Australia’s First Woman Prime Minister Sworn In
Julia Gillard became Prime Minister of Australia after a leadership balllot at Parliament House in Canberra. Photograph: The Times
THE TIMES: Australia’s new Prime Minister has been sworn into office and immediately vowed to end division over a controversial mining tax, resurrect a carbon trade scheme and call an election within months.

The British-born Julia Gillard said that she was “truly honoured” to become the country’s first woman Prime Minister after a surprise coup among the Labor leadership resulted in Kevin Rudd, whose popularity was in terminal decline, stepping aside overnight.

Within hours of being elected leader of the Australian Labor Party after the shock caucus meeting in Canberra early this morning, Ms Gillard was sworn in as the country’s 27th Prime Minister and immediately set her agenda for the coming months.

“I asked my colleagues to make a leadership change because I believed that a good Government was losing its way,” Ms Gillard said of the tumultuous turn of events.

“I love this country and I was not going to sit idly by and watch an incoming Opposition cut health, cut education and smash rights at work.”

Ms Gillard promised to lead a “strong and responsible government that will take control of our future, improving and protecting the essential public services and basic rights our people depend on”. Read on and comment >>> Sophie Tedmanson, Sydney | Thursday, June 24, 2010

Rudd Quits To Give Australia First Woman PM
SKY NEWS: Kevin Rudd has stepped down as Australian prime minister, allowing his deputy Julia Gillard to become the country's first female leader. Sky's Ian Woods reports.



Related: Kevin Rudd Gets Dumped >>>

Kevin Rudd Dumped as Julia Gillard Becomes Australian Prime Minister
THE TELEGRAPH: Australia has its first female prime minister after Kevin Rudd stood down on Thursday, handing the leadership to his deputy Julia Gillard.



Mr Rudd was convinced to step aside after it became obvious during an emergency caucus meeting that he did not have the support of enough MPs to continue serving as prime minister.

The British-born Ms Gillard was reportedly backed by at least 75 of the Labour Party's 115 MPs, sending a clear and emphatic message to Mr Rudd that it was time to go.

The threat to Mr Rudd's leadership emerged on Wednesday night, after senior Labour powerbrokers told him that he had lost their support and Ms Gillard revealed that she would challenge him.

The prime minister was urged to step down, but a defiant Mr Rudd announced that he would go to a vote.

After a night of frantic phonecalls to gauge support, Mr Rudd decided not to stand against Ms Gillard, handing her the prime ministership unopposed. >>> Bonnie Malkin in Sydney | Thursday, June 24, 2010

Related article here

Australian PM Kevin Rudd Fighting Leadership Coup
THE TELEGRAPH: Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is fighting to hold on to power after senior colleagues forced him to call a leadership election.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd speaks during a press conference in Canberra, Australia, on 16 June 2010. Photo: The Telegraph
Mr Rudd was told he had lost the backing of several MPs and the AWU, one of the country's most influential unions, who were switching their support to his Deputy Julia Gillard.

Party bosses urged Ms Gillard to challenge the prime minister after he failed to secure a lift in the polls in what was considered a make-or-break week.

She spoke to him on Wednesday to demand the leadership vote after being told the majority of Labour Party MPs would back her.

During an extraordinary night in Canberra, one unnamed MP reportedly said that Mr Rudd was a "cryptofascist" who had never bothered to build support within the party and was now paying for his mistakes.

The dramatic move against Mr Rudd comes amid fears he will lose an election later this year. Labour Party MPs hope Ms Gillard, who is seen as more voter-friendly than the rage-prone prime minister, has a far better chance. >>> Bonnie Malkin in Sydney | Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Australia Falls Out of Love with PM Kevin Rudd
NZZ ONLINE: Support for the Australian prime minister has fallen to a record low after two weeks in which the prime minister has seen the public recoil from a series of broken promises and bad decisions.

