http://qld.greens.org.au/


Greens' News and Views From the State Election 2012

____ wrote on Jan 25^th, 2012 at 7:36am:


- and it will be about time too.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/here-to-help-kevin-rudds-plan-f...


Here to help: Kevin Rudd's plan for poll

KEVIN Rudd will immerse himself in Queensland's March 24 election campaign, in a blitz his supporters hope will provide a launch pad for a return to the prime ministership.

The former prime minister will showcase his public popularity in his home state at the same time as Labor's federal caucus assesses whether it should stick with Julia Gillard as Prime Minister after months of poor opinion polls.

News of Mr Rudd's plan to campaign for Queensland Premier Anna Bligh came yesterday as British-based global affairs magazine Monocle lavished praise on the Foreign Minister's performance on the global stage and declared, "Julia Gillard is no Kevin Rudd".

It also came as it emerged that Ms Gillard had summoned her MPs to Canberra for a February 5 strategy session before the resumption of parliament two days later. But Mr Rudd will not attend the brainstorming meeting - he will be overseas on ministerial business.

Labor faction leaders ousted Mr Rudd in 2010 in favour of Ms Gillard and Queenslanders smashed Labor at the subsequent federal election, which delivered a hung parliament.

While Queensland Labor would gladly accept Mr Rudd's role in the Bligh campaign, party insiders agree a strong performance would boost his position in a federal leadership spill.

Despite a series of poor opinion polls last year, party powerbrokers and strategists agreed Ms Gillard would remain leader, with the situation to be reviewed in about March if polls did not improve.

Mr Rudd confirmed he intended to involve himself heavily in the Bligh campaign. "This will be the toughest election ever for Anna - and there's no debate about the underdog status," he said last night from Berlin.

"I'll be working on the ground with state members and candidates wherever Anna deems it be useful, and wherever I can be effective . . . One other thing - now that a date has been set, it would be both unique and useful if Campbell Newman finally came out from hiding and faced scrutiny - although his minders have forbidden that so far."

Earlier this month, Mr Rudd said he would focus on the suburban seat of Ashgrove, where the Liberal National Party leader needs to oust Labor's Kate Jones to succeed in his strategy of leading the Coalition to office despite not currently holding a seat.

"What I've said to the state campaign is that I will help any campaign that they want me to," Mr Rudd said. "I think I'm already down to campaign in about four or five local electorates, including obviously the state electorates here (in his federal seat of Griffith) but also in other parts of town."

Party sources confirmed Mr Rudd's campaign activities would feed federal leadership tensions.

But one Rudd supporter said: "What is he supposed to do? If he doesn't campaign he will be criticised for not helping Labor, but if he does people will accuse him of grandstanding. He can't win."

Federal Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said it was natural Labor would exploit Mr Rudd's popularity in the campaign, given the parochial nature of Queensland politics.

"I think you'll see a fair bit of (ministerial) participation across the board in the Queensland election and obviously Kevin Rudd, as a Queenslander, will be participating more in that campaign than the non-Queenslanders," he said.

Ms Gillard, who intends to campaign in Queensland, praised Ms Bligh last night as a strong, reformist leader. "The strength of the Premier's leadership and passion for Queensland was on display for the world to see during the darkest days of last year's natural disasters, and has been crucial in the difficult days of rebuilding," the Prime Minister said.

Tony Abbott said Queenslanders should use the poll to dump Labor and said Ms Bligh would have to decide which "liability" among federal Labor leaders she wanted to include in her campaign.

Nationals Senate leader Barnaby Joyce said he was at the LNP headquarters when the election date was announced and he was in election mode. "People can only be judged by their actions," the Queensland senator said.

"And the actions of the ALP in Queensland is that they are heading towards $85 billion in debt by the 2014-15 budget; they've managed to lose their credit rating."

Wayne Swan is keen to help. "Anna Bligh is a great Queensland leader," the Treasurer said.