Labor quietly bins Rudd troppo tax

Former prime minister Kevin Rudd's so-called "troppo tax" has been quietly consigned to the political dustbin by Labor.

Mr Rudd's proposal, announced during the election campaign to the surprise of his party, was to lower the corporate tax rate to 20 per cent for companies based in the Northern Territory.

The West Australian understands the Labor Party's campaign headquarters was not aware of the policy until Mr Rudd announced it in Darwin en route to WA.

At the traditional post-election address to the National Press Club, ALP national secretary George Wright diplomatically dispatched the issue.

"In terms of the northern Australia policy, I don't think that will be progressed too much further in the short term," Mr Wright said yesterday.

Earlier, he revealed that Mr Rudd, because of the "drawn-out and dramatic circumstances" of his return as Labor leader, had greater power in how the campaign should be run.

Mr Wright said Mr Rudd's return as PM had undoubtedly saved Labor many seats. Mr Wright revealed that in the second quarter of the year, he told Julia Gillard that internal ALP polling showed Labor could be reduced to as few as 30 seats, including just one in WA.

Labor instead won 55 seats at the September 7 election, including three in WA.

But Mr Rudd's resurrection caused internal ructions at ALP headquarters where 110 of 150 workers quit rather than campaign for Mr Rudd.

Mr Wright said the biggest problem facing Labor was disunity and a lack of discipline. "Gothic horror was a favourite subject of mine at university, so as you can tell I'm perfectly qualified to have managed the Labor Party over the last three years," he said.

Mr Wright paid tribute to Ms Gillard, saying she was "tough as nails". "The circumstances under which she got the leadership ended up being a burden that was too heavy for her to carry in the end - not personally, but politically," he said.

"There was some difficulty in the Australian community about her being the first woman PM. I think some of the ways that she was talked about, talked to and treated were awful and I hope that we never see that again."

Mr Wright said the weight of disunity became too heavy for either Ms Gillard or Mr Rudd to carry and Labor paid a price for it on September 7.