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Kevin Rudd resignation sparks leadership ballot rumours Australian prime minister Julia Gillard calls for Labor party leadership ballot
(about 14 hours later)
Australia's foreign minister, Kevin Rudd, has resigned, clearing the way for him to mount a challenge for the leadership of the Labor party against Julia Gillard, the woman who replaced him as prime minister. The Australian prime minister, Julia Gillard, has called for a leadership ballot to settle "once and for all" who should lead the Labor party and country.
In response, Gillard said she would hold a conference on Thursday, leading to speculation that she will announce a leadership ballot. It follows the resignation on Wednesday of the country's foreign minister, Kevin Rudd, while on an official visit to Washington. He said he had resigned because the prime minister had failed to counter remarks about his integrity coming from senior government ministers.
Rudd made his announcement in the middle of the night in Washington, where he was on an official visit. It came after months of speculation that he would make a move to try to replace Gillard. A vote for the leadership will take place at 10am on Monday local time and follows months of speculation about whether Rudd would make a comeback.
"I can only serve as foreign minister if I have the confidence of Prime Minister Gillard and her senior ministers," Rudd said. "Australians are sick of this [debate over leadership] and want it resolved," Gillard said.
He then blamed senior ministers for attacking his integrity, and Gillard for not doing anything to counter them. "I can only reluctantly conclude that she therefore shares these views," he said. "I therefore believe the only honourable thing, and the only honourable course of action, is for me to resign." If she did not win the vote on Monday, Gillard said she would return to the back bench and renounce any further ambition for the Labor party leadership.
Gillard replaced Rudd as prime minister in June 2010 in an internal coup, and their centre-left Labor party won elections later that year to lead a minority government. "I ask him to give the same undertaking," she said.
Gillard responded to his statement, saying: "I am disappointed that the concerns Mr Rudd has publicly expressed this evening were never personally raised with me, nor did he contact me to discuss his resignation prior to his decision." Cabinet ministers have been lining up to back Gillard, with increasingly strong rhetoric. The deputy prime minister and treasurer, Wayne Swan, described Rudd as a dysfunctional decision maker with a deeply demeaning attitude towards other people including colleagues.
Speculation about a leadership challenge has been going on for months. At its heart is Gillard's dismal showing in opinion polls. On current trends, Labor faces being wiped out at the next election due in 2013, with its support stagnant at about 30%. He said in a statement that, for too long, Rudd has been "his own self-interest ahead of the interests of the broader Labor movement and the country as a whole, and that needs to stop."
Rudd has said he will make a statement about whether he intends to contest the leadership after his return to Australia on Friday. Few doubt he will run.
"I do not believe prime minister Gillard can lead the Australian Labor party to success in the next election," he told a news conference before leaving Washington.
"I also believe that's a view shared across Australia," he said.
Gillard replaced Rudd as prime minister in June 2010 in an internal coup, and their centre-left Labor party won elections later that year to lead a minority government, reliant on independent MPs to govern. No ballot for the leadership took place and questions about her legitimacy have dogged her ever since. Rudd routinely outperforms Gillard as preferred leader in polling.
Labor party strategist and Rudd loyalist Bruce Hawker, said Rudd is the most popular politician in the country and the best-placed person to win the next election.Labor party strategist and Rudd loyalist Bruce Hawker, said Rudd is the most popular politician in the country and the best-placed person to win the next election.
"He's got runs on the board and I think the Australian public think he was done a very bad deal in the way in which he was removed (as prime minister). Now there could be an opportunity to address some of that," he told ABC television. "He's got runs on the board and I think the Australian public think he was done a very bad deal in the way in which he was removed. Now there could be an opportunity to address some of that," he told ABC television.
In June 2010, Gillard mounted a surprise attack on Rudd. He resigned as prime minister in a matter of hours without a ballot taking place. Questions about her legitimacy have dogged her ever since and Rudd routinely outperforms Gillard as preferred leader in polling. Speculation about a leadership challenge has been going on for months. At its heart is Gillard's dismal showing in opinion polls. On current trends, Labor faces being wiped out at the next election due in 2013, with just 30% support.Gillard blamed Rudd for what she described as a long destabilization campaign against her government and leadership and said the debate over the leadership was a distraction "obscuring our ability to talk about reform."
On Wednesday, ministers accused him of undermining the government in a bid to regain the leadership. She also accused him of running a dysfunctional government when he was prime minister that was concerned with opinion polls and news cycles, rather than getting policy through parliament.
"I'm glad that it's now been resolved," said Tony Burke, sustainability and environment minister. "Everybody has had enough of the stealth and undermining campaign that has been going on," he told ABC TV. Ironically there are not great policy differences between the two leaders. Both believe in a price on carbon, increased taxation on the hugely profitable mining and resource sectors as well as health and education reform.
The battle for the leadership intensified last weekend when a video was released showing Rudd swearing while he was prime minister. Calls from senior cabinet ministers for him to go followed shortly after.
Rudd said he will return to Australia on Friday to consult with his family and colleagues about his next move. He's expected to make a statement before parliament resumes on Monday.
His options include returning to the backbenches; resigning as an MP (forcing a byelection in a hung parliament with a wafer thin majority) or; if he can gather the required numbers within the party, mounting a challenge for the leadership.