episode of Celebrity Big Brother,this is about who should be prime minister."
Most media outlets are saying Mr Rudd can only count on 30-35 votes out of 103 at present, but he is hoping the fact he is still popular with the public will get him over the line. Making a direct appeal to Australians, he said: “Your power as the people is what will count in the days ahead.
“Pick up your telephone, speak to your local members of parliament, tell them what you think, jump into the media, tell them what you think, because this is your country, it doesn’t belong to the factions of the Labor party.”
This has led to a huge email and phone campaign on behalf of Mr Rudd, but much of that effort has been wasted in calls to state and territory Labor MPs who do not have a vote in Monday’s ballot.
One of those with a vote is Co Wicklow-born Labor senator for New South Wales Ursula Stephens, who is backing Mr Rudd, but is troubled at how vitriolic the campaign has been. “I think the escalation of the personal attacks has been demoralising to the backbench and Australian voters. Caucus colleagues have been very concerned at how this has degenerated into personal attacks,” she said.
She said she had been flooded with emails about the vote. “They are running about five to one for Rudd,” she said. “I have received nearly 100 in an hour.”
Not since the dark days of the great Labor party split of the 1950s – when a large, mostly Catholic part of its membership left to form the Democratic Labor Party in protest at what it saw as a creeping communist influence – has the party been so polarised. It will be hoping Monday’s ballot can be the start of the healing and a recovery in polling numbers in time for an election due within 18 months.
Opposition leader Tony Abbott will be hoping Labor continues to tear itself apart.