Prime Minister Julia Gillard has asked her colleagues to support her against Kevin Rudd, saying she can get things done and is confident of beating Tony Abbott in an election.
She said a leadership ballot at 10:00AM Monday is about who has the character and the strength to 'get things done'.
"The choice that the nation faces and my parliamentary colleagues face on Monday is a choice as to who has got the character, the temperament and the strength to deliver on behalf of the Australian people," Ms Gillard told reporters in Melbourne.
'VOTE FOR ME'
PM Gillard asked her caucus colleagues for their support, saying the decision was not 'celebrity Big Brother', but a crucial vote over governing the nation.
Her priorities were schools and skills reform, health reforms, job creation, carbon pricing and the national disability insurance scheme, she said.
The PM confirmed that if she loses the vote she will move to the back bench and make no further attempt to lead the party, but said she was confident of her colleagues' support.
"I've said consistently I've got the strong support of my colleagues, and my conversations with my caucus colleagues certainly verify that."
She outlined her achievements as leader, saying Mr Rudd only talked about carbon pricing, but she had turned it into legislation.
The government had been paralysed during Mr Rudd's term as PM, she said, blaming him for 'dragging her down'.
"I worked damn hard as Kevin Rudd's deputy to try and keep the government running. That's the truth, that's the history," she told reporters.
Ms Gillard said Mr Rudd had a poor record when it came to "trust".
"Kevin Rudd spoke about trust today but did not deny when challenged that he has spent time whilst I have been prime minister and he has been foreign minister behind closed doors, in secret conversations with people, undermining this government," she said.
RUDD ANNOUNCES CHALLENGE
Mr Rudd declared he will challenge her for leadership of the Labor party after returning to Australia from Washington today.
He declared himself as a candidate for the Labor leadership resigning from his post over the PM's refusal to defend him against criticism from Minister Simon Crean.
If he loses the ballot he will go to the back bench and not challenge PM Gillard again, he said.
"All indications are that we're heading for the rocks at the next election," Mr Rudd told reporters.
"I believe that to do the best for Australia and Australian Labor things have to change," he said.
"And I intend to do that, starting Monday," he added.
Mr Rudd said many of his fellow Labor MPs had encouraged him to try and get his old job back.
He emphasised the need for party reform, saying he would aim to reduce the power of the factions whom he blames for Julia Gillard's ouster of him in June 2010.
"If we don't change, the Labor party is going to end up in opposition," Mr Rudd said.
"We will all end up on the back bench - not just one, but all, and the opposition back bench at that," he added.
ABBOTT 'NOT AN IDEAS MAN'
Rudd devoted much of his news conference to criticism of Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.
He attacked Abbott's attitude to women, climate change and the National Broadband Network, saying he had never met a more negative man in politics.
Abbott thought the NBN was nothing more than a way to send emails and download movies faster, Mr Rudd said, and was 'not an ideas man' in general.
Mr Rudd said he Ms Gillard and treasurer Wayne Swan convinced him to drop his plans for a carbon emissions trading scheme, but that he took responsibility for the decision.
As PM he would return to that plan.
FAILINGS
"I'm the first to admit that I wasn't some perfect creation of public administration," said Rudd, but he denied that he had a 'failed administrative style'.
Rudd would not name whom he would choose as his deputy if he did become prime minister again, saying that would be a matter for the party.
He was 'a bit tired' of people blaming all of the Labor party's woes on 'one K Rudd', he said.
During his two-month convalescence after undergoing surgery, the party had suffered several poll blows, he stressed.
'BIG BROTHER'
Earlier, Mr Rudd jokingly hit back at PM Gillard over her claim the leadership battle was "not Celebrity Big Brother".
"What happens in that competition is the people get to decide, no one else," he said.
SACKINGS AND RESIGNATIONS
Mr Rudd earlier promised no minister would be sacked if he did become prime minister again, however the prospect of his return to power divided the party.
However, Attorney General Nicola Roxon said she would not work under him again.
"I had had months and months and months of this process going where it was increasingly impossible to get a sensible outcome," she said.
"I wouldn't put myself through that process again," she said.
Labor's federal secretary Nick Champion resigned on Friday, to show his support for Rudd.
Asked if any senior ministers, like Martin Ferguson, who have come out in support of Mr Rudd, would be dumped if she prevailed, PM Gillard said ministers were chosen on merit.
