Will Gillard Survive the “Killing Zone?”
Kevin Rudd has the fate of the Labor leadership in his hands, with another poll showing support for the Labor Party under Julia Gillard has slipped below 30 per cent for the first time in a year.
The latest Newspoll published this morning, shows the coalition has opened up a whopping 19-point lead over Labor on the primary vote at 48 to 29.
It also shows Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has recorded his biggest lead over Ms Gillard as preferred prime minister at 45 to 33.
Julia Gillard’s support has fallen two points.
With Parliament entering its final sitting week before the September 14 election – a period referred to as the “killing zone” – all eyes are now on Mr Rudd.
Speculation is at fever pitch that he will challenge after this second bad poll. A Nielsen poll last week also put Ms Gillard’s primary vote at 29 per cent.
Ms Gillard’s supporters have declared she will not quit the leadership and have dared Mr Rudd to test his numbers in a ballot.
The Rudd camp thinks he would narrowly win, but this falls short of his demand to be drafted by the overwhelming majority of MPs.
One supporter said it was hoped a “bandwagon effect” would convince other caucus members to put aside their personal feelings and vote for Mr Rudd.
The PM’s backers made clear a leadership fight would be bloody.
Senate leader Stephen Conroy said he did not believe Ms Gillard would step down.
“If it’s to be brought to a head, well Kevin Rudd will have to decide to challenge,” he said.
Senator Conroy said, like Peter Garrett, he would not serve on the frontbench if Mr Rudd came back.
Defence Minister Stephen Smith said no one in Cabinet had the guts to ask Julie Gillard to quit.
However cracks are already beginning to appear in the ranks of Gillard supporters with some suggesting a showdown this week is inevitable.
This morning Craig Emerson said “Whatever transpires during the course of the week… it must be the end of it.”
theguttertrash.com 
Ruddmentum is gathering….
Labor MP Stephen Jones on leadership tensions: “I think it has to be resolved. Best way would be a ballot”
As long as the unions don’t win, I don’t care anymore.
Apparently lots of union friendly bill to be rushed through this week.
Gillard’s is the cockroach prime ministership. It will not die.
#La Cucaracha
I’m sick of this whole spectacle. Labor has well and truly done itself in. There is no act of narcissistic stupidity which could come as a surprise.
The egotistical tyrant Rudd was rolled by the unions. Their creature Gillard, channeling Lady McBeth called the spirits:
Now she cannot escape that curse. Her blood-soaked hand dispatched Rudd from office yet he survives as a toothy loon – smiling, crazed and driven only by revenge. Nothing else explains his actions. Both he and Gillard are acting out of unalloyed self-interest.
Gillard is a desperate hollowed-out wreck of a human being. She will say anything that she thinks will help her survive and she appears to have some very strange notions as to what that may be. Her war on blue ties is not going well. Rudd is enjoying some popular acclaim. He says he is “here to help” but nothing he does really helps the party. Maybe it compensates for his humiliating dethroning. Inside he is probably more bitter and twisted than Mad Mark Latham.
And so the Shakespearean tragedy plays out. The natural order of things is disturbed by the stabbing of a sitting PM. The consequences cannot be stopped and the cycle will play out until the natural order is restored at the next election. Nothing would surprise me now. I just want this nightmare over.
Eloquent as always SB… 😆
I kind of want the nightmare over too!!
But the prolonged assassination is interesting and has some entertainment value. It’s not as if Gillard doesn’t deserve exactly what she is getting.
I still don’t care, but is one 457 visa holder seeking help?
12:11pm: Alastair Campbell, former director of communications to the British Prime Minister Tony Blair, will be popping into the Prime Minister’s Office later today.
Just to say hi, nothing official, a spokesman for Ms Gillard has confirmed to breaking news reporter Jonathan Swan.
From SMH
Still do t care, but, the plot thickens
Also from SMH
12:21pm: Alex Ellinghausen photographs Chloe Bryce arriving at Canberra Airport.
Ms Bryce was collected by Gordon – who is usually Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s favourite driver.
“Both he and Gillard are acting out of unalloyed self-interest.”
For once I might give Gillard some slack. i am sure she wanted to be PM but I suspect the rumours about Rudd are true. He was just impossible to work with and the govt had become disfunctional.
It is clear a lot of them would rather lose their seats rather than work for Rudd. That is unusual in human beings.
Interesting reading…
“Constitutional consequences of a Labor leadership change”
http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/4775814.html
Tee-hee
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/gloomy-economic-commenters-help-keep-it-real-20130624-2orud.html#ixzz2X6Fw7Ecz
Rudd wins — we all lose! To Phoney Tony and the NO Coalition!
I’m barracking for jools over the Ruddster, to make sure we get both houses in conservative hands.
Must admit I find Labor voters hard to fathom. From what i have heard Rudd was a nightmare to work with. But Gillard supporters are saying that Rudd is not loyal trying to being down a sitting PM. But how did Gillard get the job??
