Julia Gillard confirms she will not contest next parliamentary elections after losing Labor party leadership ballot to Kevin Rudd
Alison Rourke
The Guardian
26 Jun 2013
Australia’s first female prime minister, Julia Gillard, has been sacked by her party just months before the next election and replaced by the man she ousted three years ago.
After an unprecedented day of political bloodletting in Canberra, Kevin Rudd beat Gillard in a ballot of MPs by a margin of 57 to 45 to become Labor party leader. It is only the second time a sitting Australian prime minister has been removed from their first term in office by their party; Rudd was the first.
Delivering his victory speech, Rudd dedicated himself to winning the election in September. “In 2007 the Australian people elected me to be their prime minister. That is a task that I resume today with humility, with honour and with an important sense of energy and purpose.”
He also paid tribute to Julia Gillard. “She is a woman of extraordinary intelligence, great strength, great energy. All of you across the nation would recognise those formidable attributes,” he said. “Julia has achieved much under the difficult circumstances of minority government, helped by a dedicated set of ministers.”
“She has been a remarkable reformer and I acknowledge those contributions this evening,” he said.
Rudd said he had taken on the challenge of the leadership because he could not “stand idly by and allow a (conservative) Abbott government come to power in this country by default”…
The article continues, with video, at The Guardian.
Update: Conservatives May Take Australia’s Elections After Unpopularity and Scheming of Labour Regime.
…Australia now has the chance – should it wish to take it – of joining Canada in leading the Conservative fightback in what remains of the free West. Tony Abbott’s Liberals (that’s Australian for Conservatives) look set to win an outright majority, without having to do any of the grotesque horsetrading with the Greens (which have been one of the more noisome and damaging aspects of Gillard’s vile, principle-free Coalition)…
