Email reveals Julia Gillard's concerns for Labor under Kevin Rudd
A newly released email between former prime ministers Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd, just two days before Gillard challenged the then Prime Minister, has revealed Gillard's warning that the Labor Party was seen as "incompetent and out of control".
According to The Australian, the never-before-seen email, dated Monday 21 June 2010, offers a rare insight into the hours before Gillard plunged the ALP into crisis with a leadership challenge against Kevin Rudd.
It shows how Gillard warned Rudd and his chief of staff that the ALP was headed towards an electoral wipeout, especially surrounding concerns over asylum seeker policy.
“To state the obvious — our primary is in the mid-30s; we can’t win an election with a primary like that and the issue of asylum-seekers is an enormous reason why our primary is at that low level,” Gillard wrote, after it was announced the party’s vote had slumped to 35 per cent.
“It is an issue working on every level — loss of control of the borders feeding into a narrative of a government that is incompetent and out of control. As you know I have been raising this with a great deal of anxiety and I remain desperately concerned about lack of progress.”
“I do not normally email you directly Kevin and I don’t intend to make it a habit."
Gillard also offered advice to combat the "key negative" areas of climate change, asylum seeker policy and the proposed internet filter.
The email was published in Rudd, Gillard and Beyond, a soon-to-be released book by political commentator Troy Bramston.
