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A
leadership spill In Australian politics, a leadership spill (or simply spill) is a colloquialism referring to a declaration that the leadership of a parliamentary party is vacant and open for contest. A spill may involve all or some of the leadership positions (l ...
occurred in the
Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms t ...
on 24 June 2010.
Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and again from June 2013 to September 2013, holding office as the leader of the ...
, the prime minister of Australia, was challenged by Julia Gillard, the
deputy prime minister of Australia The deputy prime minister of Australia is the deputy chief executive and the second highest ranking officer of the Australian Government. The office of deputy prime minister was officially created as a ministerial portfolio in 1968, althoug ...
, for the leadership of the
Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms t ...
. Gillard won the election unopposed after Rudd declined to contest, choosing instead to resign. Gillard was duly sworn in as prime minister by
Quentin Bryce Dame Quentin Alice Louise Bryce, (née Strachan; born 23 December 1942) is an Australian academic who served as the 25th governor-general of Australia from 2008 to 2014. She is the first woman to have held the position, and was previously the ...
, the Governor-General, on 24 June 2010 at
Government House Government House is the name of many of the official residences of governors-general, governors and lieutenant-governors in the Commonwealth and the remaining colonies of the British Empire. The name is also used in some other countries. Gover ...
, becoming Australia's first female prime minister. Gillard was the Deputy Leader of the Labor Party since 4 December 2006, and was appointed Deputy Prime Minister of Australia after Labor's landslide victory in the
2007 federal election This electoral calendar 2007 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2007 in the de jure and de facto sovereign states and their dependent territories. Referendums are included, although they are not elections. By-elections are not ...
. She was also appointed the Minister for Education and
Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations The Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations is a position currently held by Tony Burke in the Albanese ministry since 1 June 2022, following the Australian federal election in 2022. In the Government of Australia, the minister admin ...
.


Background

Rudd and Gillard became
Leader Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets vi ...
and Deputy Leader of the Australian Labor Party on 4 December 2006, during the fourth and final term of the Howard Government. The pair successfully challenged sitting Leader
Kim Beazley Kim Christian Beazley (born 14 December 1948) is an Australian former politician and diplomat. He was leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and leader of the opposition from 1996 to 2001 and 2005 to 2006, having previously been a cabine ...
and Deputy Leader
Jenny Macklin Jennifer Louise Macklin (born 29 December 1953) is an Australian former politician. She was elected to federal parliament at the 1996 federal election and served as the deputy leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 2001 to 2006, unde ...
in a joint-ticket leadership election, brought about by opinion polls suggesting that Rudd was far more popular with the public than Beazley. Under the leadership of Rudd and Gillard, Labor defeated the Liberal/National Coalition at the
2007 federal election This electoral calendar 2007 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2007 in the de jure and de facto sovereign states and their dependent territories. Referendums are included, although they are not elections. By-elections are not ...
by a landslide. The Rudd Ministry was sworn in by Governor-General
Michael Jeffery Major General Philip Michael Jeffery, (12 December 1937 – 18 December 2020) was a senior Australian Army officer and vice-regal representative. He was the 28th governor of Western Australia from 1993 to 2000, and the 24th governor-general o ...
on 3 December, with Rudd becoming the first Labor prime minister in over a decade, and Gillard becoming the first-ever female deputy prime minister. Rudd also appointed Gillard as Minister for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. After an initial long period of popularity, by mid-2010 polls began to detect disaffection both with the direction of the Government and the leadership style of Kevin Rudd; several opinion polls in April and May 2010 suggested that Labor would lose the next election. According to the ABC's ''7:30 Report'', the seeds for Gillard to challenge Rudd were sown by "Victorian Right factional heavyweights"
Bill Shorten William Richard Shorten (born 12 May 1967) is an Australian politician currently serving as Minister for Government Services and Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme since 2022. He previously served as leader of the opposition ...
MP and Senator
David Feeney David Ian Feeney (born 5 March 1970) is a former Australian politician. He was the Labor member for the division of Batman in the House of Representatives from 7 September 2013 to 1 February 2018. Before that, he was a member of the Australian ...
, who had between them secured the support of "New South Wales power broker" Mark Arbib. Feeney and Arbib discussed the matter of a potential leadership challenge with Gillard on the morning of 23 June and began a numbers count to establish the feasibility of a leadership challenge. The pair found that there was enough support for Gillard for the challenge to proceed. Declining approval for both the Labor Party and Rudd personally were attributed to many factors, including problems with the Home Insulation Program, a significant delay to a planned carbon emissions reduction scheme, the proposed introduction of the
Resource Super Profits Tax The Minerals Resource Rent Tax (MRRT) was a tax on profits generated from the mining of non-renewable resources in Australia. It was a replacement for the proposed Resource Super Profit Tax (RSPT). The tax, levied on 30% of the "super profits" fr ...
, and the election of
Tony Abbott Anthony John Abbott (; born 4 November 1957) is a former Australian politician who served as the 28th prime minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Abbott was born in Londo ...
as Leader of the Opposition. Senior Labor MPs conceded that the ALP's primary vote had dropped below 30% in some key marginal seats, a figure which if replicated at a federal election would have seen a Labor defeat. The leadership challenge was finally sparked after the influential
Australian Workers' Union The Australian Workers' Union (AWU) is one of Australia's largest and oldest trade unions. It traces its origins to unions founded in the pastoral and mining industries in the 1880s and currently has approximately 80,000 members. It has exer ...
officially switched its support from Rudd to Gillard. AWU Secretary
Paul Howes Paul Howes (born 23 August 1981) was involved in the Australian trade union movement from 1999 through 2014. His most recent position was as National Secretary of the Australian Workers' Union, the youngest person to serve in that position. In ...
told the Australian Associated Press and ABC's ''
Lateline ''Lateline'' was an Australian television news program which ran from 1990 until 2017. The program initially aired weeknights on ABC TV. In later years it was also broadcast internationally throughout Asia and the Pacific on the Australia Plu ...
'' that he and AWU President Bill Ludwig had decided to support Gillard as prime minister after making an assessment that a change in leadership was in the best interest of their membership.


