Reply #2: The original Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme propsed by Kevin Rudd [View All]

didn't lead to his downfall; the article is a bit mistaken on this point. It was Rudd's decision to postpone the CPRS indefinitely, after having called it "the great moral challenge of our time" that led to his ultimate loss of popularity. And two of the people who strongly urged him to drop the scheme were Julia Gillard and deputy leader and Treasurer, Wayne Swan.

The plotters of the coup against Rudd made a fundamental mistake in thinking that his falling popularity meant that people didn't like him; in fact, they did and still do. They were just cross with him for dropping the CPRS, which was a major platform for Labor during the 2007 election. Now Gillard is copping the fallout from that mistake and is blamed for knifing the leader that people still really wanted.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott is opposed to the scheme because he's simply opposed to anything Labor proposes, but he's helped by the fact that Gillard is so unpopular, and it's possible that if this were an election issue, Labor would lose bigtime. But it's hard to say how much of that is because of the carbon tax and how much is because of dislike of Julia Gillard.