--Twice as many voters back Rudd over Gillard
--Weak result comes as industry hits back at media law
reforms
(Adds remarks on media law reforms from seventh paragraph)
By Enda Curran and James Glynn
SYDNEY--Twice as many of Australia's voters prefer former leader
Kevin Rudd over embattled Prime Minister Julia Gillard, an opinion
poll showed Monday, adding to speculation her ruling Labor party
could look to replace her in an effort to avoid defeat in the
coming general election.
A Nielsen poll published in Fairfax newspapers Monday showed 62%
of those surveyed chose Mr. Rudd as preferred leader of the
center-left party, compared with 31% support for Ms. Gillard. The
same survey showed the Labor party trailed the main opposition
Liberal-National coalition by 44% to 56%, once support for smaller
parties was stripped out.
Ms. Gillard called a Sept. 14 general election in January,
setting the country up for an unprecedented eight-month election
campaign. In doing so, she had hoped to seize the political
initiative, relaunching her party after a series of mishaps that
have plagued her administration. The strategy has so far failed to
reverse Labor's fortunes. Her party has trailed the opposition
coalition, led by Tony Abbott, in voter polls for most of the past
two years.
Mr. Rudd, once one of the country's most popular leaders, was
ousted by his own party in a swift and surprising change in 2010.
It followed an angry backlash from the country's powerful resources
industry over proposed taxes on mining company profits and carbon
emissions that divided party ranks and led Labor's popularity among
voters to sag sharply. He unsuccessfully sought to regain the Labor
party leadership from Ms. Gillard in February last year and has
repeatedly denied media speculation he is considering another
leadership tilt.
Still, support for Labor on a primary vote basis-which shows
voters' preferences among all parties-has fallen to the level that
triggered Mr. Rudd's ouster, looming over Ms. Gillard's leadership.
The government was forced in December to back down on an election
pledge to return the budget to surplus this fiscal year because of
lower revenue from company and resources taxes as a mining boom
fueled by China's demand for raw materials slows.
Ms. Gillard watered down Mr. Rudd's controversial resources levy
as one of her first acts in office. It remains unpopular with
industry, however, despite raising far less than the government
originally estimated. Ms. Gillard also angered some voters by
reversing a 2010 election promise not to introduce a tax on carbon
emissions.
The prime minister came under renewed pressure this week as her
administration attempts to push through a controversial overhaul of
the country's media laws before Parliament breaks for a two-month
recess. The reforms include plans for a new regulator, appointed by
the government, to apply a public interest test to any mergers
between major media companies, adding a layer of scrutiny that
could make it difficult for deals to take place.
Kim Williams, the Sydney-based chief executive of News Ltd., has
said the proposal is "nothing more than a political interest test
which governments will use to punish outlets they don't like." On
Monday he promised a High Court challenge if the proposals are
passed into law. News Ltd. is owned by News Corp. (NWS), which
publishes Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
At a parliamentary hearing into the proposals Monday, Kerry
Stokes, the billionaire chairman of newspaper and television
network owner Seven West Media Ltd. (SWM.AU) said that in his 40
years in the industry he had "never seen anything so
intrusive."
"I'm yet to see anybody explain to me any problem that warrants
these laws," Mr. Stokes said.
Ms. Gillard's minority government relies on the support of a
handful of nonparty lawmakers to pass any new laws. One such
lawmaker, Andrew Wilkie, said Monday the proposed media laws were
"shoddy". Another independent lawmaker, Robert Oakeshott, said he
would likely vote against the proposals, though he added that the
debate was moving "very fast." The government has said it won't
proceed to a vote on the media bills unless it gains the support of
enough lawmakers to secure their passage.
Critics of the prime minister have sought to blame the federal
government for the party's woes at a state government level, where
the conservative Liberal party this month defeated Labor by a
landslide to win a second-straight term in office in Western
Australia state.
Nielsen polled 1,400 voters over the telephone between Mar. 14
and Mar. 16. The poll has a margin for error of 2.6 percentage
points.
-Write to Enda Curran at enda.curran@wsj.com and James Glynn at
james.glynn@wsj.com