Welsh-born lawyer Julia Gillard became Australia’s first woman prime minister yesterday after the once hugely popular prime minister Kevin Rudd fell to a party coup less than three years after taking office.
The tough, flame-haired Gillard was elected unopposed in a shock Labor Party ballot called just hours earlier, saying she could not “sit idly by” as public and factional support swung dramatically away from the former leader.
“I asked my colleagues to make a leadership change because I believe that a good government was losing its way … and at risk at the next election,” Gillard said. “I was not going to sit idly by.”
Gillard, 48, pledged to seek a popular mandate within months and set about reversing the issues that sank Rudd by pursuing a dropped carbon trading scheme and urging mining chiefs to cancel a TV campaign against a planned new tax.
The plea drew immediate dividends as BHP Billiton, the world’s biggest mining company, cancelled its TV ads as a “sign of good faith.”
Yesterday’s quickfire developments cemented a remarkable rise for the unmarried Gillard, who battled through the party ranks, and sneers over her lack of children and strong Australian accent, to become Labor’s leading light.
However, analysts raised questions over the manner of her ascension, which came through shady backroom deals hatched by political power-brokers and ended in a hasty dismissal for Rudd, elected by a landslide in 2007.
Rumblings of a leadership change surfaced only late on Wednesday, when Rudd emerged from talks with Gillard to announce the surprise parliamentary party vote yesterday.
Analysts were stunned at the fall from grace of Rudd, who plummeted from record support levels to become the first Australian prime minister deposed in office since Labor’s Paul Keating unseated Bob Hawke in 1991.
The bookish, center-left technocrat rode high in the polls after ousting conservative Australian prime minister John Howard and only slumped in recent months after shelving the carbon trading scheme and suggesting the unpopular mining tax.
Rudd’s policy bumps and somewhat stiff persona gave rise to a public image of being long on rhetoric and short on real accomplishments, as well as something of a control freak.
An emotional Rudd, 52, repeatedly paused to choke back tears as he faced the press in Canberra flanked by his family.
“I was elected by the Australian people as prime minister of this country to bring back a fair go for all Australians, and I have given my absolute best to do that,” Rudd said.
“What I’m less proud of is the fact that I have now blubbered,” he said.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
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