Gillard vs Rudd: Labor leadership spill liveblog - Women's Agenda

Gillard vs Rudd: Labor leadership spill liveblog

Prime Minister Julia Gillard called a ballot for the Labor leadership at 7pm tonight. 

Kevin Rudd won the vote 57 to 45 to become leader of the party, ending the tenure of our first femle prime minister. 

With the help of our sister publication Crikey, we’re publishing updates on the spill below. Hit refresh for the latest.

9:40pm: Gillard is meeting with the Governor-General to officially resign as prime minister. 

9:35pm. Julia Gillard has congratulated Kevin Rudd on winning the Labor leadership in her final speech as prime minister.

She outlined her government’s achievements, saying she’s proud of progress on education reform, the NDIS, putting a price on carbon and commencing the Royal Commission into sexual abuse.

Gillard also used the opportunity to speak about being Australia’s first female prime minister.

She said there’s been a lot of speculation about her playing the so-called “gender card” because “heaven knows no one knew I was a woman!”

“The reaction to being the first female prime minister does not explain everything about my prime ministership, not does it explain nothing about my prime minister,” she said.

“It will be easier for the next woman, and the next woman, and the next.”

8:47pm. Penny Wong has been elected leader of the Senate. Anthony Albanese has been elected as deputy leader of the Labor party. Former prime minister Julia Gillard has emmerged from the caucus meeting. 

8:45pm. Crikey’s Bernard Keane writes on Kevin Rudd’s leadership win: 

With the support of Bill Shorten, one of the key plotters against him in 2010, Rudd defeated Gillard in a ballot initiated by the prime minister in response to claims the Rudd camp had circulated a petition calling for a ballot tomorrow. Gillard struck first and attempted to take the Rudd camp by surprise, bringing on a spill this evening and demanding Rudd resign from politics if he lost, as she would if she were defeated.

It was a high-stakes ploy from a woman who has shown remarkable tenacity and cunning in fighting off Rudd on two occasions since 2010, but it wasn’t enough. Shorten’s declaration, a few minutes before caucus met, that he was backing Rudd because only he could stave off a defeat that would obliterate the government’s legacy, sealed Gillard’s fate. However, the Rudd camp was very confident of victory from the moment Gillard called the spill. Rudd won the ballot 57-45. No change to the deputy position, from which Wayne Swan has resigned, has yet been announced.

Read the full story at Crikey

8:11pm. Women for Rudd? Possibly not on his frontbench. 

As we learn of resignations within the Labor party, our sister publication Crikey recently crunched the numbers to see what a Kevin Rudd caretaker cabinet would look like should a leadership change occur. As we wrote at the time, it may not be good news for women

7:53pm Kevin Rudd wins the Labor leadership ballot 57 to 45 to become leader of the party. He is now ‘acting’ prime minister. 

Gillard is expected to resign from politics. No news yet on who will serve as deputy leader. 

Gillard and Rudd spoke before the vote was held. Chris Hayes described the mood in the room as “sombre”.

“I think most people are happy that the issue of the leadership is behind us so the party can concentrate on preparing for the September election,” he said. “Any of these challenges I think are pretty emotional, they’re all human beings.”

7.24pm  Sky News and News.com.au reporting Kevin Rudd has won the leadership ballot, although vote has not been made public. ABC reporting it’ll wait for official verdict. 

6:58pm MPs are entering the caucus room for the 7pm leadership ballot. We can’t help but notice Kevin Rudd’s blue tie. 

6:42pm Minister Bill Shorten has announced at a press release he’s switched his support from Julia Gillard to Kevin Rudd. He said he’s supported Gillard “loyally” for three years and believe she’s accomplished “remarkable things.” He’ll resign his position in Cabinet if Gillard wins tonight’s ballot.

Shorten has been one of Gillard’s strongest supporters.

“I believe that Tony Abbott and his conservative Coalition represent a once-in-a-generation risk,” he said. 

“I have carefully considered my position. I have now come to the view that Labor stands the best chance of defending the legacies of this government … with Kevin Rudd as our leader.

“I understand that this position may come with a heavy personal cost to myself.”

“The future of this nation and the Labor Party is at stake here, and therefore I am supporting Kevin Rudd.”

“I believe that Kevin Rudd leading us to this election will provide Australians, my colleagues and those who have supported us with the best chance.”

6:20pm We suspect the Liberal party prepared this one earlier. A new clip released by the Liberals this afternoon goes on the Rudd attack, with the line “Chaos, dysfunction, paralysis, continues.” And includes plenty of handy vox pops from the Labor party itself.

6:08pm The Gillard camp claims to have the numbers, as does the Rudd camp.

Two weeks ago, Crikey’s Andrew Crook reported the numbers as being 56 to Gillard and 46 to Rudd. Crook’s currently in Canberra working the phones to ask how MPs will vote – those who said they were with Gillard at the last spill and continue to support the PM include Glenn Sterle, Joe Ludwig, Mike Symon, Bernie Ripoll, Andrew Leight, and Warren Snowden.

5:55pm A side note … Some stats on sexism in Australian politics.

Essential Research finds 73% of women believe ‘a lot’ or ‘some’ sexism exists in politics, compared to 49% of men. That poll was taken in the days after a fake menu mocking the Prime Minister’s body parts hit the headlines.

Has sexism affected Gillard’s popularity?

5:15pm Kevin Rudd announces his intention to contest tonight’s leadership contest, despite previously refusing to challenge Julia Gillard. He says thousands of citizens and many MPs have continually called on him to challenge.

Taking on Gillard’s all or nothing challenge, he says he will not stand again for the seat of Griffith should he lose the ballot tonight. 

5.00pm Bernard Keane writes for Women’s Agenda sister publication Crikey that Gillard has cleverly wedged Rudd by calling a ballot so quickly:

After a day of rumour and speculation that the Rudd camp was circulating a petition to call a leadership ballot, Julia Gillard has again responded swiftly to efforts to unseat her, calling a leadership ballot for 7pm tonight and demanding the loser leave politics.

The move dramatically lifts the stakes for the Labor leadership contest, leaving the Rudd camp with less time to muster the necessary 52 votes to replace the Prime Minister and effectively wedging Kevin Rudd: he must stand or risk alienating his supporters within Caucus, and he must agree to Gillard’s conditions or be accused of being the egomaniac many of his critics claim he is. To fail to agree to Gillard’s high-stakes conditions will forever mark Rudd as a political coward and permanently damage him.

The original Rudd camp plan appeared to be — according to unsourced media reports — to call for a leadership ballot tomorrow morning, after securing the 35 signatures necessary to call on a ballot. The petition itself proved an elusive creature this afternoon, even as reports spread that it was being circulated, with MPs in both camps saying they hadn’t seen it. After an impressive question time performance from frontbenchers, the Prime Minister repeated her response to the Simon Crean ballot call in March and called on a spill earlier than expected and demanded it bring to an end this three-year leadership saga.

In effect, Gillard has transformed this ballot into a death-match. There will be a winner and a loser, but only one survivor. Julia Gillard has proved a powerful, canny and ruthless contender in leadership contests since 2010. Many MPs will be wondering why she couldn’t display the same remarkable traits in her context with the real enemy, Tony Abbott.

×

Stay Smart! Get Savvy!

Get Women’s Agenda in your inbox