GREG Rudd, the former Prime Minister Kevin’s elder brother, has announced  that in the next Federal election he’s running for the Senate in Queensland as an Independent.

He has kept the move a closely guarded secret from Kevin and the two men reportedly have not spoken for some months. However, he has told Queensland Premier Campbell Newman and other leading Labor and LNP figures of his intentions.

Greg Rudd told “CityNews” that he hoped to take one of the Senate seats that the Labor Party was expected to lose in Queensland. Should he secure cross-party support, preferences would see him elected and in a strategic position of power in the new Parliament.

Greg Rudd’s decision to run for the Senate as an independent is a real show stopper. And lest it be thought that it’s some Machiavellian manoeuvre by brother Kevin, let me assure you it ain’t so. The two men have not spoken for months.

Greg did not tell his younger brother before the announcement; indeed, he kept it a closely guarded secret from him. While they bear a physical resemblance to each other, they are really chalk and cheese. And their relationship is, at best, rocky.

The implications are fascinating on two levels – first, for the light it throws on the Rudd family and Kevin’s continuing quest for the leadership; second, its effect on the increasingly complex political scene as the Labor Party confronts its electoral prospects under its current leader.

Greg is a genuine political independent. While he worked as a Labor ministerial staffer in the 1990s, he then turned to lobbying and has just as many friends on the conservative side of politics as among the Labor Party. For example, he told Queensland Premier Campbell Newman of his Senate intentions well before the formal announcement. His father was a Country Party man and Greg has some very close links to the LNP. And he regards the Greens with political disdain. So there is absolutely no guarantee that he will support the Labor side in crucial votes.

Yet paradoxically, it is the political potency of the Rudd name – so assiduously promoted by his brother – that will practically ensure he gets elected. And it will come in place of a Labor candidate.

At a time when Kevin’s quest to topple Julia Gillard is once again gathering pace, it’s a complication the former Prime Minister just doesn’t need.

In their latest move, his forces are trying to blame Julia Gillard for getting into bed with the Greens while Kevin realised all along that they were a viper at the party’s breast. And it’s working pretty well.

In a transparent counter-measure, she is attempting to raise her profile in Queensland with serial journeys and announcements of political largesse such as the G20 meeting. But all to no avail.

Her reception during her latest swing through the State was consistently hostile. And according to the polls, even her adopted home state of Victoria has turned its back on her.

robert@robertmacklin.com