Rudd makes caucus pitch then zips

19 Feb 2012, 9:42 pm   -   Source: AAP
Kevin Rudd as he appears in the YouTube video. (YouTube)

Kevin Rudd as he appears in the YouTube video. (YouTube)

Kevin Rudd has made a pitch to Labor caucus members that he's a changed man before jetting off overseas amid the mounting prospects of a leadership spill.

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Former prime minister Kevin Rudd made a pitch to Labor caucus members that he is a changed man before jetting off overseas amid mounting speculation of a leadership spill within weeks.

There have been increasing portents of a showdown between Mr Rudd and embattled Prime Minister Julia Gillard after a video showing Mr Rudd becoming frustrated and swearing was anonymously posted on YouTube.

Mr Rudd described the video clip as embarrassing but stopped short of speculating about its origin.

"Anyone who's got a touch of suspicion about them would say that if this was done, somewhat embarrassingly, a couple of years ago and it suddenly emerges now, then obviously it's a little bit on the unusual side," he told Sky News.

Mr Rudd will be out of Australia for at least a week attending G20 talks in Mexico and other international meetings with world leaders.

A representative for Mr Rudd denied the foreign minister or his office had leaked the video himself.

Ms Gillard on Sunday denied responsibility for the video.

"There have been some assertions today that somehow this is connected with my office. That is completely untrue," Ms Gillard told reporters in Darwin.

"My office did not have access to the material people have seen on YouTube."

Mr Rudd has again played down leadership speculation.

"There is no challenge on," he said.

"We have a prime minister. I am the foreign minister."

But independent MP Andrew Wilkie said Mr Rudd canvassed a possible return to the top job in a 90-minute meeting between the pair in Canberra in November.

"We talked about a range of things, including the possibility of him coming back to the prime ministership," Mr Wilkie told Sky News on Sunday.

He predicted there would be a challenge for the Labor leadership.

"For a while I thought it was media mischief until I had a 90-minute meeting with Kevin Rudd," Mr Wilkie said.

"Kevin clearly wants the job back. That is entirely understandable."

Queensland premier Anna Bligh has demanded federal Labor "put to bed" its leadership dramas before it harms her re-election prospects.

"I'm not going to speculate on how the federal party should resolve this leadership issue, but frankly they need to get on and do it," she told reporters in Brisbane on Sunday.

While responding to the video, Mr Rudd said two lessons he had learnt since losing the prime ministership were not to control every aspect in his office and to consult more broadly.

"You would be a mug if you didn't learn something," he said.

The conjecture about the Labor leadership led Victorian backbencher Darren Cheeseman, who holds the most marginal seat in Australia, Corangamite, to warn the party that Ms Gillard's leadership is "terminal".

"Julia Gillard cannot take us to an election," Mr Cheeseman told Fairfax Media.

"She will decimate the party if she does."

But outgoing Victorian Labor backbencher Steve Gibbons has described Mr Rudd as a "prima donna" and a "psychopath with a giant ego".

Labor ministers went into damage control on Sunday morning, issuing gag orders to chatty colleagues.

Health Minister Tanya Plibersek said the contributions from the Victorian MPs were unhelpful.

"I would counsel them that they should be focused on working in their electorates and reminding people Australia has, by world standards, a miracle economy," Ms Plibersek told ABC TV.

Education Minister Peter Garrett echoed her call.

"They should be out there prosecuting the case against Mr Abbott," he told Network Ten.

Trade minister Craig Emerson said there was a "small group of MPs" undermining and distracting the Labor government's work.

"The effect of this is when we do good policy work, it is very difficult to communicate it," he said.

Federal opposition frontbencher Eric Abetz said the leaking of the video was another example of Labor deeming itself to be more important than the electorate.

"What it shows is a deeply divided and dysfunctional Labor Party focused on itself and not the needs of Australians," Senator Abetz told Network Ten on Sunday.

The day's events triggered messages of support for Ms Gillard from Victoria's MP for McEwen Rob Mitchell and NSW senator Matt Thistlethwaite.

Mr Mitchell tweeted "Big reforms mean hard decisions, that requires strong leadership and our loyalty to be achieved" while Senator Thistlethwaite tweeted: "We have a big reform agenda. To see it through we need stability, consistency, and loyalty from all members."

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