For the first time since before his election in 2007, Mr Rudd's approval rating has fallen to 45 per cent, the fastest plunge experienced by an Australian leader in a decade. In another unwelcome first, Mr Rudd's disapproval rating of 49 per cent has eclipsed his approval rating, a sign that his long honeymoon in the public's affection is over. >>> Bonnie Malkin in Sydney | Monday, May 10, 2010

Australians Furious about Their Rudderless Leader
TIMESONLINE: Kevin Rudd, the Australian Prime Minister, won office by promising to be less slavish to American interests than his predecessor, John Howard. So it was hardly surprising that his decision to salute President Bush at a Nato get-together last night did not go down too well at home.

But Mr Rudd might not have been prepared for the barrage of criticism unleashed by a gesture which he insisted today was nothing but an impromptu joke.

Footage of the newly-elected Labour prime minister raising his hand to salute Mr Bush during a social gathering on the sidelines of the Nato summit in Bucharest has been broadcast repeatedly on Australian television, drawing accusations of subservience to the world superpower.

Brendan Nelson, the Opposition leader, described Mr Rudd’s behaviour as "conduct unbecoming of an Australian prime minister." Anger Down Under over Kevin Rudd’s Salute to Bush >>> By Hannah Strange | April 4, 2008

Mark Alexander

Rudd Sets Date for Iraq Pull-Out
THE GUARDIAN: Australia's new leader, Kevin Rudd, has said he will pull his country's troops out of Iraq by mid-2008, fulfilling a promise he made during the election campaign.

Rudd said he would meet Robert McCallum, the US ambassador to Australia, soon to discuss the precise timing of the withdrawal.

The 50-year-old politician, who will be sworn in as prime minister on Monday, has said he believes the presence of troops in Iraq has made Australia more of a target for terrorism.

"The combat force in Iraq we would have home by around about the middle of next year," Rudd said in a radio interview in the southern city of Melbourne. >>> By Barbara McMahon

Mark Alexander

L'Australie se donne un nouveau premier ministre, Kevin Rudd, "blairiste" de l'hémisphère Sud
LE MONDE: Dimanche 25 novembre, au lendemain de sa victoire écrasante sur le Parti libéral de John Howard, le nouveau premier ministre travailliste australien, Kevin Rudd, est allé à la messe en famille. Puis il a annoncé que l'Australie signerait le protocole de Kyoto.

Ces quelques gestes symbolisent les raisons du succès de Kevin Rudd et de sa campagne pour "un nouveau leadership". Arrivé il y a moins d'un an, en décembre 2006, à la tête du Labor, ce diplomate de 50 ans a su jouer sur la lassitude de l'électorat à l'égard de M. Howard qui, à 68 ans, dominait la politique australienne depuis douze ans, et exploiter ses deux erreurs majeures de jugement, tout en se posant comme le défenseur des familles et des valeurs australiennes en menant une campagne centriste et en se définissant comme "économiquement conservateur".

Les Australiens ont trouvé un mot pour cela : le "me too-ism", la technique du "moi aussi". Une fois marquée sa différence sur le changement climatique, que John Howard a fatalement négligé, et sur l'Irak, où le premier ministre conservateur a engagé l'Australie aux côtés des Etats-Unis, Kevin Rudd s'est parfois montré plus royaliste que le roi, reprochant à M. Howard d'encourager l'inflation par un programme de dépenses publiques excessives, défendant un système d'"immigration ordonnée" et refusant les engagements réclamés par les Aborigènes. Il rejette l'étiquette de "gauche" à laquelle il préfère celle de "moderniste". >>

Mark Alexander

Rudd to Apologise to Aborigines
BBC: Australia's new government will issue a formal apology to Aborigines for the abuses they suffered in the past, prime minister-elect Kevin Rudd has promised.

Mr Rudd, whose Labor Party swept to power in an election on Saturday, said the apology would come early in his first parliamentary term.

Outgoing Prime Minister John Howard had repeatedly refused to say sorry. >>

BBC:
Australia shifts course, away from US By Paul Reynolds

BBC:
Rudd in green gaffe

Mark Alexander