Kevin Rudd statement describes Julia Gillard’s book My Story as ‘fiction’

IT SEEMS Kevin Rudd has not forgiven his rival Julia Gillard, describing her new memoir as her “latest contribution to Australian fiction”.

Outgoing Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, surrounded by his wife Therese Rein and children Nicholas (left), Marcus and Jessica, holds his last press conference at Parliament House in Canberra today.

A STATEMENT from former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has slammed his successor Julia Gillard’s new memoir as a work of “fiction”.

The much anticipated book My Story was published today and Ms Gillard appeared in an interview last night with Ray Martin on Channel 9 ahead of its release.

A number of revelations were disclosed ahead of and during the interview, including that she “fed hope” to Mr Rudd on the night she toppled him and that she cried when she realised he no longer trusted her.

“I’d felt like I’d done everything I possibly could to help and support and prop Kevin up and there had already, in the days before, been some signs that, you know, now I was being viewed with suspicion and I just cried,’’ she said.

“I felt it was just so unfair.”

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Julia Gillard speaks to Ray Martin on Tuesday night.

But if Ms Gillard was hoping to extend the olive branch to the man she has been accused of “knifing”, Mr Rudd was having none of it.

In a statement released to news.com.au through his media spokeswoman, Mr Rudd dismisses Ms Gillard’s memoir as a work of “fiction”.

“Consistent with the past, Mr Rudd has no substantive comment to make on Ms Gillard’s latest contribution to Australian fiction,” the statement says.

“The Australian people have long reached their own conclusions about Ms Gillard’s relationship with the truth — from the coup to the carbon tax.

“They have also reached their own conclusions on Ms Gillard’s continuing efforts to reconstruct a justification after the event for her actions in June 2010, by trying to dress up personal political ambition as some higher purpose for the party and the government.”

Happier days: Kevin Rudd and his then deputy Julia Gillard shortly after winning the 2007 election. Picture: Patrick Hamilton

A secret submission that Mr Rudd made to Labor’s election review panel, which was obtained by The Australian, was also published today.

In it Mr Rudd provided a detailed written rebuttal to “the arguments advanced for a change in the leadership” by Ms Gillard and her supporters who plotted to bring him down. He had given an oral submission to the review team in December 2010.

He said there was “no formal or informal warning” by any minister or MP “of changes that needed to be made if a leadership challenge was to be avoided”. Mr Rudd characterised his removal as “a total surprise to me — as I expected (it was) intended”.

“The extraordinary step of ­deposing a first-term sitting prime minister can only be explained if we assume those planning for a leadership change concluded that due process might damage their chances of success,” he wrote.

“Reasons offered for the leadership challenge were, in the main, post-facto rationalisations to mask the real political ambitions that were at play.”