Prime Minister Julia Gillard's deputy has dismissed reports that the opposition is preparing for a Kevin Rudd comeback and possible December election.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott and senior Liberal frontbenchers have met to discuss the scenario of Mr Rudd taking back the Labor leadership and calling a snap poll, the Daily Telegraph reports.
But Treasurer Wayne Swan has dismissed the story and any speculation of a leadership change.
"Julia Gillard is an outstanding prime minister, an outstanding leader," he told Sky News on Monday.
"She will lead us to the next election and beyond."
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Mr Swan shrugged off the suggestion he was repeating rhetoric used before Mr Rudd was toppled as Labor leader in 2010.
"I don't accept any of that at all," he said.
"What's been in the press has largely come, as I can see it, from the Liberal Party."
Trade Minister Craig Emerson described the Telegraph report as "trash journalism" that did not warrant a serious response.
"Labor will run a full term and this is what terrifies Mr Abbott," he told ABC Radio.
Dr Emerson said the issue was a distraction for an opposition that was policy dry.
"(Tony Abbott) just wants to skate his way to the Lodge and that's not how it works," he said.
"Mr Abbott is a man without a conscience. He's so keen to be PM that he's willing to risk asylum seekers' lives by blocking the government's legislation."
The opposition leader himself insisted he wasn't taking anything for granted.
"The government could collapse tomorrow, it could go for two years," he told reporters in northeast Tasmania.
"And at all times our job is the same - to be an effective opposition and a credible alternative."
Key independent MP Andrew Wilkie says he hasn't spoken to Mr Rudd about the likelihood his pokies reforms will stay on the government's agenda should there be a leadership change.
"The government's fortunes are best served by running three years with Julia Gillard and implementing initiatives on the table," he told ABC Radio.
The Tasmanian MP said it was important voters got a chance to live with government policy, such as the carbon price, before casting judgment.
The latest leadership speculation coincides with the launch of a campaign for ALP reform orchestrated by the party's increasingly outspoken left.
The nationwide Labor Renewal campaign is aimed at mobilising Labor's rank-and-file members to support structural reform at the party's national conference in December.
Campaign convenor Darcy Byrne, a Labor member of a Sydney council, wants the party to give its members more of a say.
"Real change in the Labor party can only be achieved from the bottom up," he said in a statement.
ALP national president Jenny McAllister has welcomed the campaign.
"If we want a vibrant and positive democracy, then we need vibrant and positive political parties," she said.
