Prime Minister Julia Gillard with Labor MPs on her tour of western Sydney last week. Picture: Dan Himbrechts Source: The Australian
JULIA Gillard's western Sydney experiment has been declared a political disaster by voters with the Prime Minister failing to convince them she would govern in their interests.
In the first poll of Ms Gillard's five-day sleepover at Rooty Hill last week, 41 per cent of people now believe Tony Abbott would do more to help residents of Sydney's west compared to just 32 per cent for Ms Gillard.
The results confirm Labor strategists' fears, that the mini-campaign may have done more harm than good despite a host of policy announcements, as sources revealed that Ms Gillard was bracing for a potential move on her leadership this week.
Talk of a move against Ms Gillard escalated last night in the wake of the disastrous Western Australia election result, with key backers of Kevin Rudd now arguing that she needed to be replaced to rescue the ALP nationally.
Sources close to Ms Gillard confirmed she had been trying to fortify her leadership over the weekend, with MPs returning to Canberra tomorrow for two weeks.
Her office was yesterday forced to pull Defence Minister Stephen Smith into line after he blamed the unpopularity of the Gillard government for much of the 7 per cent swing against Labor in the WA election on Saturday.
His comments were seized upon by caucus members as a signal that even her most senior loyalists were softening on Ms Gillard's leadership.
"She is definitely preparing for the potential for something to happen this week," said one senior Gillard supporter.
"We have our helmets on."
The failure of the western Sydney stunt to lift support in vital marginal seats was confirmed in the Galaxy poll and cited by several MPs as a "final straw" for the Prime Minister.
When asked who would do more to help people in western Sydney, 41 per cent of 1010 people polled nationally nominated Mr Abbott, while only 32 per cent said Ms Gillard. But 27 per cent were undecided.
The exclusive Galaxy poll also confirmed a 3 per cent drop in Labor's primary vote from 35 per cent to 32 per cent.
But it also revealed that 59 per cent of voters now believed Mr Abbott was ready to govern.
"Julia Gillard's tour of Sydney's western suburbs has done little to bolster support for the party," Galaxy CEO David Briggs said.
Ms Gillard's intervention in western Sydney, considered now to be the key election battleground with up to six seats at risk of being lost for Labor, was viewed by many MPs as an attempt to shore up support among NSW MPs, the majority of whom now have shifted behind a return to Mr Rudd.
"I think western Sydney was more of an issue (than WA)," one local MP said.
"It is a bit like calling the election - it never made sense in the first place. The longer it has gone on, the worse it looks."
Mr Rudd, however, has privately repeated his warnings that he had no intention of challenging Ms Gillard, leaving them with no other alternative than to convince a delegation of senior ministers to ask her to stand down.
Senior factional powerbrokers rubbished reports that they had been canvassing options to tap Ms Gillard on the shoulder.
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