Ms Gillard described the fire which hit the Coonabarabran area as "the perfect storm".
Barry O'Farrell, the state's Liberal leader and now its premier, will complicate life for Ms Gillard.
His resignation could harm Ms Gillard's slender majority, which relies on votes from independent MPs.
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Ms Gillard said a Royal Commission was the best way to investigate the claims.
After Ms Gillard deposed Mr Rudd as leader, she promised not to introduce a carbon tax.
ECONOMIST: The prime minister stakes her future on a divisive scheme
But Ms Gillard said it was "good", as long as you remembered to spread it thinly.
He, for his part, has called Ms Gillard's Labor Party ''masters of nasty personal politics''.
Unless Ms Gillard can dispel the clouds, the budget's political sunshine may prove short-lived.
Ms Gillard's best hope may be to focus on Australia's economic resilience in the global downturn.
Both praised Ms Gillard's leadership and predicted Labor would win a third term in government.
Always a more popular figure within the party, Ms Gillard had the numbers to beat him.
Rob Oakeshott, one of them, says his deal is with Ms Gillard, not Labor.
He could resign from parliament, thus possibly triggering the fall of Ms Gillard's minority government.
Ms Gillard said Mr Rudd has not been in touch before his press conference.
When she dislodged Mr Rudd in June last year, Ms Gillard was a rising political star.
Ms Gillard was expected to visit Dunalley, the town worst affected by the fires.
"Thank you for that painting of women's roles in modern Australia, " said Ms Gillard, derisively.
Ms Gillard's 15 minutes of invective brought her more than 15 minutes of global fame.
When a lower house majority failed to emerge, Ms Gillard withheld the bill from a vote.
Yet Ms Gillard responded to the Malaysia plan's sinking by evoking a sense of crisis.
Ms Gillard's coalition government has a majority of just one seat in the lower house of parliament.
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Ms Gillard, who is Australia's first female prime minister, had berated opposition leader Mr Abbott in parliament.
He attacked Mr Crean, and accused Ms Gillard of sharing his views by failing to repudiate them.
Ms Gillard has said she hopes that the offshore processing centres could be re-opened within a month.
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His resignation now means Ms Gillard is dependent on Mr Slipper as an independent to help pass legislation.
BBC: Australia: Speaker Peter Slipper quits amid sex scandal
Neither Ms Gillard - who is currently in Delhi - nor Mr Abbott would comment on the update.
The political chatter ever since has focused not on Ms Gillard's carbon-policy victory but on her asylum-plan humiliation.
Second, Ms Gillard's promise during last year's election campaign not to impose a carbon tax has haunted her.
Visiting Coonabarabran, the site of the wildfire, Ms Gillard said it was "incredible" that no lives had been lost.
Ms Gillard claimed the Malaysia deal was designed to thwart people-smugglers, and to deter people from dangerous sea voyages.
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