Australian Labor Party leadership spill, March 2013
Julia Gillard
Julia Gillard
Wayne Swan
Wayne Swan
A leadership spill in the Australian Labor Party, the party of government in the Parliament of Australia, was held on 21 March 2013. Prime Minister 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 Simon Crean over persistent leadership tensions. At the caucus meeting, no alternative candidates nominated for the positions, and so Gillard and Wayne Swan were re-elected unopposed.
Despite the 2012 leadership election, at which Gillard easily defeated former Leader Kevin Rudd, 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, interrupting an ongoing preselection. A cabinet reshuffle was required following the unexpected departures of ministers Chris Evans and Nicola Roxon, 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. During this time, the Australian Greens also withdrew from their agreement supporting the minority government.
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