“Must admit I find Labor voters hard to fathom.”
Remaining Labor voters are not the most rational of people. More like devotees of a discredited cult. At the top of the food chain the cult leaders and other functionaries who make a living out of the cult. Then there are the life-long supporters. They may hate what has happened to the party, but can’t let go. Lastly there is an assortment of coprophages, oddballs, nut-jobs and the merely barking mad. Not sure which category Deknarf falls into. Could even be all of the above.
deknarf is weird, visit his website for an understanding of his state of mind.
There is no act of narcissistic stupidity which could come as a surprise.
Knitting a kangaroo for a royal baby comes close:
That’s a nice picture of Our Julia. It conveys the impression of a
deluded queen of hearts perched on her thronestrong, independent, staunchly republican woman.I think you’ll find the most vociferous of the remaining ALP supporters are welfare recipients. Particularly the ones that don’t relate to the old age pension.
They seem to be threatened by Abbott.
Alistair Campbell’s advice to Rudd:
Can’t see it myself but….
“On Ben Fordham’s 2GB show just now, Graham Richardson said he’s been talking to Rudd backers and believes there will be a challenge on Thursday, and Rudd will win it.”
So then
Is he off to China or not ?
He’ll probably phone in when a grateful party begs him to lead them.
I don’t think it’s over, even if Rudd doesn’t challenge
There’ll be 30 MPs willing to partition caucus if the numbers are there and if they’re serious about remaining employed
Caucus is already well and truly partitioned!
Rudd is such a dickhead
It sounds like he’s expecting a delegation of them to come to him and to lay prostate on cushions before him to beseech their throne seated beloved ex-ruler to challenge and then they are to wash his feet with perfumed oils and carry him like a British Raj in a sedan hoisted up upon their shoulders with him hidden by mosquito netting with Speaker Anna Bourke and dumped NT Senator Trish Crossin decorating the way with rose petals whilst Ed Husic heads the procession and plays a flute to herald the coming of the new leader straight into the party room for the coronation
Pathetic !
Mean while, Gillard knits, and labor burns, amusing really.
“It sounds like he’s expecting a delegation of them to come to him and to lay prostate on cushions before him to beseech their throne seated beloved ex-ruler to challenge and then they are to wash his feet with perfumed oils and carry him like a British Raj
Perhaps…
Although I think he’s just biding his time until after the election…
I mean he hardly owes them any favours does he?
Why wouldn’t anyone in his shoes want the job now, when he can stand by and witness the ultimate humiliation of Gillard and those who installed her…
Kevin’s “doing her slowly” as Keating might’ve said..
After the election, he’ll be Labor’s last glimmer of hope if they want to resemble any last relic of a political force.
There’s talk of a spill on Thursday @ 4.30pm and the new PM will have an election in early August… probably on the 3rd.
This rumour cannot be verified.
As I’ve been saying, Tip Custard & Kevin Kustard the Kowardly Kousins of Kansas
“Although I think he’s just biding his time until after the election…”
At this rate he will be the only member of caucus after the election. That would probably suit him fine.
Why wouldn’t anyone in his shoes want the job now, when he can stand by and witness the ultimate humiliation of Gillard and those who installed her
Because he’s demonstrating what a self-centred Fuckwitâ„¢ he is to those people who WOULD vote for him as PM …
… he don’t give a FF about the country … is Kevin really here to help? Or is that just another lie?
Sit Kevin in the seat and the other lot will dump Abbott for Turnbull in an eyeblink!
Its called getting rid of the monkey on your back …
‘Sit Kevin in the seat and the other lot will dump Abbott for Turnbull in an eyeblink!’
Nah, won’t happen before the election. The people will vote on policy platform, not personalities, so the Rudd push won’t make much difference unless he dismantles every unpopular thing jools has done…. like a revolutionary.
“Because he’s demonstrating what a self-centred Fuckwitâ„¢ he is to those people who WOULD vote for him as PM …”
Very true.
But he is human after all.
After the humiliation of being dumped by his own party I can appreciate the desire for some Kevenge…
The people will vote on policy platform
Yeah, like they are now … in any policy race the Libs are fkd … the ALP have covered a broader community with promises …
What really bothers me is a two house landslide … power corrupts but absolute power etc. …
‘What really bothers me is a two house landslide …’
The incoming government needs a mandate, otherwise it will be a double D election and nobody wants that.
egg, the system is designed to have an Opposition with teeth … a two house landslide will create a dictatorship … and if General “Shit Happens” Abbott doesn’t scare you nothing will …
A centre right party in a democracy gets a landslide victory, I’m not afrayd.
“What really bothers me is a two house landslide … power corrupts but absolute power etc. …
Indeed TB..
I disagree with egg’s view that people will vote on policy..
The Libs are a policy-vacuum but are already in a landslide election winning position.
