Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard yesterday called a ballot on the leadership of the ruling Labor party, bringing to a head an increasingly bitter and ugly row with her predecessor and former foreign minister Kevin Rudd.
Gillard said a vote would be held on Monday when parliament resumes, after Rudd dramatically quit as foreign minister while in Washington on Wednesday amid reports she was planning to sack him for undermining the party.
“Australians are rightly sick of this and they want it brought to an end,” Gillard said of a battle for power that has been variously described by ministers as a “farce,” “soap opera” and a “comedy.”
Gillard told reporters she would again stand, and were she to lose would retire to the backbench and renounce future claims to the leadership, calling on Rudd to do the same.
“For far too long we have seen squabbling within the Labor party which has obscured the government’s achievements and what we are doing to build a stronger and fairer Australia for the future,” she said.
Australia’s government has been torn by speculation about whether Rudd, whom Gillard brutally ousted as prime minister in mid-2010, but who remains popular with voters, would mount a bid to return to the top job.
He is yet to formalize his plans, but in a clear pitch to caucus members, Rudd cited his record as prime minister, declaring the achievements of his government had been formidable before boarding a plane back to Australia.
He laid out four key priorities under a government he would lead, including restoring business confidence, maintaining a strong manufacturing industry and continuing health and education reform.
In a broad hint that he wants his old job back, the 54-year-old said Gillard could not win the next elections due in 2013.
“I do not believe that Prime Minister Gillard can lead the Australian Labor Party to success in the next election,” he said, adding that he was encouraged by the support he had received for a return to top office.
“I have many more calls to make, but their overall argument to me is that they regard me as the best prospect to lead the Australian Labor Party successfully at the next federal elections,” he said.
On current numbers, Rudd, regarded by some in the party as high-handed and egotistical, is likely to lose the ballot and be banished to the backbench.
His other option is to vacate his seat, which would bring fragile Labor an unwelcome by-election in his Queensland precinct of Griffith.
Local newspapers say around 49 members of parliament in the 103-member labor caucus are backing Gillard with 37 for Rudd and 17 undecided. A majority is required to win, although those numbers are shifting daily.
Gillard said her message to colleagues was that the party needed to unite after the vote “and get on with the job that Australians expect us to do.”
“I expect to win,” she said.
Since Rudd’s resignation, senior ministers, including Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan and Trade Minister Craig Emerson, have been lining up to savage him in what has become a vitriolic and divisive showdown.
However, Rudd also has his supporters, with Australian Resources Minister Martin Ferguson emerging yesterday with an open pledge of support. Australian Immigration Minister Chris Bowen and Manufacturing Minister Kim Carr are also said to back Rudd.
Richard Stanton, a political analyst at the University of Sydney, said a battle of egos was playing out.
“The real game is about power,” he said. “Not the distribution of power, but the raw, naked power that comes directly from holding the highest political office.”
“It is so all-consuming that Rudd wants it back. Gillard will not let it go,” he said.
The person most likely to benefit from the government’s implosion is opposition leader Tony Abbott, who called the leadership battle “an embarrassment.”
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was