There is no doubt that Gillard always wanted the top job. Rudd knew that, despite all of the denials.
It's just that she didn't necessarily want it now. she would wait untill after the election. Labor, if not defeated, would be severely damaged. She intended to walk in there with slogans of, "Hello, I'm Julia from Werribee, and I'm here to help"
But, as is like many things in life, things did not go to "Plan Julia".
The Penrith bi-election spooked the trade union hacks and factional warlords into action. Forget about the Neilsen polls, Galaxy Poll and the HC Poll, their private polling was telling them that they were getting smashed in all of the traditional Labor bogan electorates, across Australia. Labor was losing touch with their traditional voters. They could not understand Kevin07s type of language, because it is more than two syllables.
They needed someone who talked...ssslllowwwllyyy...like Julia Gillard.
So, that is why this move took everyone by surprise, including Julia. The only people who really knew something was up was Shorten and Habib. Shorten has an axe to grind with Rudd for favoring Combet over him anyway. Not even Tanner knew and I doubt whether Treasurer Swan would actually know what day of the week it was, let alone anything else.
This is nothing more than a desperate attempt to salvage an election victory. Nothing has changed. The policies have not changed. The government needs at least $9B from the mining sector to patch up their budget, after all of the waste and mismanagement. The miners should not be conned by the red head.
