Kevin Rudd still not officially in, yet

Kevin Rudd stepped up the leadership battle this morning, taking a swipe at Julia Gillard over promises he claims she made in the hours prior to the 2010 "midnight coup", and labeling the race for the Australian prime ministership as a matter of "trust and confidence".

But Rudd has not officially entered Monday's leadership challenge, promising to release a further statement later today on his future intentions.

In his first press conference since arriving in Australia – made from Brisbane airport – Rudd urged his Labor colleagues to respect the "power of the people" in order to come up with the best strategy for taking on opposition leader Tony Abbott.

He rejected claims he "sabotaged" the 2010 federal election, saying the parliamentary review into Labor's election campaign has been put under "lock and key", apart from the chapter that concerned him.

He said he and Julia Gillard made an agreement that he'd be given more time to change his ways in the lead up to the June 2010 coup that saw him ousted as prime minister: "Ten minutes later Julia Gillard came back in the room and said, 'all bets are off'," Rudd said.

"What I see [now] from the faceless men is the same shock and awe tactics that I think were deployed during the leadership coup of 2010."

Rudd continued his plea to the people of Australia to contact their local MPs regarding their concerns, a campaign started by his wife Therese Rein and continued by daughter Jessica Rudd in an article published online yesterday afternoon.

"You have a voice in this too. The prime ministership of the country is something that's provided and gifted by the Australian people, not by factions of the Australian Labor party," Rudd said.