Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has for the first time publicly attacked the leader she overthrew a year ago in a move some analysts say is proof that her job is under threat.
In an interview published in News Corp newspapers yesterday, Gillard said former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd’s government had had no purpose or plan for the future.
The extraordinary public attack on Rudd’s legacy came days after he denied a newspaper report that he was plotting a return to power as Gillard’s government tanks in opinion polls.
Gillard had been Rudd’s deputy before she challenged for the leadership as opinion polls showed their center-left Labor Party was facing defeat at looming elections.
POLL
Support for the embattled Gillard has fallen to historic lows, a leading poll showed yesterday, threatening her plans to introduce major reforms such as new carbon and mining taxes.
The AC Nielsen poll showed that only 27 percent of voters would choose her Labor party first under Australia’s system of preferential voting, the first time in the poll’s 39-year history any major party has registered under 30 percent.
The conservative opposition would win a thumping majority if an election were held now, it showed, with 59 percent support for the opposition against 41 percent for the government on a “two-party” basis, eliminating votes for minor parties. The result represents a three-percentage-point gain by the opposition.
The poll also showed that Rudd, who is now Gillard’s foreign minister, commands nearly twice as much support among the public as potential Labor leader.
It also showed growing support for the Greens, but continued solid opposition to the carbon tax.
TAX REFORMS
Gillard came to power in June last year to become Australia’s first female prime minister, ousting Rudd in an internal party coup. She went on to win a wafer-thin majority in a general election, and now governs with a one-seat majority, thanks to the support of independents and one Green MP.
Despite this, she is trying to introduce ground-breaking tax reforms, including a watered-down version of the mining tax originally planned under Rudd and the new carbon tax, which is scheduled to come into force next year.
The poll results were published yesterday in the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age newspapers.
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