Rudd rallies his troops after poll slump

Kevin Rudd has admitted he could have sold Labor's message better, taking "full
responsibility" for its problems as voters delivered another strong rebuke to the
government.
Labor MPs on Monday took the prime minister to task over a number of policy
backflips that have occurred since the caucus last met in mid-March.
In the intervening weeks, the federal government has seen a stunning reversal of
fortune following its decision to shelve the emissions trading scheme, scrap its
home insulation program and renege on plans to build more than 200 childcare
centres.
Just a day before the government's third budget, Mr Rudd has been given a kick up
the backside by voters in two separate opinion polls.
Labor is neck-and-neck with the coalition after the distribution of preferences,
according to the Nielsen poll and a survey by Essential Research, both published on
Monday.
Perhaps more worrying for Mr Rudd is a sizeable slump in his personal approval
rating, sparking chatter about the prospect of a leadership transition to Julia
Gillard in Labor's second term.
Nielsen showed Mr Rudd's personal approval rating fell 14 points to 45 per cent,
while his disapproval rating surged to 49 per cent.
Both polls come in the wake of last week's Newspoll, which showed the coalition
ahead of Labor for the first time since 2006.
In a lengthy address to the caucus, Mr Rudd acknowledged it was a "difficult time"
for the government.
"We need to navigate these difficult issues and address them," he said.
"Our challenge is to outline our achievements, while advocating our vision for the
future."
Mr Rudd left the pre-budget sales pitch to his most senior lieutenants on Monday,
who played down the poll slump.
Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner told ABC Radio it reflected a "couple of fairly
tough weeks".
"There's always going to be periods in the life of a government when you go through
a bit of a difficult patch and I think we've just had one," he said.
Labor MPs told AAP Mr Rudd had admitted to caucus the message the government had
been selling could have been more precise.
"There was an acknowledgment he could have done better," one MP said.
Mr Rudd was quizzed about the change of heart on climate change, as well as Labor's
decision to toughen its border protection policy.
But senior ministers are reminding MPs to keep their nerve and not let twitchiness
about opinion polls morph into suggestions of Labor disunity.
"We need as a caucus to maintain unity of purpose," Mr Rudd told caucus.
It was a message echoed by cabinet minister Chris Bowen.
"MPs and senators should always be focused on meeting the needs of their
constituents," he told reporters.
With his approval rating in freefall, Tuesday's budget will be critical to the prime
minister.
And he has indicated that he wants to use it to re-establish Labor's credentials as
fiscal conservatives, which helped it win the last election.
But while the slump for Labor should be good news for the coalition, the fall in
support for the government isn't always translating into an improvement for the
opposition.
The Nielsen poll showed the fall in support for Labor was going to the Australian
Greens and Family First.
However, the Essential poll showed a direct swap of support from Labor to the
coalition.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott told ABC radio the coalition was putting itself
forward as a credible alternative.
"(We've) gotta convince people that life would be different and better if there was
a change and that's what we're doing, I hope," he said.