Pat Dollard

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Times Online:

A British-born former lawyer became Australia’s first female Prime Minister early today, ousting Kevin Rudd in a party coup only months before elections are expected to be called.

Julia Gillard, 48, became leader of the Australian Labor Party after a night of high drama, with key faction leaders switching their support, as polls indicated that Mr Rudd’s popularity was in terminal decline.

The crisis was triggered by an open leadership challenge from Ms Gillard, who has been Deputy Prime Minister for almost three years. Mr Rudd issued a “back me or sack me” challenge to MPs, but the move backfired. As the numbers failed to stack up, he resigned without putting his leadership to a vote.

Ms Gillard, originally from Wales, had been playing down the prospects of a leadership tilt for several weeks, after a poll indicated that she was closing the gap with Mr Rudd. “There’s more chance of me becoming the full forward for the Dogs than there is any chance of a change in the Labor Party,” she said last month.

Mr Rudd had been one of the most popular prime ministers but his support collapsed after he shelved a flagship carbon-trading scheme and a free home-insulation scheme, and then announced a 40 per cent tax on the mining industry.

Controversial policies on climate change and asylum seekers and a revitalised Liberal Party in opposition also affected his ratings. The party felt that he was in danger of becoming the first one-term Prime Minister in Australia since 1932. The next election, which has not yet been called but is expected to be held later this year.

A recent poll found that he was so unpopular that, if an election were to be held now, Labor would lose. His approval rating crashed to 45 per cent, down 14 percentage points in a month, while his disapproval rating rose 13 points to 49 per cent.

One Labor MP, Gary Gray of Western Australia, supporting Ms Gillard, said: “It’s necessary to have both a fresh pair of hands, fresh eyes and a different approach to the management of government.”
Even before the vote Mr Rudd conceded that he had lost the support of several Labor kingpins .

“I was elected by the Australian people to do a job, I was not elected by the factional leaders of the Australian Labor Party to do a job, though they may be seeking to do a job on me,” Mr Rudd said. “The challenge, therefore, is to honour the mandate given to me by the Australian people.”

Mr Rudd had been locked in talks with senior Cabinet members throughout Wednesday evening as support for him ebbed away through the night. The Treasurer, Wayne Swan, the Finance Minister, Lindsay Tanner, the Defence Minister, John Faulkner, and the Infrastructure Minister, Anthony Albanese, were in discussions with with Mr Rudd and Ms Gillard.

Mr Swan and Stephen Smith, the Foreign Minister, were reported to have switched their support to Ms Gillard. There were also reports that Mr Swan would be put forward as Ms Gillard’s Deputy Prime Minister.

The push for a leadership change appeared to have come from the Labor Party’s right-wing faction in Victoria. There were reports, too, that the powerful Australian Workers’ Union (AWU) had defected from Mr Rudd’s camp to back Ms Gillard.

Ms Gillard now faces a resurgent conservative opposition led by Tony Abbott, a former university boxer who once trained for the Catholic priesthood. The Labor leadership election was almost the last act of the parliamentary session, with MPs due to take their winter break at the end of the week