January 31, 2012
Eyes on Rudd after devastating poll
A sobering Newspoll points to a landslide defeat for Labor but fuels Kevin Rudd's chances of making a comeback as party leader.
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Senior Labor minister Simon Crean insists former prime minister Kevin Rudd is not the solution to the government's poor opinion poll results, saying the ousted leader lost his position because he was not a "team player".
In a series of interviews this morning, Mr Crean, himself a former Labor leader, said Mr Rudd and his supporters must accept he would not be prime minister again.
It's over ... Simon Crean, with Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd. Photo: Andrew Meares
"He can't be prime minister again," Mr Crean told 3AW. "He's got to accept that. Has he? That's a question that should be put to him and I think every time it's been put to him he does accept it.
"People will not elect as leaders those they don't perceive as team players.
"I think that part of the reason he lost the leadership is because he wasn't [a team player].
"There's no point having a band of prima donnas unless they operate as a team."
Mr Crean stressed the party had to be united, was best served by running a full term, and should not contribute to leadership speculation.
"The leadership will not be vacant," he said.
"There is no capacity for challenge. There is no contender that has the numbers. And the sooner the party wakes up to that ... the better off we will be.
"One thing the Labor Party has got to learn is that it doesn't solve its polling problems by simply changing the leader."
Mr Crean said he did not believe the Foreign Minister would mount a challenge against Prime Minister Julia Gillard despite newspaper reports suggesting she had lost the support of the NSW Right.
"I do not believe a challenge can or will be mounted," he told ABC Radio.
"I think the obligation on caucus, as always, is to get behind the leader and that, I believe, is firmly still the position."
The latest Newspoll has Labor's two-party preferred vote unchanged from early last month on 46 per cent to the Coalition's 54 per cent.
Satisfaction with Ms Gillard dropped from 36 per cent last month to 33 per cent last weekend. Her support as preferred prime minister fell three points to 40 per cent while that of Opposition Leader Tony Abbott was up one to 37.
Mr Crean said the leadership speculation was coming from the same quarters as previously within the party.
"[But] they haven't got the numbers," he told ABC TV.
"All they've got is an attentive ear of any media outlet that wants to run a division line or a leadership challenge."
Mr Crean said the government was paying a price in the polls for hard economic decisions taken throughout last year.
But he believed the government would run its full term and did not think independent MP Andrew Wilkie's desertion of Labor was as dire as some suggest.
"He is prepared to oppose a no-confidence motion, except of course unless we do something stupid, and then I think all bets are off anyway," he said.
"The truth is he has said only, as I understand it, that he will consider each budget bill on its merits - well they [the crossbench] do that now."
AAP
Rudd wasn't a team player, will never be leader again: Crean
