Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Home
Business
Business Home
Economy
Technology
Media
Small Business
Legal
Deals
Earnings
Social Pulse
Business Video
The Freeland File
Markets
Markets Home
U.S. Markets
European Markets
Asian Markets
Global Market Data
Indices
M&A
Stocks
Bonds
Currencies
Commodities
Futures
Funds
peHUB
World
World Home
U.S.
Brazil
China
Euro Zone
Japan
Mexico
Russia
India Insight
World Video
Reuters Investigates
Decoder
Politics
Politics Home
Election 2012
Issues 2012
Candidates 2012
Tales from the Trail
Political Punchlines
Supreme Court
Politics Video
Tech
Technology Home
MediaFile
Science
Tech Video
Tech Tonic
Social Pulse
Opinion
Opinion Home
Chrystia Freeland
John Lloyd
Felix Salmon
Jack Shafer
David Rohde
Bernd Debusmann
Nader Mousavizadeh
Lucy P. Marcus
David Cay Johnston
Bethany McLean
Edward Hadas
Hugo Dixon
Ian Bremmer
Mohamed El-Erian
Lawrence Summers
Susan Glasser
The Great Debate
Steven Brill
Jack & Suzy Welch
Breakingviews
Equities
Credit
Private Equity
M&A
Macro & Markets
Politics
Breakingviews Video
Money
Money Home
Tax Break
Global Investing
MuniLand
Unstructured Finance
Linda Stern
Mark Miller
John Wasik
James Saft
Analyst Research
Alerts
Watchlist
Portfolio
Stock Screener
Fund Screener
Personal Finance Video
Money Clip
Investing 201
Life
Health
Sports
Arts
Faithworld
Business Traveler
Entertainment
Oddly Enough
Lifestyle Video
Pictures
Pictures Home
Reuters Photographers
Full Focus
Video
Reuters TV
Reuters News
Article
Comments (0)
Full Focus
Editor's choice
Our best photos from the last 24 hours. Full Article
Images of January
Best photos of the year 2011
Follow Reuters
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
YouTube
Read
Apple's China legal battle over iPad spreads to U.S.
3:10am EST
Chavez going to Cuba on Friday for cancer surgery
23 Feb 2012
WikiLeaks suspect Manning defers plea, court-martial begins
23 Feb 2012
Neutrinos may still have broken light barrier - or not
23 Feb 2012
Whitney Houston Open Casket Photo Graces National Enquirer Cover
22 Feb 2012
Discussed
179
Santorum says Obama agenda not ”based on Bible”
148
Romney’s struggles fuel talk of brokered convention
127
Iran stops oil sales to British, French companies
Watched
Jim Rogers: U.S. Presidential favorites clueless on economy
Thu, Feb 23 2012
Bolivia’s disabled clash with police in La Paz
Thu, Feb 23 2012
Mona Lisa double painted simultaneously
Tue, Feb 21 2012
Australia's Rudd to challenge Prime Minister Gillard
Tweet
Share this
Email
Print
Related News
Obama urges corporate tax cut, closing loopholes
Wed, Feb 22 2012
Australia PM battle looms after foreign minister quits
Wed, Feb 22 2012
Analysis & Opinion
Essential tax and accounting reading: Contrasting tax plans from Obama and Romney, unequal tax payments, dividend tax hike, and more
Essential tax and accounting reading: Obama and rival offer tax plans, UK considers a mansion tax, and more
Related Topics
World »
Australia »
Julia Gillard »
Tony Abbott »
Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd (L) sits next to Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard at Parliament House in Canberra in this May 11 2010 file photo. Australia's former foreign minister Rudd on February 24, 2012 confirmed he would challenge Prime Minister Gillard for her job by contesting a leadership ballot set for Monday.
Credit: Reuters/Daniel Munoz/Files
By James Grubel
CANBERRA |
Fri Feb 24, 2012 12:53am EST
CANBERRA (Reuters) - Kevin Rudd, who stepped down as Australia's foreign minister this week, said on Friday he would contest a leadership vote against Prime Minister Julia Gillard, bringing to a head a bitter leadership fight engulfing the minority government.
Rudd, who was ousted as prime minister by Gillard in June 2010, said Australians had lost trust in Gillard and the party was headed to an electoral wipeout at the next elections, due in late 2013, under her leadership.
