Rudd resigns, setting stage for showdown
Former prime minister fed up with Gillard ‘ soap opera’
SYDNEY, Australia — Kevin Rudd has resigned as Australia’s foreign minister in a dramatic move that paves the way for a leadership showdown with Julia Gillard, who ousted him as prime minister two years ago.
Gillard is expected to call a leadership ballot at a press conference today. The vote, likely to be held Monday, would aim to end a long- running feud that has paralyzed the country’s minority Labour government.
Rudd made his surprise announcement at a hotel in Washington, saying he was fed up with the leadership “soap opera” and no longer had the confidence of the prime minister, who refused to defend him against recent attacks by several cabinet colleagues. He said he will consider his future after returning to Australia Friday and consulting his family and colleagues.
“The truth is the Australian people regard this whole affair as little better than a soap opera and they are right,” he said. “And under current circumstances, I won’t be part of it.”
Gillard, Australia’s first woman prime minister, had been expected to fire Rudd next week amid accusations that he was undermining her and planning a challenge. The two helped Labour to power in 2007, with Gillard as Rudd’s deputy. Her swift move to depose him in 2010 provoked a bitter rivalry.
Rudd said he had been plagued by “similar factors” to those that had led him to resign as prime minister, including attacks against him by backroom operators and “faceless men” who questioned his integrity and “fitness to serve as a minister.”
“When challenged today on these attacks, Prime Minister Gillard chose not to repudiate them. I can only reluctantly conclude that she therefore shares these views,” he said.
He did not announce a challenge but said his party’s main aim should be to consider the most likely way to ensure that the Opposition leader, Tony Abbott, does not win the next election. “I am sad because I love this job,” he said. “I am sadder still that it has come to this.”
In a bitter response to the resignation, Gillard praised Rudd’s service as foreign minister but took a swipe at his machinations. “I am disappointed that the concerns Rudd has publicly expressed this evening were never personally raised with me, nor did he
For too long, Kevin Rudd has been putting his own self- interest ahead of the interests of the broader Labour movement and the country as a whole, and that needs to stop.
WAYNE SWAN
LABOUR PARTY’S DEPUTY LEADER
contact me to discuss his resignation prior to his decision,” she said in a statement.
Abbott said the leadership tensions were causing instability and could only end with an election, which is not due until next year.
Gillard has struggled in the polls since becoming leader and had to form a minority government after the 2010 general election. Meanwhile, Rudd has enjoyed strong public approval and has gained growing support among party members.
In a reflection of the bitterness in the upper ranks of the party, Labour’s deputy leader, Wayne Swan, accused Rudd of being a selfish, disloyal saboteur who worked actively to undermine Gillard during the last election campaign.
“For too long, Kevin Rudd has been putting his own self- interest ahead of the interests of the broader Labour movement and the country as a whole, and that needs to stop,” he said.