Gillard or Rudd:We’ll know Monday

Australians should know by Monday who will lead the nation, at least until the next election, due in August 2013.

Kevin Rudd stakes his – still undeclared – claim for the job on his assertion that he can beat Tony Abbott at that election.

“There is one overriding question for my  Caucus colleagues,” Rudd declared yesterday, when he resigned as Foreign Minister.

“And that is who is best placed to defeat Tony Abbott at the next election.”

Mr Abbott responded quickly to Mr Rudd’s resignation, saying it showed that only the Conservative parties he leads can give Australia the government it deserves.

Julia Gillard, who replaced Mr Rudd as Prime Minister, in a coup in June 2010, will tell reporters later today what she will do about Rudd’s resignation his likely challenge to her position.

Mr Rudd has promised that he say whether he will challenge Ms Gillard for her job, before Federal parliament resumes on Monday.

Ms Gillard, who has been trailing badly behind Mr Abbott in opinion polls, is expected to call a leadership ballot on Monday, when Federal politicians meet in Canberra, for a new session of Parliament.

Mr Rudd quit suddenly yesterday, claiming that he no longer had the confidence of the Prime Minister, who had not defended him against attacks by senior Labor figures, including a ministerial colleague, Simon Crean.

Ms Gillard said she was sorry Mr Rudd had quit, noting that he had not raised this complaint with her.

Persistent leadership speculation has damaged both the Gillard government and business confidence in Australia over recent weeks.

Ms Gillard’s has an impressive record, steering much Labor legislation through parliament.

Her main advantage in Monday’s expected ballot, though, is likely to be Mr Rudd’s unpopularity in the Labor ministry.

His leadership style, during his earlier stint as Prime Minister, has often been criticised as idiosyncratic and difficult to live with.

Rudd, though, says a fundamental change is needed in the culture of the Labor party, freeing it from the rule of  “faceless men,”  like those who organised the putsch in which he, himself, was deposed, as Prime Minister.