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September 2nd, 2011 
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There are reports some senior Labor MPs are allegedly urging Julia Gillard to stand down as Prime Minister.
Tick, tick, tick … Prime Minister Julia Gillard, with Immigration minister Chris Bowen / Pic: Lyndon Mechielsen
Source: The Daily Telegraph
More popular than Gillard … former PM Kevin Rudd. Picture: The Daily Telegraph
Source: PerthNow
JULIA Gillard has launched an extraordinary pitch to keep her job, claiming she is still the best person to lead Labor despite mounting pressure on her leadership.
As forces within her own caucus were deep in discussions yesterday about the future of the Prime Minister and the possibility of a return to the man she deposed, Kevin Rudd, Ms Gillard was forced to appear on television to hose down dissension, The Daily Telegraph reported.
“I’m not going anywhere. I’ve too much to do,” she said.
“I’m the best person to do this job and I’ll continue to do it and what this job is about … leading the nation to a better future. (The government) will run full term to 2013, as I’ve always said we would.”
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Ms Gillard said she had not considered stepping down, nor had she been approached to.
But several senior Labor sources confirmed the discussion was now serious and that, while there was no move at present against Ms Gillard, “consideration” was being given to whether Mr Rudd – who is considered more popular with the electorate – could drag Labor out of its current electoral mire.
No way Julia can turn this around
Phones ran hot yesterday as powerbrokers tried to assure nervous MPs that Ms Gillard’s leadership was safe in the wake of the crushing blow delivered by the High Court this week to throw out her Malaysian Solution on asylum seekers.
The factional leaders behind the Rudd coup that delivered Ms Gillard the leadership 14 months ago yesterday publicly backed the Prime Minister.
Assistant Treasurer Bill Shorten, who has been canvassed as a replacement option, said Ms Gillard “is the right person, at the right time, for the job”.
“(Voters) don’t expect us to just sit around and have long discussions about each morning’s headlines. Julia Gillard is just doing a very, very strong job,” Mr Shorten said.
NSW powerbroker and Sports Minister Mark Arbib also backed Ms Gillard, saying: “She has shown enormous guts and determination and should be allowed to get on with her job.”
The independents have also thrown their support behind the embattled Prime Minister and, with parliament not due to return until the week after next, Labor MPs admitted any talk was unlikely to turn to action in the short term.
But a number of senior MPs confirmed that discussion was underway over Ms Gillard’s leadership.
The rearguard movement against the Prime Minister is coming mainly from Ms Gillard’s own Left faction and a breakaway group of right-wing MPs, unlike the Rudd coup, which was led by the factional warlords.
Senior party sources yesterday claimed “75 per cent” of the Left had committed themselves to changing leadership.
A senior Left source said the faction resented being kept out of the decision to dump Mr Rudd, and felt betrayed on the issue of asylum seekers, having stayed silent on the Malaysian Solution in the interests of solidarity, despite their disquiet over the policy.
Left powerbroker Doug Cameron said Ms Gillard had his support but warned: “The position that is beginning to solidify in the Left of the party is that the (Labor) national platform should be implemented and the national platform is a document that says asylum seekers should be processed on-shore.”
But even members of the Right claimed the anger at Labor’s electoral position was now leaking into the majority faction, with one MP saying: “We are at stage one, and that is that there are a lot of people now committed to change. Stage two is who. And we haven’t got to that stage yet.
“The five people being talked about are Rudd, (Simon) Crean, (Stephen) Smith, Shorten and (Greg) Combet.”
Another senior Right MP said: “These things take on a life of their own. Who knows where we will be in 24 hours.”
Ms Gillard has now, for the first time since taking over the Labor leadership, become only an outside chance to take the party to the next election.
Betting agency Centrebet rates her a $2 chance to be Labor leader whenever the election is held, while they have her rivals at $1.75.
In 24 hours, Ms Gillard drifted dramatically from being an odds-on favourite at $1.60 to the current $2 quote.
Centrebet spokesman Neil Evans said the collapse of the Malaysia refugee swap deal was a major trigger for the rapid blowout of her odds.
The big mover in the market has been Mr Rudd, who was $13 early yesterday but firmed to $7 by 5pm.
Mr Crean’s price has also shortened, from $5 to $3.50.
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