Civil war as Gillard calls leadership spill

Labor's poisonous leadership brawl is splitting the party as an increasing number of MPs declare their backing for either Kevin Rudd or Julia Gillard ahead of the spill called by the Prime Minister for Monday morning.

Four senior ministers have backed Mr Rudd as he rushes back to Australia from the United States, from where he dramatically resigned as foreign affairs minister and launched a scathing attack on Ms Gillard and her supporters.

Martin Ferguson, Kim Carr, Robert McClelland and Chris Bowen today voiced support for Mr Rudd.

But there have also been a series of senior ministers, including WA's most senior Government MP, Defence Minister Stephen Smith, who have backed Ms Gillard.

Rudd backers believe Ms Gillard has 36 votes and that the rest of caucus is undecided.

Gillard backers believe Mr Rudd could muster about 30 out of 103 caucus votes but Mr Rudd's supporters say he has about 40 votes.

Housing Minister Robert McClelland is the latest to back Mr Rudd on the basis of his "overwhelming" public support.

He follows Resources Minister Martin Ferguson, who said Mr Rudd was "best placed to take on Tony Abbott".

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said he was also encouraging Mr Rudd to run for the leadership.

However, Human Services Minister Brendan O'Connor has indicated his support for Ms Gillard, describing Mr Rudd's resignation as "a look at me moment".

Environment Minister Tony Burke also indicated his support for the prime minister and said Mr Rudd has been undermining the Federal Government for more than a year.

Gillard backer Stephen Conroy said Labor MPs were breathing a "sigh of relief" that Kevin Rudd had announced his resignation.

Attorney-General Nicola Roxon said Mr Rudd was not a messiah.

Defence Minister Stephen Smith entered the fray this morning, saying Mr Rudd was not the person to save Labor.

Independent MPs who are backing Julia Gillard have warned a shift to Mr Rudd would force them to consider their support for the ALP.

Manufacturing Minister Kim Carr, demoted from cabinet in the last reshuffle by Ms Gillard, told ABC radio he would not be “intimidated” from talking in favour of Mr Rudd returning to the role of prime minister.

“I will not be intimidated by people who say I will face a penalty for having a view,” Senator Carr said.

"I'm quite clear about what has to be done on this matter.”

Ms Gillard has called a leadership spill for 7am Monday, saying Labor's leadership paralysis must end once and for all.

Ms Gillard said it was in the interests of the Labor party and the nation for the matter to be settled.

The announcement followed a snap press conference held by Mr Rudd in Washington this morning in which he hit back at his critics.

Speaking in Adelaide, Ms Gillard said she expected to receive the strong support of her colleagues, but if she lost she would go to the backbench and renounce all further leadership ambitions.

The Prime Minister called on Mr Rudd to make the same commitment should he lose the ballot, which is scheduled for 10am Canberra time, 7am in Perth.

"If against my expectation I do not receive the support of my colleagues then I will go to the backbench and will renounce any further ambition for the Labor leadership," the Prime Minister said.

"I ask (Mr Rudd) to give the same undertaking - that if he does not succeed in this ballot he will go to the backbench and renounce any further claims to the Labor leadership and act in the interest of the Australian Labor Party and our nation."

The Prime Minister said that in recent days leadership tensions had proved a distraction to governing the country.

Ms Gillard said Australians were sick of the fighting inside government and wanted the brawling brought to an end.

"I believe it is in the interests of the Labor party that it be determined once and for all, but much more importantly I believe it is in the interests of the Australian nation," she said.

"For far too long we have seen squabbling in the Labor Party which has obscured the Government's achievements and what we are doing to build a stronger and fairer Australia for the future."

Ms Gillard took a swipe at Mr Rudd's term as prime minister, saying he had famously "difficult and chaotic" work practices.

The Prime Minister said Mr Rudd was a remarkable election campaigner but different skills were needed to run a government.

Asked about Mr Rudd's support inside Caucus, she noted that when Mr Rudd was rolled as prime minister he stood down without even contesting a ballot, acknowledging he had nowhere near the numbers to beat off the challenge.

Ms Gillard took a swipe at Mr Rudd's claim he had been unseated by the so-called "faceless men" of the Labor party.

She said such a claim was a deep insult to her colleagues who were now speaking out openly against Mr Rudd.

Asked about new claims it was Mr Rudd who almost derailed Labor's 2010 election campaign by leaking stories about Ms Gillard to the media, the PM refused to finger the Foreign Minister directly.

However she said it was true the "2010 election was sabotaged".

Ms Gillard said she was confident she enjoyed the "strong support" of her colleagues.

In Washington, Mr Rudd said he has been encouraged by the support of Federal Labor members and ministers to contest for the leadership of the party.

