Phillip Coorey
September 3, 2011
"I'm not going anywhere. I'm doing this job because I'm the best person to do it" ... Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Photo: Andrew Meares
A DEFIANT Julia Gillard has warned her colleagues they would have to blast her out, saying she was the best person to lead the government to the next election, despite swirling speculation of a leadership change and even a return to Kevin Rudd.
Reeling from the High Court decision that torpedoed the plan to send asylum seekers to Malaysia, the Prime Minister went on the front foot yesterday and was publicly backed by several senior ministers.
But internal debate centred on her ability to lead the party until the next election, scheduled for two years, with some now believing change is inevitable.
''She's got to get her act together,'' said a cabinet colleague.
While there is no clear alternative candidate, support is growing for Mr Rudd, who is more popular in the polls than anyone else on Labor's team, despite being deposed only 14 months ago.
Mr Rudd, who has been laid low for the past month by heart surgery, will make a brief public appearance today when he meets the visiting United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon.
Ms Gillard said: '''I'm not going anywhere. I'm doing this job because I am the best person to do it.''
While all in Labor agree the Government is in trouble, there was confusion about if, when and by whom there would be a challenge. One minister said the party would become ''a laughing stock'' if it went back to Mr Rudd.
Most agreed Ms Gillard should at least carry the party through to Christmas, enabling her to oversee passage of the controversial carbon price bill and preside over what is expected to be a fiery national conference in December.
Ms Gillard also faces a party divided over asylum seeker policy. The High Court decision leaves the government with few options other than to resort to onshore processing, or embrace the ''Pacific solution'' locations of Nauru and Manus Island in Papua New Guinea.
But the decision has cast a cloud over the legality of all overseas locations and Ms Gillard said she would not speculate on what the government planned to do next until it received written legal advice.
Ms Gillard indicated she was prepared to stare down the Left faction, which confirmed it would oppose any overseas processing and demand all asylum seekers be brought onshore.
The NSW senator Doug Cameron said the Malaysia plan was presented to the backbench as a fait accompli.
Now the plan was dead, Senator Cameron said: ''We should process people onshore and mandatory detention is only to identify health issues, people's identity and security risks''.
Ms Gillard said backbenchers were entitled to their views but ''I will deal with this as Prime Minister with the Minister for Immigration''.
One member of the Left said if the government opted for Nauru, ''the party will blow up''. Ms Gillard may hold talks with Nauru as early as next week when she attends the Pacific Islands Forum in New Zealand.
The activist group GetUp! will launch advertisements today opposing overseas processing. They will be accompanied by legal advice from Ron Merkel, QC, concluding that Nauru and Manus Island would be unlawful because of the High Court decision.
Ministers who backed Ms Gillard publicly yesterday included Nicola Roxon, Bill Shorten, Wayne Swan, Tony Burke, Anthony Albanese and Craig Emerson. The senior MP Joel Fitzgibbon also supported the Prime Minister, as did the former Queensland premier Peter Beattie. He said: ''To change leaders at this time would destroy the Labor Party.''
The independents say a leadership change would not necessarily make them end the deal with Labor.
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