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National

Leadership on agenda

February 4, 2012

JULIA Gillard will try to quell bubbling discontent about Labor leadership at today's caucus brainstorming session.

One MP says the Prime Minister's capitulation on poker machine reform and the damage it's done to her integrity will be the most important issue.

The backbencher said the Prime Minister's pokies backdown was a serious misreading of the debate and the electorate.

The MP said he now feared little, if any, pokie betting reform would happen. ''It's just confirmed that Julia breaks her word,'' he said.

He said there was a big difference between the legitimate public opinion favouring poker machine reform and the organised campaign of the clubs. He also questioned Labor's relationship with the clubs movement by saying its political muscle had been overestimated by the party.

Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd was not regarded as a leadership solution, he said, and when asked if there were other Labor leader contenders he said: ''Who knows?''

Meanwhile, the man in the most marginal Labor seat in Australia, Victoria's Darren Cheeseman, called for long-term security to be given to the car industry.

''The industry doesn't want clumps of investment,'' said Mr Cheeseman who holds the seat of Corangamite, dominated by car manufacturing, by just a few hundred votes.

Mr Cheeseman wanted Labor to better sell its car manufacturing policy and keep pushing Opposition Leader Tony Abbott for bi-partisan support.

The Liberals have long had plans to slash subsidies by $500million which at one point were being reviewed within the party.

Queensland MP Graham Perrett said Labor could better promote most of it's achievements.

''By not talking about leadership, by talking to the electorate and not journalists,'' Mr Perrett said.

Fellow Queensland MP Bernie Ripoll said there was a good opportunity for Labor to bolster its small business support by reforming legislation to better protect franchisees from franchisors. At least one backbencher will miss the three-hour brainstorming session in the caucus room.

Janelle Saffin from the NSW North Coast seat of Page will be in Burma.