Prime Minister: I will campaign with Rudd

MURWILLUMBAH: Pat Dwyer, the president of the local Labor party, gives PM Julia Gillard a kiss and tells her to 'battle on'. Picture: Luke Marsden Source: The Courier-Mail

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard will be happy to join Kevin Rudd on the hustings across Queensland in the lead up to the September poll.

Ms Gillard said Mr Rudd was part of a federal Labor team which still had a good chance of winning the federal election.

"I will be campaigning with every member of my team including Kevin Rudd,'' she said.

Labor holds just eight seats in Queensland, four with a margin of less than four percent.

Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has pledged never to challenge again under any circumstances and on Friday, invited Ms Gillard to join him in campaigning across Queensland.

The PM, who will attend the wedding of a staffer tonight in Northern New South Wales, was greeted with a round of applause as she walked into as community centre at Murwillumbah this morning.

Ms Gillard arrived about 10.40am to be greeted by about 100 locals.

Hello Julia, my name is Kevin... I'm here to help. Kevin Rudd has offered to tour Labor's Queensland battleground electorates with Julia Gillard in a sign of solidarity.

An upbeat Ms Gillard who joked with locals and took part in photographs said the election was still Labor's to win.

The leadership question was settled once and for all and the Australian people wanted to see policy take precedence, she said.

"Soldier on,'' a well wisher advised.

"I intend to,'' she replied.

Ms Gillard made an announcement that broadband roll out in Northern New South Wales would hit Murwillumbah first.

Earlier, The Courier-Mail reported Kevin Rudd said he will tour Labor's Queensland battleground with Julia Gillard in a sign that the former leader is in lock-step with the PM.

BATTLING ON: Prime Minister Julia Gillard at Murwillumbah. Picture: Luke Marsden

"If the Prime Minister wishes me to campaign with her in seats in Queensland I am more than happy to do that - if she judges that to be appropriate," Mr Rudd told The Courier-Mail last night.

"Politics is one of those things where you get to a point, there's a resolution and you move on and that's what we're doing."

Mr Rudd pointed to the seats of Moreton, Dickson, Brisbane, Flynn, Herbert and Dawson as key battlegrounds - and he says he will tour all of them with Ms Gillard if she so chooses.

Mr Rudd's popularity in Queensland is well known, with The Courier-Mail/Galaxy Poll last month showing that his return to the top job would see Labor win the majority of Queensland seats.

It has also emerged that Mr Rudd sent Simon Crean a text message on Thursday morning urging him to consult with him before publicly instigating a leadership contest.

"Gidday Simon. I'm told you saw the PM last night," the message, believed to have been sent at 9.20am, reads. "If that's so and if it in anyway touches the leadership, and if you are making any public comments, please give me a call beforehand. My position is as before. All the best. Kevin."

Climate Change Minister Greg Combet wants the Labor Party to move on from the leadership 'fiasco'.

Labor sources have said Mr Rudd was "surprised, stunned and disappointed" with Mr Crean's decision to call for a spill without consulting him.

It is believed the Member for Griffith met Mr Crean on Monday and Tuesday to discuss policy problems, but the conversation quickly turned to leadership questions and Mr Crean making clear his ambition to run for deputy leader should a vote occur.

Mr Rudd told Mr Crean he could not support such a move.

He learned of the possibility of Mr Crean's hour-and-a-half meeting with the Prime Minister on Wednesday night before heading to bed, texting him in the morning when more information became available. After receiving no reply, a call was made to Mr Crean's office that went unanswered.

At a press conference at Kangaroo Point yesterday, Mr Rudd said he was faced with clear defeat had he decided to contest the leadership.

"There was no significant majority (on Thursday) - in fact, there was no majority there at all," he said.

HOLD ON: Kevin Rudd's text message to Simon Crean on the day of the disastrous ALP spill call.

He consulted, at various times, Chris Bowen, Anthony Albanese, Joel Fitzgibbon, Alan Griffin, Kim Carr and Richard Marles.

Mr Rudd told reporters yesterday that each told him the prospects of securing a majority was effectively "zero".

"Each of them said to me, 'Kevin, I believe you should not run because it would divide the party'."

Mr Bowen and Mr Carr resigned yesterday, becoming the latest casualties of Labor's political disaster.

Kevin Rudd calls for party to unite behind Julia Gillard amid the ALP rubble. Cartoon: Leahy, March 23, 2013

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