Marginal candidates not rushing to have Rudd campaign

LABOR MPs and candidates locked in the election battle for Queensland marginal seats have questioned whether they need Kevin Rudd's help.

LABOR MPs and candidates locked in the election battle for Queensland marginal seats have questioned whether they need Kevin Rudd's help.

Wayne Swan said the ALP would co-ordinate appearances by the former prime minister outside his Brisbane seat of Griffith, after Julia Gillard took up his offer to play a wider role in the campaign.

But in the 15 marginals that are up for grabs in Queensland, with buffers of 5 per cent or less, the Labor contenders were hardly falling over themselves yesterday to have Mr Rudd join them.

Andrew Ramsay, Labor's man in the newly created and notionally conservative seat of Wright, southwest of Brisbane, said: "If he wanted to come out and help me, I wouldn't say no. But I don't see what the relevance is."

Kerry Rea, a former city councillor who won her seat of Bonner on Brisbane's southern bayside in the Kevin07 election and is defending a margin of 4.6 per cent, said Mr Rudd's program was a matter for campaign headquarters. She didn't see a specific need for Mr Rudd to venture into her electorate, which neighbours his of Griffith, because they were constantly at events together.

"It's not a big deal to me because we share a border and Kevin is out and about here everyday," she said.

Graham Perrett, another Kevin07 winner whose seat of Moreton adjoins Griffith to the southwest, said he would be happy to have Mr Rudd along doorknocking and "for normal campaigning".

But he wasn't sure how that would go down with constituents if a media scrum of "40 cameras or something" also turned up.

Mike Brunker, the Labor candidate for the litmus coal and sugarcane seat of Dawson, won last time for Labor and now held by 2.6 per cent, said Mr Rudd was welcome to join him.