NSW Liberal State Minister Accuses PM Kevin Rudd of Having Out-of-Control Ego; Behavioural Therapist Says ALP Leader is Close to Delusional (VIDEOS)
Since it is his second round as prime minister, Australian Labor Party leader Kevin Rudd is apparently being accorded by the media and fellow politicians the traditional 100-day honeymoon period given new national leader.
Barely a week of reassuming the position held by Julia Gillard for three years, Mr Rudd was accused by New South Wales Disability Services Minister Andrew Constance, a Liberal, of having an out-of-control ego.
The minister's charge stems from his being scratched from speaking at the launch of a DisabilityCare trial in the state in favour of the PM at the even in Newcastle on Monday.
Besides being bumped off, Mr Constance also took issued with Mr Rudd's statement that the National Disability Scheme was the fruit of Mr Rudd's 2020 summit in 2008. He said the current PM is taking credit for the idea which was first floated in the 1970s and developed by Ms Gillard, who approved the law as one of her final acts as PM, but stepped down from power on Thursday night after she lost in a leadership vote.
"This issue had bipartisanship until yesterday, when Kevin Rudd decided to take ownership of something he had nothing to do with ... He is trying to rewrite history to suit himself around one of Julia Gillard's legacies," News.com.au quoted Mr Constance.
However, the PM's spokesman said Mr Rudd was not aware that the minister was scheduled to speak at the trial of the scheme for 10,000 people in the Hunter Region in which the NSW government contributed $585 million and the federal government $300 million.
But Mr Rudd had paid tribute to Ms Gillard, his successor and at the same time predecessor, in his speech.
On Tuesday, outgoing independent MP Rob Oakeshott launched the book written about Ms Gillard by journalist Kerry Anne Walsh. The book, titled The Stalking of Julia Gillard, quoted a behavioural therapist who described Mr Rudd as having an "unshakable faith in himself that is 'close to delusional.'"
The book explained Ms Gillard's fall from power to a conspiracy between the media and Team Rudd, besides her poor performance in surveys and the inability to appeal to grassroots voters.
Ms Walsh finished the book after the failed ALP coup in March but was rushed into printing following the events on June 27. To capitalise on the latest successful coup attempt, the reprint of the book will have a new sub headline: How the media and Team Rudd bough down the Prime Minister.
"Many journalists and commentators became part of Rudd's story. They became players and enablers of his ambition. They became members of it," Ms Walsh said.
"Instead of reporting on the political class, they became members of it, and in doing so the public received a distorted view of Gillard's government and of Gillard herself ... A very poor image was presented of Julia Gillard," she added.
If such negative remarks have been stated by Opposition leader Tony Abbott - who had actually said that Mr Rudd was all talk and no action - it would not be unexpected since the PM's return to power had threatened Mr Abbott's ambition to become Australia's next prime minister by zooming past the Coalition leader in new polls after the ALP leadership spill.