Labor lobs Rudd into marginals

KEVIN Rudd will be wheeled out in one of Labor's most vulnerable seats in Queensland when he hits the campaign trail tomorrow.

KEVIN Rudd will be wheeled out in one of Labor's most vulnerable seats in Queensland when he hits the campaign trail tomorrow.

However, his party insists further appearances will be limited.

The former prime minister will today meet the woman who took his job, seeing Julia Gillard in Brisbane as she makes yet another foray into the make-or-break state. He will then fly to the Gladstone-based seat of Flynn to campaign for one of his diehard supporters, Chris Trevor, who considered quitting over Mr Rudd's knifing.

The Labor campaign will be hoping that Mr Rudd's first appearance outside his Brisbane seat of Griffith, after he had his gall bladder removed last week and faced unsupported accusations that he was behind cabinet leaks against Ms Gillard, will drag the spotlight off Tony Abbott when he launches the Coalition campaign in the Queensland capital tomorrow.

Mr Trevor's victory in his volatile coal, industrial and rural seat in central Queensland was a highlight of the Kevin07 campaign effort that put Labor back in power federally.

But with a margin of just 2.3 per cent and feelings still running high over the mining tax and the dumping of Mr Rudd, Mr Trevor is under serious threat from the Liberal National Party's Ken O'Dowd.

Flynn, Cairns-based Leichhardt and the hinterland electorate of Forde, south of Brisbane, are considered to be Labor's most vulnerable seats in Queensland. Half of the state's 30 federal electorates are marginal.

But Labor campaign sources were adamant yesterday that Mr Rudd would not be used to "blitz" his home state in the decisive closing fortnight of the campaign. While he would make further appearances in the marginals, these would not be numerous, an insider said.

This reflects Labor's dilemma over pulling Mr Rudd back into the campaign fold. The hope is that his appearance in support of Ms Gillard will defuse the backlash over his dumping as prime minister and allow the campaign to get back on track, emphasising what Labor sees as her comparative advantage when head to head against Mr Abbott.

The Opposition Leader yesterday seized on Mr Rudd's re-emergence to claim that the former prime minister was plotting a political comeback.

But Ms Gillard welcomed Mr Rudd's involvement in the wider campaign, saying that "as a Labor man" he had opted to put aside the past and help her in her battle to prevent Mr Abbott winning and dismantling Labor's reforms.

Campaigning in Tasmania yesterday, Mr Abbott said Labor was consumed by political thuggery and that it was becoming difficult to know who was really in charge.

"Is it real Julia, is it fake Julia, is it Comeback Kev?" he said.

"You just can't tell looking at the soap opera which is the current federal Labor government."

Labor campaign guru Bruce Hawker said Mr Rudd's return would benefit the campaign by removing any impediment some voters may have had about his dumping.

"He is someone who is a highly respected figure in Queensland and that has got to be good," Mr Hawker said.

Additional reporting: Rosanne Barrett