Rudd-Gillard feud trumps national unity
Written by Julie Bishop Wednesday, 14 December 2011
Published on Fairfax's National Times website
Former Labor Foreign Minister and current Defence Minister Stephen Smith said in September 2010 that, ''. . . you can never have a crack of light between a Foreign Minister and a Prime Minister''.
He was making the self-evident point that it is critical for any nation to present a united and consistent front to the world.
It can be damaging to our national interest if our allies and trading partners hear one message from the Foreign Minister and another from the Prime Minister.Yet that is what has been occurring due to the increasingly bitter and dysfunctional relationship between Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd. Gillard's position is under constant threat from Rudd who is seeking another tilt at the leadership.
The malicious tit-for-tat leaking to the media as they seek to undermine each other is producing one of the most divisive relationships to be seen at the head of our national government.
Perhaps the worst example of their failure to communicate came when Julia Gillard panicked in response to the television footage involving animal cruelty in Indonesian abattoirs, and announced a total ban on exports of live cattle.
Kevin Rudd was not consulted, but assuming he was alert to the damage it would do to our relations with Indonesia, he undoubtedly would have argued against such a ban and urged a more measured response.
To make matters worse, Rudd was at a conference in Hungary when the ban was imposed and Indonesian officials reportedly first heard the news on the radio.
Rudd was forced to seek an urgent meeting with the Indonesian Foreign Minister and explain the actions of his government — an interesting conversation given that Rudd must have been furious at the incompetent handling of the announcement.
Earlier this year a very public split emerged while both were overseas, when Rudd began campaigning publicly for the imposition of a no-fly zone over Libya to prevent Colonel Gaddafi attacking his own citizens.
Gillard was in the middle of a visit to the US and pointedly refused to support the stance of her Foreign Minister.
Those nations considering whether or not to intervene militarily in Libya must have been confused as to the official position of the Australian government.
While Australia was unlikely to be called upon to make a military commitment, it was important that those nations considering such action were confident of our support.
Yet another public split occurred when Rudd wrote to Gillard advising that the government should abstain from the United Nations vote on Palestinian statehood.
That letter was leaked to the media.
Gillard effectively rebuked Rudd by indicating her preference to vote against any motion supporting Palestinian statehood.
Once again, other countries would have been confused about Australia's official policy position with regard to one of the world's most important and long-running conflicts.
In recent weeks, the Prime Minister failed to consult with Rudd or any of the experts in his department before announcing a decision to overturn the ban on uranium exports to India.
While the Coalition supports the policy backflip, it is deeply troubling that such a strategic policy decision would be made without the advice of the Foreign Minister or his department.
The tender process for the Australia Network also got caught up in their rivalry, when Gillard stripped responsibility for the $223 million contract from DFAT, which provided the funding, and handed control to Communications Minister Senator Stephen Conroy.
This appeared to be part of a deliberate attempt to humiliate Kevin Rudd.
On Monday, the Prime Minister had an opportunity to stamp her authority on the government with a cabinet reshuffle.
Instead it revealed the weakness of her position as she left Rudd as Foreign Minister despite the months of division, tension and strategic leaking designed to inflict maximum damage on each other.
Indeed, in the newspapers on the morning of the reshuffle announcement, Labor MPs were quoted as saying that Rudd will challenge Gillard for the leadership in the first half of 2012, with the timing to be decided by the polls.
The yawning chasm between Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd is unlikely to ever be breached, and while their relentless feud continues, Australia's interests will be damaged.
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