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 ...

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 ...

, the party of government in the

Parliament of Australia The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislature, legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the ...

, was held on 21 March 2013.

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Julia Gillard called a ballot for the Leadership and Deputy Leadership of the Labor Party for 4.30pm, following a press conference by former Labor Leader and

Regional Minister In England, regional ministers were appointed from 2007 on a part-time basis as part of Her Majesty's Government. Each minister had other departmental responsibilities, as well as specific responsibilities for one of the English regions. Their stat ...

Simon Crean Simon Findlay Crean (born 26 February 1949) is an Australian politician and trade unionist. He was the Member of Parliament for Hotham from 1990 to 2013, representing the Labor Party, and served as a Cabinet Minister in the Hawke, Keating, R ...

over persistent leadership tensions. At the caucus meeting, no alternative candidates nominated for the positions, and so Gillard and

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 ...

were re-elected unopposed.

Background

Despite the 2012 leadership spill, at which Gillard easily defeated former Leader

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 ...

, tensions continued to be high within the Gillard Government. According to Peter Hartcher, "After more than two and a half years of consistently being in a losing position in the Nielsen poll, the great bulk of Labor MPs did not believe the government could win the election that Gillard had called for 14 September." Whenever challenged by interviewers, Rudd repeatedly said that he would not challenge Gillard for the leadership again. However, he and his supporters reportedly continued to campaign privately for his return to the leadership behind the scenes. Ministers and backbenchers began to lose confidence in Gillard's leadership and political judgment following the naming of an election date over seven months early, a promotional tour of Western Sydney and her "captain's pick" which replaced long-serving Northern Territory Senator (and Rudd ally) Trish Crossin with

Nova Peris Nova Maree Peris (born 25 February 1971) is an Aboriginal Australian athlete and former politician. As part of the Australian women's field hockey ( Hockeyroos) team at the 1996 Olympic Games, she was the first Aboriginal Australian to win an ...

, interrupting an ongoing preselection. A cabinet reshuffle was required following the unexpected departures of ministers Chris Evans and

Nicola Roxon Nicola Louise Roxon (born 1 April 1967) is a former Australian politician, who was a member of the House Representatives representing the seat of Gellibrand in Victoria for the Australian Labor Party from the 1998 federal election until he ...

, and the New South Wales branch of the party was constantly in the news due to revelations from the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) mainly involving ex-state ministers Eddie Obeid and

Ian Macdonald Ian MacCormick (known by the pseudonym Ian MacDonald; 3 October 1948 – 20 August 2003) was a British music critic and author, best known for both '' Revolution in the Head'', his critical history of the Beatles which borrowed techniques from ...

. During this time, the Australian Greens also withdrew from their agreement supporting the minority government. After the Western Australian state election on 9 March, two federal ministers from the state conceded that the Gillard government's troubles had impacted on the result. Former state minister

Alannah MacTiernan Alannah Joan Geraldine Cecilia MacTiernan (born 10 January 1953) is an Australian politician. Since 1988, she has served in politics at a federal, state, and local level, including as a minister in the Western Australian state governments of Ge ...

reported a consistent message from voters at doorstops that they would not vote for federal Labor later in the year, and called for Gillard to accept that she could not win an election and to stand down. Later in March, amid criticism of Gillard's handling of media law reform proposals—called "shambolic" by a key crossbencher—Chief Whip

Joel Fitzgibbon Joel Andrew Fitzgibbon (born 16 January 1962) is a retired Australian politician. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and has served in the House of Representatives from 1996 to 2022, representing the New South Wales seat of Hunt ...

confirmed that Labor Party members were "looking at the polls and expressing concerns". On 21 March at 1pm AEDST, former Labor leader Simon Crean called for a spill of all leadership positions and announced that he would support Kevin Rudd for leader and would himself stand for the deputy leadership. He was critical of Gillard and her deputy

for not communicating effectively with voters. In response, Gillard sacked Crean from Cabinet and called a

for 4.30pm AEDST that afternoon. Just 10 minutes prior to the scheduled ballot, Rudd announced that he would not stand in the ballot, saying:

I have said that the only circumstances under which I would consider a return to leadership would be if there was an overwhelming majority of the parliamentary party requesting such a return, drafting me to return and the position was vacant...I am here to inform you that those circumstances do not exist.

Result

Of the 102 members of the ALP caucus, 100 were able to vote, with Foreign Minister

Bob Carr Robert John Carr (born 28 September 1947) is an Australian retired politician and journalist who served as the 39th Premier of New South Wales from 1995 to 2005, as the leader of the NSW Branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He later en ...

and Tasmanian MP

Dick Adams Dick Adams may refer to: * Dick Adams (politician) (born 1951), Australian politician * Dick Adams (baseball) (1920–2016), American Major League Baseball player * Dick Adams (Canadian football) (born 1948), Canadian football player See also * R ...

unable to vote as they were overseas or heading overseas. Julia Gillard and Wayne Swan were the only nominators in the spill for the positions of Leader and Deputy Leader respectively; as a result, no vote was undertaken and they retained their positions unopposed. Aside from post-election meetings, this was the first time in the history of the Labor Party that an incumbent leader was elected unopposed at a leadership ballot.

Aftermath

Crean was sacked as Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government and Minister for the Arts prior to the ballot. After the ballot, Chief Government Whip Joel Fitzgibbon resigned, as did two other government whips

Ed Husic Edham Nurredin Husic (born 3 February 1970), commonly known as Ed Husic, is an Australian politician serving as Minister for Industry and Science (Australia), Minister for Industry and Science since 2022. Husic is a member of the Australian Hou ...

and

Janelle Saffin Janelle Anne Saffin (born 1 November 1954) is an Australian Labor Party politician. She has been the Member for Lismore in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly since 23 March 2019. She was the Member for Page in the Australian House of Repr ...

, who had rallied in support of Kevin Rudd. Ministers

Chris Bowen Christopher Eyles Guy Bowen (born 17 January 1973) is an Australian politician who has been Minister for Climate Change and Energy in the Albanese government since June 2022. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and was first ele ...

, Kim Carr, and Martin Ferguson resigned the following day. Crean criticised Rudd for not nominating. Journalist Niki Savva writing the following day in ''The Australian'' that "there has never been such an inept attempt to dislodge a leader". Rudd subsequently issued a statement that he would never again return to the ALP leadership. However, he returned to the ALP leadership later the same year in another leadership spill in June.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2013 03 Australian Labor Party leadership spill 2013 elections in Australia Australian Labor Party leadership spills Rudd Government Gillard Government March 2013 events in Australia Australian Labor Party leadership spill