Julia Gillard has become Australia’s first female prime minister after the ruling Labor party dumped Kevin Rudd as leader. Gillard distanced herself from the Rudd government on a number of key policy areas on Thursday, especially pledging to resurrect the government’s failed climate change policy focussed on a carbon trade emissions scheme.
“If elected as prime minister I will re-prosecute the case for a carbon price at home and abroad. I will do that as global economic conditions improve and our economy continues to strengthen,” she said.
Rudd, who led the Labour party to victory at 2007 elections after 11 years in opposition, had ridden high in opinion polls as one of the most popular Australian prime ministers of modern times until he made major policy reversals, including shelving plans to make Australia’s worst polluters pay for their carbon emissions.
He has now become the shortest-serving Australian prime minister since 1972. Rudd said he would contest the next election and continue to serve his party, and rated keeping Australia out of recession at the top of his list of achievements during his short tenure. Despite Australia’s weathering the global downturn, however, recent polling puts the centre-left government neck-and-neck with the conservative opposition.
One poll earlier this month showed Labor trailing the opposition for the first time in more than four years. Government legislators believe Gillard has a better chance of winning back voters ahead of elections because she is a warmer personality who can sell policies more effectively.
Gillard is expected to automatically attract a large female vote, especially when compared with conservative opposition leader Tony Abbott, who is anti-abortion and opposes sex before marriage. A recent opinion poll indicated female voters would ditch Abbott for Gillard, favouring the female leader by a commanding 53 per cent to 23 per cent for Abbott. And progressives will flock to Labour if she enacted the necessary Climate Legislation.
