Pressure grows over possible leadership spill: Midday roundup

A leadership spill now looks inevitable as government MPs prepare to side off in a showdown between Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd.

Although Rudd has left for an overseas trip, a video posted on the weekend showing the former prime minister angry and swearing has prompted discussion of a spill.

It is believed the video was posted in order to portray the minister in a negative light.

Meanwhile, MPs have been tweeting about how the party needs strong leadership, while many others have made public remarks regarding a possible spill. Former Labor powerbroker Graham Richardson has told Sky News he believes a spill is imminent.

Education minister Peter Garrett told ABC Radio Gillard is doing “a good, good job in somewhat difficult circumstances”.

Defence minister Stephen Smith has also suggested he is loyal to Gillard.

However, trade minister Craig Emerson has made comments suggesting the situation has been blown out of proportion.

“Yes, there is an alternative to Julia Gillard. That’s Tony Abbott. The only beneficiaries of the attempted destabilisation of a Labor government are a small group of Labor MPs, Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party,” he told ABC radio.

“I know it’s a small group. I know there’s a process of inflation going on whereby that small group continually seeks to put people’s name in the pile under Kevin Rudd’s name.”

Merchandise imports fall in January

Australian merchandise imports fell in January, according to new figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The data showed imports fell by a seasonally-adjusted $366 million during January to $20.631 billion, compared to a downwardly revised $20.997 billion in December.

In unadjusted terms, merchandise imports fell by 5% to $19.198 billion.

Bendigo bank profit plummets 67%

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank has posted a massive 66.7% decrease in net profit to $57.9 million, with higher funding costs and poor demand for new loans putting financial pressure on the company.

In line with expectations, the lender posted cash earnings of $162.6 million for the six months to December 31 – a 0.3% rise from the corresponding period. But net profit was just $57.9 million.

Write-downs on intangible assets of $95.6 million were a major blow to the company. Bendigo and Adelaide Bank managing director Mike Hurst said the financial industry was facing significant market volatility and revenue challenges.

“The cost of all funding channels have increased markedly over the past six months, including retail term deposits, senior unsecured and secured debt markets,” Hirst said in a statement.

“The contraction in margin, coupled with slowing credit growth and market sentiment moving investors away from higher margin wealth and equities products, has resulted in flat earnings.”

Shares higher on prospects for second Greece deal

The Australian sharemarket has opened higher this morning after the prospects of a second Greek bailout package bolstered the hopes of investors in Europe and the United States.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 47 points or 1.1% to 4243.7 at 12.00 AEST, while the Australian dollar was trading at $US1.07c.

The lead also came from a positive result in the United States late last week, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 45 points or 0.4% to 12,949.9.

Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt to sell $US1.5 billion in Google shares

Former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt plans to sell 2.4 million shares of stock with a current market value of $US1.5 billion

The long-time chief executive and now company chairman publically announced the sale in a regulatory filing last Friday, with Google saying Schmidt was trying to raise money to diversify his investment portfolio.

The announcement came just 10 months after he ended his 10-year tenure as CEO, turning to the job over to the search engine’s co-founder Larry Page.

The sale is scheduled to be staggered over a one-year period.

If all shares are sold, Schmidt, 56, will reduce his stake in Google from 2.8% to 2.1%

Despite the sale, Schmidt and co-founders Page and Serge Brin will still hold the majority of the shareholder power at Google.