The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, has all but accused the ABC's Four Corners of deception after it aired damaging claims last night that her office was plotting the downfall of Kevin Rudd well before the June 24, 2010 coup.
The ABC's Four Corners program, aired last night, alleged Ms Gillard's staff had begun drafting her acceptance speech two weeks before she replaced Mr Rudd as Labor leader.
But Ms Gillard told ABC radio this morning that she had been invited on the television program to speak about the government's achievements since the 2007 election.
Instead she was grilled about whether she was aware her office had been working on the speech and pressed repeatedly as to whether she had seen secret polling revealing her chances as prime minister over Mr Rudd's plummeting stocks with Labor voters.
Ms Gillard said this morning that "no question, no television program, nothing" would ever change the facts that she made up her mind on the day she told Mr Rudd of the challenge.
She insisted she decided to challenge Kevin Rudd only on the day she walked into his office in June 2010 to tell him.
Ms Gillard said she did not direct her staff to prepare an acceptance speech two weeks before she toppled Mr Rudd.
"I wouldn't have seen the need for it," she said. "I decided to challenge Kevin Rudd, to ask him for a ballot in the Labor Party on the day I asked him for that ballot."
But the Prime Minister could not "specifically say" when she became aware her staff were preparing a speech.
It could have been the night she went to Mr Rudd's office or "it could have been before".
The Four Corners report comes hot on the heels of personally disastrous results in the latest Newspoll for the Prime Minister who has lost the preferred PM status to Opposition Leader Tony Abbott. She now trails him in this category by three points.
Ms Gillard has always claimed she made the dramatic decision to challenge Mr Rudd at the eleventh hour but revealed on Four Corners last night that she was "not surprised" that forward planning might have been done by her staff.
"I am not surprised that, whether it's people in my office or people more broadly, in the government or the Labor Party, were casting their mind where circumstances might get to," she said.
Pressed several times for a direct answer, she appeared flustered and said: "I've given you the answer I'm going to give you."
It also claimed that Australia's US ambassador and former Labor leader Kim Beazley met US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to provide a briefing on the leadership change two weeks before Mr Rudd lost the support of his party.
Ms Gillard this morning called on directors of the Four Corners program to produce evidence to back up this claim.
Opposition manager of business in the lower house, Christopher Pyne, rushed to capitalise on Ms Gillard's poor poll result saying she had lacked judgment in appearing on the program - a view shared by Mr Pyne's colleague, the opposition health spokesman, Peter Dutton, who said the government was "imploding".
But Victorian Labor MP Richard Marles said this morning that Ms Gillard's political judgment was intact and that her appearance on the show was not unusual.
Mr Marles said Ms Gillard was asked on to the program to discuss the government's achievements since 2007 - not to answer questions on Mr Rudd.
"She was asked the questions she was asked and did a good job," he said.
"I get (that) there is historic interest in when Julia Gillard made the decision she made . . . frankly this is a matter for the past and our focus is on the future."
Speaking on Valentine's Day, Mr Marles said was "plenty of love" within the caucus for Mr Rudd.
"Kevin Rudd is doing a fantastic job as the minister for foreign affairs, and I know firsthand the extent to which he loves doing the job he's doing," he said.
And Trade Minister Craig Emerson defended Ms Gillard's decision to be interviewed saying "this was a program about Labor in government" and that it would have been highly "irregular" if Ms Gillard had declined.
Mr Rudd refused repeated requests for an interview from Four Corners and it is understood that any potential move on the leadership would not happen until after the Queensland election despite today's caucus meeting, expected to be a tense affair given the revelations last night.
The latest Newspoll shows that Tony Abbott has reversed the preferred prime minister stakes, leading Ms Gillard 40 to 37 while the two-party preferred question has edged the Coalition's way - 55 to 45.
The all important primary vote proved a slight uptick for Labor, rising by one point.
Mr Abbott's satisfaction level among voters rose from 32 per cent to 36 per cent and dissatisfaction fell from 55 per cent to 52 per cent, his highest satisfaction rating since the beginning of October and his lowest dissatisfaction rating since September.
During the same period, Ms Gillard's satisfaction levels have fallen slightly, from 33 to 32 per cent and dissatisfaction has risen from 55 to 57 per cent.
Mr Abbott's return to preferred prime minister over Ms Gillard comes as a separate Newspoll showed him dominant over Ms Gillard as preferred economic manager, 43 per cent to 34.
Greens leader Bob Brown said he was disappointed with the Four Corners program because it did not contain any major revelations as flagged, lampooning it as a "damp squib".
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