A day after he resigned from his post, former Foreign Affairs Minister Kevin Rudd is back in Australia. In a press briefing on Friday morning upon his arrival at Brisbane Airport, Mr Rudd said he would make a statement later within the day on his plans about the Australian Labor Party leadership ballot on Monday.

While he shelved temporarily all questions regarding his political plans, the former prime minister denied the charge by incumbent Prime Minister Julia Gillard that he sabotaged the 2010 election. He likewise denied that when he led the country, he ran a dysfunctional and chaotic government. He said Australia's getting though the 2008 global financial crisis is proof that he performed his leadership role well.

"This was the most systematic effort in government administration involving cabinet committees and subcommittees and working groups on every element of the economy down to the financial flows available to businesses and to the liquidity of the banks through to the overall need to provide guarantees for individual Australians' bank deposits. How do you think we did that? A systematic set of cabinet decisions and working groups which culminated in decisions that we took," Mr Rudd said.

He said those systems are documented and in turn threw a question if the national health and hospital reforms initiated by the Gillard government have full written cabinet submissions or just an oral brief.

He criticised Ms Gillard for allowing major reforms that he initiated such as the carbon tax, health reform and mining tax to languish under her leadership.

"The core question for members of the Australian parliamentary Labor party, for the Australian people, right now is whether they believe the current prime minister has the trust and confidence of the Australian people.... If you don't have that, you can't do anything else," Mr Rudd said.

He insisted picking a prime minister for Australia is a serious matter for all citizens to consider. He urged them to call their MPs and communicate with them their ideas on who should lead the nation.

"The prime ministership of this country is not something to b dealt with lightly. Certainly not something to be dealt with a midnight coup, which is what happened 18 months ago," Mr Rudd said.

Ms Gillard, in a speech at Adelaide, insisted she is still the best person to lead the Labor Party. She denied her predecessor's charge that she threatened Labor MPs with the loss of preselection if they do not support her bid on Monday. Like Mr Rudd, Ms Gillard said she would make a full statement later in the day.

Key officials have backed Ms Gillard ahead of the Monday ALP ballot. Attorney General Nicola Roxon said she would quit from the cabinet if Mr Rudd wins on Monday. Treasurer Wayne Swan and School Education Minister Peter Garrett have promised to back Ms Gillard on Monday.

The newly resigned foreign minister said he is willing to work with Gillard cabinet members if he wins Monday's poll.

"I had a whole bunch of people who had campaigned viciously against my decision to run for the ALP leadership in December 2006. What was my response? I put every one of them into senior positions within the shadow cabinet and maintained that during the position to cabinet," Mr Rudd recalled.

The country's business leaders were critical of the ongoing political wrangling within the ALP. The Australian quoted Infrastructure Australian Chairman Rod Eddington who said Labor's leadership politics has become all consuming when the focus should be how to improve productivity. Former BHP Billiton Chairman Don Argus said Labor's policy is working against Australia's competitive edge.

Business Spectator columnist Rod Burgess, in a commentary, said that even if Mr Rudd wins a caucus vote, he would lead a government that would be divided by factional animosities which would make maintaining proper cabinet processes next to impossible.

He laments that the current political situation only creates an opposition that Labor deserves and not an opposition that the Australian people deserve.

Due to the ALP squabble, Business Spectator columnist Robert Gottliebsen foresees a Tony Abbott political victory with one of the highest majorities ever recorded in Australia's parliament. He said that Mr Abbott actually was the winner in the last election, were it not for the series of deals made by Ms Gillard with minority parties that were not really sustainable.

He said a Gillard or Rudd win in the next election would be dangerous for Australia because it will see the continuation of left-wing inspired policies. However, he admitted an Abbott victory also has risks since "in his anxiousness to become prime minister, Abbott will make popular promises that make reform much more difficult."

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