He said that he had had many conversations with Labor members and ministers since resigning as foreign minister yesterday.

“I am very pleased and encouraged by the amount of positive support encouraging me to contest the leadership of the Labor party,” he told reporters.

Mr Rudd said he had been “frankly shocked and disappointed” by the tone and content of the personal attacks against him by several senior colleagues overnight.

Mr Rudd's resignation - announced during a 1.20am press conference in Washington yesterday - sparked civil war inside Labor ranks, with a furious Treasurer Wayne Swan fingering Mr Rudd for damaging leaks during the 2010 election campaign.

Mr Rudd said it was un-Australian for people to “hook in” to each other like that.

“Whatever our differences in politics I do not believe that these sorts of vicious personal attacks have a place in our national political life," Mr Rudd said.

He urged his backers not to retaliate.

In an appeal to national unity, Mr Rudd said people were “sick and tired” of division in both the Labor Party and between the political parties in general.

Mr Rudd today said he would announce whether he was actually going to run in any ballot, expected to be called by the Prime for Monday, when he returned home.

“I will declare my position on the future of the ALP leadership on my return to Australia,” he said.

In a clear pitch to caucus members, Mr Rudd cited his record as prime minister, declaring the achievements of his government were formidable.

“Remember it's through that period of government when I had the privilege of being prime minister that singly Australia got through the global financial crisis without going into recession and without generating mass unemployment,” he said.

“Not only that, we emerged with among the lowest debt and deficit rates of all the developed countries in the world.”

Mr Rudd said looking ahead the Australian people and business community needed to have confidence that the government was in strong and stable hands when negotiating very uncertain global financial times.

“We are not out of hot water yet when it comes to Europe.

“Therefore in the very difficult period which lies ahead in 2012, experience and confidence and discipline will be needed.”

Mr Rudd yesterday declared himself a victim of "faceless men" and said that Australia should be "governed by the people, not by the factions".

Rehearsing his pitch to Labor MPs, Mr Rudd said the Government was destined to lose power if Ms Gillard remained PM.

"There is one overriding question for my caucus colleagues, and that is who is best placed to defeat Tony Abbott at the next election," he said.

RUDD'S PITCH Yesterday, Mr Rudd said: "Mr Abbott, I believe, does not have the temperament or the experience to ever be elected and hold the office - the high office - of Prime Minister of Australia. But at present, and for a long time now, he's been on track just to do that."

He cited the failure of Ms Gillard to repudiate attacks from fellow Cabinet minister Simon Crean as the chief reason for his remarkable decision to resign while on official duty in the US.

"Minister Crean and a number of other faceless men have publicly attacked my integrity and therefore my fitness to serve as a minister in the government," he said.

"When challenged today on these attacks, Prime Minister Gillard chose not to repudiate them.

"I can only reluctantly conclude that she therefore shares these views."

Heads are expected to roll inside the Government if Mr Rudd wins a ballot. But it is understood Mr Rudd decided to resign when he learned that direct evidence of his disloyalty to Ms Gillard was about to be made public.

This includes evidence that Mr Rudd had briefed journalists a fortnight ago on a plan for a two-stage challenge: lose the first ballot, go to the backbench to carp, and be returned as the saviour a few months later.

In a statement, Ms Gillard said Mr Rudd had been a "strong and effective advocate" for Australia overseas.

She said she was disappointed that Mr Rudd had neither notified her of his decision to quit nor raised his concerns with her.

And Environment Minister Tony Burke, rubbished Mr Rudd's claim that he would never lead a "stealth attack on a sitting prime minister", saying it was the "worst kept secret in Canberra" that Mr Rudd had been undermining Ms Gillard and the government for months.

"Everybody has had enough of his stealth and undermining campaign that has been going on through the caucus and through the media," he told the ABC.

Senator Doug Cameron, a Rudd supporter, said he was shocked and extremely disappointed by Mr Rudd's resignation.

"I think the tearing down of one of our finest foreign ministers by faceless men has to stop," Senator Cameron said.

"It's bad for the party, it's bad for the nation and it's bad for the Government."

He called on the PM to persuade Mr Rudd to reconsider his resignation.

"I am sure that he's acting in what he thinks is the best interests of the party," he said.

Mr Rudd will fly into Brisbane tomorrow morning to seek counsel from his supporters and family.

Key independent MP Tony Windsor repeated his suggestion that a change of prime minister could trigger an election, saying that if the rules changed in the middle of the game, an option would be "to let the people decide who runs the place".

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said Mr Rudd had confirmed that "the faceless men are running the Labor party and that the instability at the top of this government is damaging our country".