COMMENT: JUST how long does Australia have to suffer this nonsense? Clearly Prime Minister Julia Gillard and the Labor Government do not have the confidence of the Australian people. Regardless of Kevin Rudd’s botched coup attempt launched by Simon Crean last week, Gillard has a moral obligation to immediately call an election. September 14 is too long to wait when a terminally destabilised government has so patently failed. Kevin Rudd was always going to struggle to topple Gillard. Rudd was dumped in June 2010 by the Labor Party and the unions because his ego-driven and erratic style made him an ineffective leader. Rudd was repeatedly proven a dud prime minister. Despite his popularity he was assassinated by his own party. Unlike Rudd, Gillard cannot even claim to have the popular support of the nation. Gillard has proven even worse. Backflips, lies, bad policy and the defence of the sleazy Craig Thomson and Peter Slipper affairs have put paid to Gillard’s credibility. However, more telling is Rudd’s failed attempts to seize back the leadership. Without being controlled by the unions, Rudd has always been viewed by the Labor Party’s faceless men as a loose canon. The same faceless men were certainly strong-arming Labor backbenchers last week to support Gillard. This is despite the fact that many of these backbenchers will most certainly lose their seats under Gillard. The message is clear: Labor members are installed by the union, belong to the union and will vote according to the union. A member who goes against the union – regardless of the expectations of the electorate – risks being disendorsed. Sadly it remains extremely unlikely Gillard will take an “honourable” course of action. The needs of Australia have been repeatedly shown to run a distant second to Gillard and the unioncontrolled Labor Party’s desire to remain in power at any cost. The key to ending the farce is the controversial independents Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott, who placed Gillard in power after the 2010 election. Their support for Julia Gillard was tested last week when both voted in support of a vote of no-confidence in the government in the run-up to last week’s aborted leadership challenge. At worst, in 170 days (from March 28) every Australian will have the opportunity to deliver their verdict on the worst prime minister in the nation’s history. For the overwhelming majority, it will be a day of celebration.