Ultimately I think that people vote on two things:
1. The impact on their own hip pocket, and;
2. Personalities
It’s too early to judge on 1, but Labor “seem” to have overspent on things they didn’t need to.
As for 2, they’re both equally contemptible, but since no one actually voted for Gillard, maybe many people are prepared to vote for ABG (anyone but Gillard). That seems to be the sentiment…
“A centre right party in a democracy gets a landslide victory, I’m not afrayd.”
So you’re hoping for Labor to be re-elected then..
Chuckle @ sreb! 😆
I don’t blame The Kevster for twisting the knife slooooooowly.
They’re all there for self aggrandisement. Name me one who is really doing it out of altruism.
“What really bothers me is a two house landslide … power corrupts but absolute power etc. …”
Me too.
That’s about the only relevance this election has on my radar. The magnitude of the loss/victory…& the imbalance which it will likely confer.
‘The Libs are a policy-vacuum’
Not really, they have some serious infrastructure in mind.
“They’re all there for self aggrandisement. “
Well Talcum and Kevin certainly are. It’s not like they need the money or anything like that..
Whereas the droner from Altona is in it for the post-political career income and superannuation perks..
I wonder how she’ll go on the speaker circuit? Probably as successful as Howard…
(ie not exactly “in demand”)
“they have some serious infrastructure in mind.”
I can think of the tree planting thing, do you have any other “specifics”?
They said they would bring out a white paper on growing the north…
“They said”
Guffaw… 😆
People will vote against Gillard only because they don’t trust her. The electorate hankers for an honest leader and they probably won’t get one from the current choices. Gillard could promise record tax cuts and she’d go backwards
If Kev gets the job, people will be pleased. If Gillard keeps it, they get to knife her themselves, they’ll be pleased
“If Kev gets the job, people will be pleased. If Gillard keeps it, they get to knife her themselves, they’ll be pleased…”
Yep.
Gillard reckons she’s going to lead a majority Labor govt following the next election…
😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆
I think Cafe Sycophancy may be writing her material now? 😯
Gillard is delusional. That appeals to some
Gillard and CU are delusional. Coincidence? I think not.
Bloody hell Egg
You’ve cracked it ……..
“Gillard and CU are delusional. Coincidence? I think not.”
That explains the constant Question Time commcntary
“Catching Up” is Julia Gillard
3 years ago Gillard did the air brushed glamour photos for the same rag. Now she’s got a new makeover and has embraced her inner spinster. The knitting bogan Prime Minister.
Meanwhile the cw pensioners think it’s a great idea. No wonder, they deride physical activity and knitting would be about as strenuous as their activities would get
Looks like its all kicking off again. Will he, won’t he, he said, she said, enemies in the camp, if nothing else it’s a novel of epic proportions for Jessica Rudd.
Meanwhile,
In another complication, crossbench MP Rob Oakeshott sent out a warning of his own, telling Labor parliamentarians and the Governor-General, Quentin Bryce, that the parliamentary majority for any new Labor leader could not be assumed.
”I do not automatically support any political party,” he said. ”I support policy for the nation. I make decisions in this Parliament on nothing other than the policies.”
I wonder if he has seen any ” internal polling”
Oakeshott is quitting, smart move.
http://www.portnews.com.au/story/1596618/im-done-oakeshott-calls-it-quits/?cs=257
I’ll be very surprised if Rudd accepts the poisoned chalice of leading a deeply divided Party…at this point.
Oakeshott: jumping, rather than being hurled.
Still time for a Shortman, Rudd deal
Tony windbag quitting too
A tearful Mr Windsor said he had health problems and his family had urged him not to stand.
The rats are all leaving the sinking ship.
Windsor on refugees: “I think all of us should be ashamed of ourselves.”
Oakshott:
“There is nothing about the fear of losing at the ballot in this decision”
Of course not, nothing at all… 🙄
Windsor: fleeing, rather than being executed…
Barnaby shortening.
Obviously both Murdoch Plants.
“Obviously both Murdoch Plants.”
Goes without saying.
Julia’s knitted Kangaroo has made world news 😯
10:45 AMsamantha maiden @samanthamaidenBob Katter press conference @ 11 am on “confidence in prime minister”
Maybe she should have knitted a Tasmanian tiger
“Maybe she should have knitted a Tasmanian tiger”
Perhaps a Cane Toad would be more appropriate
Rob Oakeshott, gave one of the best interviews (honest and open) I’ve seen this year on Lateline … even Emma got a little flustered with his well delivered answers …
As I said to, The Minister, its just a pity politicians only seem to tell the bloody truth when they are LEAVING!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Perhaps a Cane Toad would be more appropriate
Or a Cockroach …
Oh! And get fucked, Wally … 😉
Union officials threaten to strip Labor MPs of preseclection if they don’t back Julia Gillard
Huff