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130246
Tue, 06/29/2010 - 14:02
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Gillard reveals new cabinet without Rudd



Kevin Rudd has been overlooked for a cabinet position as his successor Julia Gillard
strives to maintain a sense of stability ahead of the next election.
The prime minister made minimal changes to her new ministry, preferring to have Mr
Rudd, whom she ousted in unprecedented circumstances last week, sit on the back
bench.
"I have determined that it is best to have as limited a reshuffle as possible to
keep the maximum stability amongst the team," she told reporters.
But Ms Gillard indicated her predecessor, whom she spoke with during the past few
days, would be offered a senior role if Labor won a second term.
"He would be very, very welcome, very welcome indeed, if the government is
re-elected, serving in a senior capacity in the team," the prime minister said.
Mr Rudd had reportedly lobbied for the foreign affairs portfolio but Ms Gillard said
the former diplomat needed to spend more time with his wife Therese Rein and their
children.
"It would enable him ... to spend more time with his family, which I know is one of
his key priorities in life," she said.
"There is nothing, nothing about this period that is happy or easy for Mr Rudd. It's
obviously a very, very stressful, difficult time."
The former prime minister reaffirmed his decision to contest the next election as
the MP for his Brisbane seat of Griffith.
"I would be prepared to serve the government in an appropriate way in the future and
that I would do so in the interests of the government and the country," Mr Rudd said
in a statement.
"I have indicated to the prime minister in subsequent discussions that this remains
my position."
Mr Rudd said he respected his successor's right to choose her cabinet appointments.
Ms Gillard's Victorian ally Simon Crean has been promoted from trade to her old
super portfolios of education, employment and workplace relations.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith adds trade to his responsibilities while Finance
Minister Lindsay Tanner will stay in the job until the election, despite announcing
his decision last week to retire.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott made an issue of this.
"They've got a lame duck finance minister going into the election," Mr Abbott told
reporters at Burnie, in Tasmania.
"Julia Gillard can't even say who the finance minister will be after the election,
and if she was a stronger prime minister she would have been able to name the
finance minister."
Mr Abbott accused Ms Gillard of trying to appease Labor's faction bosses by
declining to name a new finance minister.
Still, warlords from Labor's right faction in Victoria and NSW, respectively, have
not been promoted.
Bill Shorten remains a parliamentary secretary rather than a minister while Mark
Arbib retains the junior employment participation portfolio.
The former Rudd government was criticised for its centralised style of decision making.
The bungled home insulation scheme, the shelving of an emissions trading scheme
until 2013 and the controversial resource super profits tax had the imprimatur of
the so-called "gang of four" which consisted of Mr Rudd, Treasurer Wayne Swan, Mr
Tanner and Ms Gillard.
Asked about this approach, Ms Gillard has promised to be a more inclusive prime
minister.
"I've said to my colleagues that we want to have a proper system of cabinet
government," she said.
"I want to see a traditional system of cabinet government where the cabinet is the
highest decision-making body in the government, in the executive."
She should know.
Mr Rudd's managerial style did much to anger a large section of the Labor caucus,
making him the first Australian prime minister to be dumped by own his party during
his first term.



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