Rudd urges re-election of nemesis as Australian PM

KEVIN Rudd, the former Australian prime minister dumped by his own party, has vowed to campaign for the woman who replaced him, in a rare show of unity for a government that appears bitterly divided ahead of elections later this month.

Anger over Mr Rudd's ousting in June has overshadowed Prime Minister Julia Gillard's campaign to win a second three-year term for her centre-left Labour Party on 21 August.

Her campaign has had to deal with a string of government leaks, suspected to be from Mr Rudd or Rudd loyalists, including claims she reneged on a secret deal when she challenged Mr Rudd's leadership and that she had argued against increasing pensions because old people didn't vote for the party.

Mr Rudd said yesterday that he was not behind the leaks. He also said he planned to campaign for Ms Gillard's re-election.

"Absolutely, because it's really important for the country's future," he said. "Life's too short to carry around a great bucketload of anger and resentment and bitterness and hatred," he added.

Ms Gillard welcomed his support and would speak to him within days for the first time since she called the election..

"Kevin has made it very, very clear he will be campaigning for the re-election of the Gillard government," she said.