"I want to finish the job the Australian people elected me to do when I was elected by them to become prime minister," Rudd told reporters.
Gillard called a leadership vote for Monday after Rudd quit as foreign minister on Wednesday, hoping the early vote would enable her to stamp her authority over the Labor Party and head off Rudd's hopes of building support.
But the vote has opened deep divisions within the government, split the cabinet over which leader to support, and unleashed a wave of criticism against both Rudd and Gillard from the warring factions.
The leadership crisis was sparked by poor opinion polls which show the government would be decimated at the next election, losing up to 15 seats. Labor's popularity has plunged under Gillard because of the introduction of contentious legislation and concessions to independent lawmakers and the Greens.
Gillard's supporters say she has clear majority support within the Labor Party and bookmakers believe she would easily win a leadership showdown against Rudd. She has called on Rudd to abandon any leadership ambitions if he loses.
Polls show Rudd remains more popular with voters, and he has called for Australians to lobby their members of parliament to support his campaign to return as prime minister.
Rudd said he would remain in parliament and would not mount a second challenge if he loses on Monday.
A surprise Rudd victory could spark an early election, as there is no guarantee he will win the backing of independents needed to control a majority in parliament. That, in turn, would risk major reforms, including a carbon tax and a 30 percent tax on coal and iron ore mines.
Opinion polls show the conservative opposition would easily win an election, and opposition leader Tony Abbott has promised to scrap the carbon tax and mining tax if he wins.
Markets, which rarely react to political developments in Australia, have largely ignored the dispute, seeing little difference in policies and expecting the uncertainty over the leadership to be resolved.
"The bottom line is it's still a Labor government and the Labor government policies are still in place," said Annette Beacher, head of Asia Pacific research at TD Securities in Singapore.
Gillard told reporters that she had the strength, temperament, courage and character to lead Australia, and that she had pushed through major reforms where Rudd failed.
"This is not an episode of Celebrity Big Brother, this is about who should be prime minister," Gillard said, adding she was confident she could lead the party to victory at the next election.
Gillard replaced Rudd in an internal coup in June 2010 and then went on to win dead heat elections, forming a minority government with support of the Greens and independent lawmakers.
Rudd said Gillard had betrayed him in 2010, backing down on an agreement to give him more time to restore Labor's poll standing while secretly plotting with faction leaders to replace him.
If he wins the leadership vote, Rudd would need to renegotiate agreements with the Greens and at least two independents to ensure he could control a majority in parliament.
There are few major policy differences between Rudd and Gillard, although Rudd has said he would do more to build business confidence in Australia, help manufacturers, and focus on health and education.
He also said he would review the transition from a fixed carbon tax, due to start at A$23 ($24.60) a tonne, to a full emissions trading scheme, possibly bringing forward carbon trading from its planned starting date in 2015.
The carbon tax applies to Australia's 500 top polluting companies, but industry has complained that the price is too high compared with the price of carbon permits in Europe.
"I think it is important to look carefully at how the implementation of the current tax goes in its first six months," Rudd told reporters, without giving details.
The powerful Minerals Council of Australia, representing the country's biggest mining companies, called on Rudd to quickly rethink the carbon tax if he regains his old job.
"He should not wait to review it in six months if he becomes prime minister on Monday, he should do it immediately," Mitch Hooke, the council's chief executive said.
($1=A$0.93)
(Editing by Lincoln Feast and Robert Birsel)
World
Australia
Julia Gillard
Tony Abbott
Tweet this
Link this
Share this
Digg this
Email
Reprints
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
Comments (0)
Be the first to comment on reuters.com.
Add yours using the box above.
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Back to top
Reuters.com
Business
Markets
World
Politics
Technology
Opinion
Money
Pictures
Videos
Site Index
Legal
Bankruptcy Law
California Legal
New York Legal
Securities Law
Support & Contact
Support
Corrections
Advertise With Us
Connect with Reuters
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
RSS
Podcast
Newsletters
Mobile
About
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use
Copyright
Our Flagship financial information platform incorporating Reuters Insider
An ultra-low latency infrastructure for electronic trading and data distribution
A connected approach to governance, risk and compliance
Our next generation legal research platform
Our global tax workstation
Thomsonreuters.com
About Thomson Reuters
Investor Relations
Careers
Contact Us
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.