As the Labor caucus engaged in a very public slanging match about the leadership last week, Eden-Monaro MP Mike Kelly was considering whether to give up his career in politics.
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The former soldier captured the famous ''bellwether'' southern NSW seat for Labor at the 2007 election.
The Kevin Rudd supporter and Defence parliamentary secretary was distressed by the personal attacks launched against the former prime minister last week but said yesterday he believed Julia Gillard could win the 2013 election.
On Sunday night, Dr Kelly revealed on the social media platform Twitter that he had come, ''[very] close to pulling the pin. Albo, Abbott & the importance of 2013 pulled me back.''
Dr Kelly told The Canberra Times that he decided to stay and fight the next election after Transport Minister and Rudd supporter Anthony Albanese gave a press conference on Saturday which changed the tone of the leadership debate.
''Also weighing up in my mind was the threat that an Abbott-led government would have to my region. I really feel it's my duty to stick to our guns here and that's what I'm going to do,'' he said.
Dr Kelly said it had been an extremely difficult decision to support Mr Rudd.
''It was such a terrible thing when you have such enormous regard and esteem for both people and their abilities and my affection for both of them personally,'' he said. Dr Kelly said Ms Gillard could win the next election if sections of the media took a more balanced approach.
''I do believe that we can win the next election with Prime Minister Julia Gillard at the helm, provided that we start getting some decent coverage in the media of policy issues. Not hairdos and dresses and all the rest of it - policy issues.''
Dr Kelly said his local media - including The Canberra Times - did not engage in the same political campaigning through their news coverage as some other media outlets and he believed he could retain Eden-Monaro. A Labor victory in 2013 would ensure Eden-Monaro benefited from the investment generated by the national broadband network and Clean Energy Future plan.
''Already now, thanks to the Clean Energy Future package, hundreds of millions of dollars is pouring into the region in investment in renewable energy,'' Dr Kelly said.
''I've got companies who want to make multimillion-dollar investments based on the NBN and of course we face - as does the ACT - the massive threat of huge redundancies that [Opposition Leader Tony] Abbott promises to put in place here.''
