Simon Crean dined at the La Cantina restaurant in the Canberra suburb of Narrabundah with Kevin Rudd, Robert McClelland, Ed Husic, Chris Bowen, Mike Kelly, Joel Fitzgibbon and Justine Elliott. Photo: Melissa Adams
Phillip Coorey Chief Political Correspondent
“This was a dinner for Rob McClelland. He’s a mate of mine, I go back a long way with him,’’ Simon Crean said. Photo: Erin Jonasson
Former Labor leader Simon Crean has said nobody should read anything into his attendance at a dinner in Canberra on Wednesday with Kevin Rudd and a group of his hard-core supporters.
Mr Crean dined at the La Cantina restaurant in the Canberra suburb of Narrabundah with Mr Rudd, Robert McClelland, Ed Husic, Chris Bowen, Mike Kelly, Joel Fitzgibbon and Justine Elliott.
Mr Crean told The Australian Financial Review that the dinner was arranged for Mr McClelland, the former attorney-general and now backbencher who will retire at the September 14 election.
“This was a dinner for Rob McClelland. He’s a mate of mine, I go back a long way with him,’’ Mr Crean said.
Last week, Mr Crean was the first senior minister to call for Labor to make greater use of Mr Rudd to help its electoral prospects.
His call carried the caveat that Mr Rudd needed to show discipline and not campaign for his own leadership but for the good of the government.
Supporters of Mr Rudd were starting to fret on Wednesday that the former prime minister was overreaching and thus jeopardising any chance of making a comeback.
Fearful that he might be alienating those in caucus whose votes he will need if there is a move on Prime Minister Julia Gillard, some key Rudd backers are confiding that he needs to back down.
As they expressed their concern, an email from a disillusioned voter slamming Mr Rudd’s behaviour was circulated throughout the party and quickly leaked to the media, all while Mr Rudd was in Adelaide on Wednesday speaking at a reconciliation breakfast.
In doing so, he flagged a new element of policy by declaring that Australia needed to double the number of indigenous university students.
On Tuesday, Mr Rudd used an extended interview on Sky News to take a veiled swipe at Ms Gillard and Treasurer Wayne Swan over the failure of the mining tax to raise any significant revenue so far. The Coalition used his statements as ammunition during question time on Wednesday.
Kevin Rudd’s extended interview on Sky News.
On the weekend, Mr Rudd insisted that the federal police conduct a more thorough investigation of the leaking of video footage a year ago showing him swearing and losing his temper when he was prime minister. This was perceived within caucus as sooling the police on to the prime minister’s office.
A year ago, when Mr Rudd was gearing up to challenge Ms Gillard, he frustrated his supporters by being drawn out by the Gillard camp too early, rather than waiting patiently until after the Queensland state election in March, when there would be momentum for change.
Internal tensions were evident on Wednesday when the email from the voter, Sue Martin, spread throughout the Parliament. Ms Martin, a retired school teacher from Sydney’s northern beaches, told The Australian Financial Review she was not a member of any political party but just a disillusioned voter. She sent the email to Mr Rudd and 88 other Labor MPs and senators.
“Your disloyalty to your leader and your party is shameful,’’ it reads.
“Get over the fact that you are no longer the prime minister. It appears that childishly you feel that if you can’t be PM then no other Labor politician should be.’’
Ms Martin’s email tells Mr Rudd he is mostly to blame for the mess Labor finds itself in.
“Your determination to destabilise the government and your refusal to unconditionally support Julia Gillard, your leader and our Prime Minister, are despicable.’’
In Adelaide, Mr Rudd softened his criticism of the mining tax, which raised just $126 million in its first six months, saying “there was still a way to go’’.
“I think six months into a new taxation regime that only came into effect in the last year, is probably too early to judge its long-term effect,” he said. He flew back to Canberra to appear on Wednesday night on the popular Channel Ten show The Project.
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The Australian Financial Review
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