Cabinet minister and Labor factional leader Bill Shorten says he does not believe there will be a leadership ballot next week, as a key supporter of the Prime Minister challenges Kevin Rudd to "put up or shut up".
It is expected the leadership impasse will be broken late next week, as parliamentary sittings wind up for the final time before the September 14 election.Angered by the ongoing leadership talk, one of Julia Gillard's key Cabinet supporters, Resources Minister Gary Gray, has challenged Mr Rudd to test his support in Caucus.Mr Shorten, who is widely believed to be the critical "turnkey" in the leadership stand-off, also repeatedly sidestepped questions about whether he would continue to support the Prime Minister until the next election.However, when peppered with questions about the leadership this morning on Fairfax radio, Mr Shorten would only wearily reply "no" there would not be a ballot next week or indeed before the election, and "no" he would not be reviewing his support for Ms Gillard."The leadership debate comes up in the context that Labor's doing it hard at the moment in the polls," he said.
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