Jessica Wright February 6, 2012 - 9:46AM
Labor MPs have expressed anger that they are being counted among supporters of former prime minister Kevin Rudd, who is accused of inflating his numbers in caucus to destabilise the leadership of the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard.
A Fairfax/Nielsen poll published today revealed Labor's primary vote has risen by 4 points to 33 per cent, its highest level in almost a year, while in the two-party-preferred stakes the Coalition's lead has been cut by 8 points, although it still leads Labor 53-47 - an election-winning margin.
The opposition's primary vote fell 4 points to 45 per cent.
Labor MPs have accused Foreign Affairs Minister Kevin Rudd of inflating his support in the party room in his leadership struggle with Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen
Ms Gillard's personal approval rating rose by 5 percentage points to 40 per cent and she leads the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, as preferred prime minister by 2 points - a six-point increase up to 48 - for the first time in nine months.
But the poll carried a slight sting in the tail for the Prime Minister with 57 per cent of all voters nominating Mr Rudd as the preferred Labor leader compared with 35 per cent for Ms Gillard.
In October, the same question revealed Mr Rudd ahead of Ms Gillard by 61 per cent to 30 per cent.
But among Labor voters, Mr Rudd trails Ms Gillard by 47 - 50.
During a specially convened caucus meeting yesterday - at which Mr Rudd and about 20 other MPs were absent - Ms Gillard urged her MPs to display discipline after a week of intense speculation over the Labor leadership.
Ms Gillard told the party room to focus on the government's achievements and said the only group to benefit from party disunity was the opposition.
A number of Labor MPs were incensed by a weekend report in News Ltd newspapers that published a list of MPs purported to be supporters of Mr Rudd for a tilt at the leadership.
But sources accused the Foreign Minister of "overplaying" his support in caucus.
"It is typical of Kevin to assume that because there may be some concerns, and they are real concerns, that automatically he has a right to consider that vote in the party room as his," the MP said. "This sort of arrogance was his problem last time. There may be hard decisions to take down the track but we will not be bullied into it, especially not by misinformed leaks showing false numbers."
Trade Minister Craig Emerson also dismissed the report that listed him as one of 19 MPs who were undecided about who should lead the party.
‘‘No one has phoned me,’’ he said on ABC radio this morning.
The News Ltd report listed cabinet ministers Chris Bowen, Anthony Albanese, Robert McLelland, Martin Ferguson and Chris Evans as Rudd backers.
The list also included dumped cabinet minister Kim Carr and the embattled Labor MP Craig Thomson as supporting Mr Rudd in a leadership spill.
Ms Gillard moved further to assert her dominance over the leadership last night with an interview on the Seven Network's Sunday Night.
"If you are asking me if you think I can win the 2013 election, yes I can," she said.
Asked if she would lead the Labor Party into the same election, Ms Gillard replied, "yes."
"I'm leading a government that has of course been under a lot of political pressure and of course will continue to be under a lot of pressure," she said.
Ms Gillard reacted angrily when it was suggested she had failed to convey the strengths of her personality to the electorate and instead displayed a perceived lack of warmth.
"I'm not a talk-show host . . . I'm the Prime Minister," she said.
"I don't remember people looking at John Howard and saying, 'Gee, I wish he would be warmer and cuddlier and more humorous'. I think the same stand should apply for me."
Ms Gillard also received a measure of support from one of the figures who helped her to form government in 2010.
Key rural independent MP Tony Windsor said his support for the government was not guaranteed in the event of a change in the Labor leadership. Arriving at Parliament House this morning, Mr Windsor said a new leader would most likely need to call a snap election as the numbers on the floor of the house could not be relied upon.
''The Labor Party, or those few that are actually raising these things, should stop and think a little bit about the big items that are out there,'' Mr Windsor said. ''The National Broadband Network, the Murray Darling, the climate change agenda, the rent resource tax stuff. They are long term issues and if there was a strategy to change leaders at this moment . . . there would have to be a snap election otherwise it would be a waste of time doing it.''
Climate Change Minister Greg Combet today defended Ms Gillard’s performance, saying she displayed ''nerves of steel'' in cobbling together the passage of the carbon tax.
''She is a tough and intelligent prime minister,'' he said. ''She has seen through some of the most difficult reforms you can take.''
The government will face a tough two weeks in the first parliamentary session of of the year with the opposition vowing to probe the government on two credibility issues, namely the investigation into Labor MP Craig Thomson and the Australia Day tent embassy debacle.
''The Craig Thomson affair...drags on and on and endlessly on,'' Mr Abbott said today. ''It really is up to the Prime Minister to state whether she has full confidence in Fair Work Australia's investigation. It is up to the Prime Minister to state whether she thinks it’s acceptable for any Fair Work Australia report to remain secret.
''. . . as long as Craig Thomson remains under this terrible cloud, this will be a tainted government because it relies on the support of a tainted member.''
It will also be the first full sitting week for the new Speaker, Peter Slipper, who resigned from the Liberal National Party last year to sit as an independent.
The government will also be without the guaranteed support of independent MP Andrew Wilkie, who withdrew his backing after Ms Gillard reneged on her deal on poker machine reform - leaving it with a single-vote margin in the Parliament.
