First Woman Prime Minister For Australia
Posted on 23 June 2010 by LynThomas in Uncategorized
Ms Gillard has taken the helm of leadership as the 27th prime minister, and the first woman prime minister of Australia.
Juilia Gillard won a stunning leadership contest against Kevin Rudd, in an historic decision. Mr Rudd will go down in history as the first Prime Minister ever to be thrown out by his party within his first term of office. Mr Rudd’s defeat represents the most stunning political turnaround ever, for a leader who just a few months ago was rivaling Bob Hawke in popularity stakes.
Ms Gillard was confident when she entered the Caucus, flanked by the Treasurer, Mr Swan, her would-be deputy, that she had the numbers to defeat Mr Rudd. Senior factional members claimed Ms Gillard had at least 70 votes out of a possible 112.
Mr Rudd, who won power in 2007 with a popular Kevin 07 campaign, bowed to pressure from his colleagues and withdrew from the contest, assuring Ms Gillard’s ascension to the leadership.
Senators David Feeney and Don Farrell are not household names in Australia, yet they led the push that brought down a Prime Minister. Along with Victorian MP Bill Shorten, they initiated the move that ousted Mr Rudd.
Senator Farrell is a powerbroker who has long been feared in his native South Australia. A former long-time state secretary of the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association, he is a kingmaker in the Right faction. He formed an alliance with the Left faction in SA in the mid-1990s. Known as ”the Machine”, it set about crushing the remnants of the once-powerful Centre Left, including the then senator Chris Schacht.
Senator Farrell entered the Senate at the last election, as did Senator Feeney, a right-wing powerbroker from Melbourne. A controversial character, Senator Feeney was formerly the Victorian Labor state secretary.
Senator Feeney, along with Senator Farrell, were verbally abused by Mr Rudd last year when they met him to protest at the paring back of MPs’ entitlements.
Mp Bill Shorten entered Parliament at the last election. He and Mr Rudd did not get along and his relatively junior position as a parliamentary secretary was regarded as Mr Rudd snubbing him.
Associate Professor Haydon Manning of Flinders University says Australia can expect a remarkable time before the federal election now that Ms Gillard is Prime Minister. “Now we find a woman Prime Minister, a scholar from Unley High in Adelaide, with a momentous job to try and reverse this slippage in the polls and to tackle this powerful [Tony] Abbott who’s come on very strongly and surprisingly as Opposition Leader,” he said.
It is felt Mr Rudd’s ditching of the emissions trading scheme and a new 40% ‘super’ profits tax on the mining sector, saw Mr Rudd’s collapse in the Labour vote, but ultimately it was the men Kevin Rudd spurned, who brought him down.
It is also said that Julia Gillard, a proven parliamentary performer, knows how to get out of tough spots.
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