Schadenfreude !

For the past year the battle lines within the Australian Federal government have produced back-flips, damaging innuendoe and what amounts to " trench warfare " as the matter of the leadership dissolves into bitterness.

Kevin Rudd is pious in his declaration of total support for prime minister Julia Gillard, and yet there is an overwhelming sense of " Schadenfreude " as Gillards approval rating slips to thirty-one percent in comparison to Rudd's sixty percent as preferred prime minister.

The casualty of this undeclared leadership contest is the fate of the political party to which they both belong. Labor has slipped to a support level of just twenty-seven percent, and should one of the independents decide to jump ship - it faces a disastrous defeat which would see the Coalition sweep into office.

This is not a situation that can be allowed to continue indefinitely. Issues such as the proposed tax on carbon have the capacity to either bring in a new era for Australian industry, or to destroy what little manufacturing we still retain and send unemployment to levels not seen since the great depression of the 1930's.

The entire world teeters on the edge of isolvency and the fate of Europe - and it's Euro currency - depends on the outcome affecting several bankrupt countries and their ability to hunker down and accept fiscal discipline to manage their debt.

The Australian economy in contrast looks rosy. We have a mineral boom that looks to continue and with a steady hand on the tiller Australia should be able to dodge the worst of the economic problems troubling the United States and Europe.

This is not a time for squabbles over who should sit in the prime minister's chair - and it is certainly not the time to have policy disputes between two opposing ideological parties who share leadership in government.

If Labor can not extricate itself by decisive action then it passes the mantle of statesmanship to those independents to withdraw support - and send the government to the people for a decision on who rules Australia.

Too much is at stake for this indecision to continue indefinitely !