Associated Press writer Kristen Gelineau in Sydney contributed to this report. Already a subscriber? Monitor journalism changes lives because we open that too-small box that most people think they live in.
We believe news can and should expand a sense of identity and possibility beyond narrow conventional expectations. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier.
If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. But you know what? We change lives. We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. And we can prove it. Your subscription to The Christian Science Monitor has expired. You can renew your subscription or continue to use the site without a subscription. If you have questions about your account, please contact customer service or call us at This message will appear once per week unless you renew or log out.
Skip to main content Skip to main menu Skip to search Skip to footer. Search for:. Manage subscription. Subscribe to the Monitor. Monitor Daily current issue. Rudd acts on asylum seeker policy. Key meeting to discuss proposed changes to Labor leadership rules. Election announcement anticipated—but not forthcoming. Other issues emerging for Rudd in late July Rudd visits troops in Afghanistan. Pre-election activity intensifies. Controversy over asylum seeker policy continues.
Rudd: the campaign and beyond. Rudd resigns from the Labor leadership. Former minister Nicola Roxon criticises Rudd. Rudd announces his forthcoming departure from Parliament. Appendix A: Process for election of Labor leader. The return of Kevin Rudd to the Labor leadership on 26 June and his appointment as Prime Minister is one of the most compelling tales in modern Australian political history.
Having resigned as leader in June in the face of a revolt by the Labor Caucus that saw him replaced by Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Rudd remained a prominent and popular public figure. But Rudd, now a backbencher, seemed disinclined to simply accept his fate. He maintained a high public profile. Labor had to govern after the election with the support of independent and minor party MPs.
Under such circumstances Opposition Leader Tony Abbott proved extremely effective at portraying the Labor Government as chaotic, ill-disciplined and incompetent. The press had retained a fascination with Kevin Rudd.
There were persistent rumours that he was seeking a return to his former post notwithstanding both his repeated denials to that effect and Caucus ballots that had re-affirmed Gillard as leader. But on the afternoon of Wednesday 26 June, with leadership speculation once more at fever pitch, Gillard announced that the Labor Caucus would meet at 7pm to resolve the leadership issue once and for all.
It should be a condition of the ballot, said Gillard, that the loser should retire from Parliament. For a detailed account of the election itself, see the Parliamentary Library Research Paper Federal Election Issues, dynamic, outcomes.
Her prospects received a blow when erstwhile supporter, Bill Shorten, announced that he was switching his allegiance to Rudd:. Moreover, Labor also faced the prospect of a Coalition ascendancy in the Senate. Calls for an early election were prominent in editorials, and when asked by the Leader of the Opposition about election timing, the newly-installed Prime Minister said:.
I will therefore go through these issues with my cabinet colleagues. The Leader of the Opposition can rest assured there is going to be an election, it will be held consistent with the Constitution and, if he has looked at the dates, there is not going to be a huge variation one way or the other With the election ostensibly to be held on 14 September, and the AFL grand final scheduled for 28 September, 21 September remained another possible date.
To go to an election earlier than September 14 would likely mean cancelling the planned referendum on the constitutional recognition of local government. The ALP was now at ABC journalist Barrie Cassidy described the situation in the following terms:. If the first polls after the elevation of Kevin Rudd represent the high water mark, then Tony Abbott and the Coalition will win.
But if it's not—if Rudd and Labor can improve on that first blush result, however slightly—then the Government will win… The biggest single indication of how the political dynamics have changed is Abbott's refusal to debate Rudd unless Parliament is recalled or an election date announced. Ordinarily, an opposition leader is the one making the challenge, keen to share the platform and the leadership status with the incumbent.
But not this time. Meanwhile, the expectation was growing that the Rudd Government would probably seek a mid-October election, allowing the new ministry—and any policy changes—at least a few months to settle.
But the hectic schedule of global meetings Prime Minister Rudd expected to attend—along with the traditional reluctance to impose a campaign over the football finals—suggested that a mid-November election might be the preferred timing. On 8 July the Prime Minister announced a proposal for a major change in the rules for the election of the leader of the parliamentary Labor Party. The reforms—while generally well received [34] — were not without their critics.
Rudd is imposing new party rules that invest him with untouchable power if he wins the election. The role of unions in the ALP remained an issue that was still to be settled, with Barrie Cassidy observing:. Eventually a [Labor] national conference will decide the balance, free of pre-election restrictions… In any case, unions retain much of the control over pre-selections and through that process they have considerable clout in the caucus.
The poll said voter satisfaction with Rudd was up seven points to 43 per cent from the previous weekend. On 11 July, the Prime Minister delivered his first major speech on economic issues in an address to the National Press Club—originally proposed as a debate with Tony Abbott. On the back of 11 years in power, and facing a smiling Kevin Rudd, mobbed by crowds jostling wherever he went, John Howard didn't stand a chance, and the groundswell of public support saw him lose his seat - the first prime minister to do so since Stanley Bruce in Mr Rudd began his term with his trademark zeal and drive, and early achievements included the apology to the Stolen Generations, ratifying the Kyoto protocol, and successfully navigating the Global Financial Crisis.
But the popularity that helped propel to to the top job never translated to within the party, and when it began to ebb it left him vulnerable to attack. From within the party reports emerged of growing dysfunction and a lack of coherence and focus in policy.
His office was accused of micromanaging ministers - or excluding them from decision-making altogether — and Mr Rudd himself had a reputation for bursts of anger and brusqueness. It is a reputation that stayed with Mr Rudd from his time in Queensland politics, and with the failure of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme and a sustained attack against Mr Rudd's proposed mining tax , his personal approval rating began to slide.
The ascension of Tony Abbott to opposition leader, resulting in the collapse of bi-partisan support for the emissions trading scheme, and Mr Rudd's decision not to go to an election on the issue saw growing speculation he would be replaced.
Mr Abbott also aggressively and successfully attacked the prime minister over the government's handling of the insulation scheme, and the Building the Education Revolution infrastructure program.
And on June 23, , after reports emerged of his youthful chief of staff canvassing levels of support within the party, then deputy prime minister Julia Gillard publicly requested Mr Rudd hold a leadership ballot.
However after realising he would not have the support to win the ballot Mr Rudd stood down as prime minister and Labor leader. It was this event that would set the tone for the next three years of politics, and the re-emergence of an old term in Australian vernacular - the faceless men. But no-one could anticipate the depth of his desire to return to the office of Prime Minister, and he remained in Parliament on the back bench.
In the campaign, Mr Rudd and Ms Gillard posed for a photo opportunity in Brisbane intended to show the pair working together, however the campaign was riven by leaks that many placed at the feet of Mr Rudd or his supporters within the party. These leaks, and a series of blunders derailed the Gillard campaign forcing her to form a minority government with the help of several independents.
Mr Rudd and Ms Gillard formed a fractious relationship from September until February with Mr Rudd as prime minister Gillard's foreign minister, however speculation continued to dog the government. Will Rudd pitch for PM job? Profile: Kevin Rudd. Profile: Julia Gillard. Is Kevin Rudd preparing to strike back?
Gillard grilled on Rudd ousting. Kevin Rudd's rapid fall from grace. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Kevin Rudd: "I am sad that it has come to this".
0コメント