Challenge

On the morning of 23 June 2010, NSW senator Mark Arbib, Victorians Shorten and
David Feeney David Ian Feeney (born 5 March 1970) is a former Australian politician. He was the Labor member for the division of Batman in the House of Representatives from 7 September 2013 to 1 February 2018. Before that, he was a member of the Australian ...
, and South Australian
Don Farrell Donald Edward Farrell (born 6 June 1954) is an Australian politician and former trade unionist. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and has been Minister for Trade and Tourism and Special Minister of State in the Albanese govern ...
visited Gillard to tell her that enough Labor MPs and senators had lost confidence in Prime Minister Rudd to make a challenge feasible. By midday, Arbib and Feeney told Gillard that they could guarantee her the support of the majority of right-wing members from New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia, giving Gillard enough support to win the leadership and become prime minister. Arbib and Feeney told Gillard that most of the Labor Party were convinced they would lose the next election if Rudd continued as prime minister. They also said that they believed Labor would be able to win with Gillard as prime minister. Party sources later told the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-owned ...
that Gillard agreed that Labor faced electoral defeat with Rudd at the helm. After holding meetings throughout the evening, Rudd addressed the media at 10:30 pm to announce that Gillard had asked for him to either resign as prime minister or hold a leadership election the following day to determine the Leadership of the Labor Party. Rudd stated that a leadership election would take place the following day and that he would stand as a candidate. The '' Sydney Morning Herald'' reported that the final catalyst for the challenge against Rudd was "sparked by a report (in the Herald of 23 June) that Mr Rudd had used his Chief of Staff, Alister Jordan, to sound out the backbench over the past month on the level of support for him. This followed a Herald/Nielsen poll which showed the government would lose if an election were held then", and that "Rudd's action was regarded as a sign that he did not trust the repeated assurances by Ms Gillard that she would not stand".


Results

All 115 Labor Members of the
House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
and Senators were eligible to vote in the ballot. A total of 58 votes was required to secure a majority win the leadership ballot. Whilst announcing the leadership election, Rudd initially declared that he would re-nominate himself for the leadership, even in the face of growing support for Gillard. However, by the morning of the vote it had become clear he did not have the support to secure a majority in the vote. Hours before the vote was due to take place, Rudd announced that he was withdrawing his candidacy and resigned as Leader of the Labor Party with immediate effect. This left Gillard to assume the leadership unopposed.
Wayne Swan Wayne Maxwell Swan (born 30 June 1954), often colloquially referred to as Swanny, is an Australian politician who is National President of the Labor Party. He was previously the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia and Deputy Leader of the Labor ...
,
Treasurer of Australia The Treasurer of Australia (or Federal Treasurer) is a high ranking official and senior minister of the Crown in the Government of Australia who is the head of the Ministry of the Treasury which is responsible for government expenditure and ...
at the time, was elected to fill Gillard's now vacant position as Deputy Leader, also unopposed. Rudd resigned as prime minister at midday, and Gillard was sworn in as the first female prime minister of Australia shortly afterwards.


Aftermath

On 17 July 2010, just 23 days after becoming prime minister, Gillard advised the Governor-General
Quentin Bryce Dame Quentin Alice Louise Bryce, (née Strachan; born 23 December 1942) is an Australian academic who served as the 25th governor-general of Australia from 2008 to 2014. She is the first woman to have held the position, and was previously the ...
she wished to hold a snap election for 21 August 2010. After a close contest between Gillard's Labor and
Tony Abbott Anthony John Abbott (; born 4 November 1957) is a former Australian politician who served as the 28th prime minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Abbott was born in Londo ...
's Liberal/National Coalition, the election resulted in the first
hung parliament A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing coalition (also known as an alliance or bloc) has an absolute majority of legisla ...
since the 1940 election. Gillard was able to secure the support of one Greens MP and three Independent MPs in order to allow Labor to form a minority government, and Gillard was sworn in as prime minister for a second time on 14 September 2010.
Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and again from June 2013 to September 2013, holding office as the leader of the ...
, who had successfully re-contested his seat at the election, accepted an offer to become
minister for foreign affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...
. Rudd regained the leadership, and the prime ministership, at the
June 2013 Australian Labor Party leadership spill A leadership spill in the Australian Labor Party, the party then forming the Government of Australia, took place on 26 June 2013 at 7:00pm AEST. Prime Minister Julia Gillard called a ballot for Leader and Deputy Leader of the Labor Party liv ...
, shortly before Labor lost government at the
2013 Australian federal election The 2013 Australian federal election to elect the members of the 44th Parliament of Australia took place on 7 September 2013. The centre-right Liberal/National Coalition opposition led by Opposition leader Tony Abbott of the Liberal Party of A ...
.


References

{{Leadership spills in Australia 2010 elections in Australia Australian Labor Party leadership spills Rudd Government Gillard Government Australian Labor Party leadership spill