7.30 | AustralianPolitics.com

Greg Combet Says Julia Gillard Offered To Stand Aside For Him

Jul 24, 2014

Greg Combet, a senior minister in the previous Labor government, says then Prime Minister Julia Gillard offered to stand aside to allow him to assume the leadership.

Combet appeared in an interview broadcast on the ABC’s 7.30 program tonight. Combet’s memoirs, The Fights of My Life, will be released next week and launched by Gillard.

Combet says that he approached Gillard in mid-June last year and was of the view that a ballot for the leadership should be held. He said Gillard offered to stand aside if he put his name forward. He says he declined because he thought the momentum for Rudd’s return was well-developed and that it would be a difficult political manoeuvre to “pull off”. Facing a personal health problem, Combet said he decided not to nominate. [Read more…]

Filed Under: A.L.P., Audio, Gillard, Rudd, Video Tagged With: 7.30, A.L.P., Chris Uhlmann, Greg Combet, Julia Gillard, Kevin Rudd

Nick Styant-Browne’s Interview On 7.30

Nov 22, 2012

The former Slater and Gordon lawyer, Nick Styant-Browne, was interviewed by Leigh Sales on 7.30 tonight.

With Parliament due to sit next week for the final time this year, Styant-Browne’s interview is the latest contribution to the bubbling debate over Julia Gillard and the slush fund administered by a then official of the Australian Workers’ Union, Bruce Wilson, in the 1990s.

Filed Under: Gillard, Video Tagged With: 7.30, Leigh Sales, Nick Styant-Browne

Peter Costello: The Colt From Kooyong?

May 09, 2012

Peter Costello has canvassed a return to federal politics with his old friend Michael Kroger, according to ABC 7.30’s Heather Ewart.

In a report broadcast tonight, Ewart claims Costello and Kroger discussed a return via the electorate of Kooyong, currently held by the promising newcomer Josh Frydenberg. Ewart says they also discussed the possibility of persuading other Liberal members to stand aside in favour of Costello.

Ewart says the discussions are common knowledge amongst Victorian Liberals and have contributed to factional infighting. She says Costello has not spoken with Kroger since word spread and that some Liberals believe Costello was behind the successful move to relegate Kroger’s ex-wife Senator Helen Kroger to the difficult third position on the next Senate ticket.

Ewart claimed that Kroger was under pressure yesterday to relinquish her position as Liberal Whip in the Senate by the Liberal Senate leader Eric Abetz. She says Abetz claimed that Senator Mitch Fifield, a former Costello staffer and Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate, could not work with her.

Costello was the member for Higgins, adjacent to Kooyong, from 1990 until 2009. Ewart claims he did not consider asking his successor, Kelly O’Dwyer, to stand aside.

Listen to Heather Ewart’s report on 7.30
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ABC News online report