JULIA GILLARD is Australia’s 27th prime minister and the first woman to hold the office. “I am truly honoured to lead this country which I love,” Ms Gillard said yesterday after she was sworn in.
A caucus ballot was set for 9am yesterday after Ms Gillard announced late the night before she was challenging Mr Rudd for the leadership of the ruling Labor Party. However a night of high drama and number-crunching left Mr Rudd in no doubt his time was up and he announced his resignation to the party in the morning.
Ms Gillard said bad polling figures for Labor and an election due within months left her with no option but to challenge Mr Rudd.
“I was not going to sit idly by and watch an incoming opposition cut education, cut health and smash rights at work. My values and my beliefs have driven me to step forward to take this position as prime minister.”
Ms Gillard was sworn in by Quentin Bryce, who is Australia’s first female governor-general. Australia also has two female state premiers, Kristina Keneally in New South Wales and Anna Bligh in Queensland. NSW and Queensland also have female governors.
Just six months ago, Mr Rudd was one of the most popular prime ministers Australia had ever had and was getting accolades around the world for his steady stewardship of the economy.
Alone among developed nations, Australia did not go into recession during the global financial crisis.
In recent months, though, his popularity plummeted after his government controversially dropped plans to implement a carbon-trading scheme. He had previously said climate change was “the greatest moral challenge of our time”, a line which came back to haunt him.
The fall in poll ratings was compounded by a battle with mining companies over plans to bring in a new tax on resource profits. Mr Rudd was blamed for failing to explain the tax properly to the public. Several recent polls showed Labor would lose up to 30 seats in the coming federal election.
Mr Rudd was never well liked by his party colleagues and was seen as high-handed and dismissive by many. However, his position as leader of the party and prime minister was never in any danger so long as he remained popular with the public. When the polls began to say otherwise, there were rumblings within the ranks.
In announcing the leadership contest on Wednesday night, Mr Rudd said: “It has become apparent to me in the course of the last period of time . . . that a number of factional leaders in the Labor Party no longer support my leadership.”
One of Ms Gillard’s first moves as prime minister was to announce she was “throwing open the government’s door to the mining industry”. She also announced a halt on government advertising about the proposed new mining tax and called on the miners to do the same. The Minerals Council of Australia immediately suspended its adverts opposing the tax.
There was further drama for Labor in parliament when finance minister Lindsay Tanner said he would not seek re-election.