Another day another country in political turmoil. Perhaps that is too strong but Kevin Rudd's resignation as the country's foreign minister will cause all sorts of problems.
The Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard will be in a less safe position politically following this resignation. Rudd claims he was put in the position of feeling he had to resign due to a lack of support from Gillard.
Media gossip was predicting that Rudd was facing the sack from Gillard. In the end he appears to have preempted that. Yesterday Rudd was in Washington DC. At midnight Rudd announced that he was resigning saying, "The simple truth is that I cannot continue to serve as foreign minister if I don't have prime minister Gillard's support."
Prime Minister Gillard had planned a vote in Parliament next Tuesday which could have led to his dismissal as Foreign Secretary. It would have been make or break for Kevin. Ms Gillard obviously thins he has taken the wrong way out by making an announcement whilst in Washington DC, and not personally to her.
Kevin Rudd has called the speculation that he may launch a bid to take over as Prime Minster a soap opera, saying, quite rightly, that there is more important business in hand.. He does however still have that option. Since he was ousted as the country's PM he has remained a popular choice with many of the electorate. If he wants to challenge Gillard over leadership he has a limited amount of time. Early indications are that Rudd will not launch a challenge but you never can make such a call as 100% true.
Referring back to when he was pushed out of the Prime Minster role Rudd said, "Australia must be governed by the people, not by the factions." He went on to say, "We all know that what happened then was wrong and must never happen again."
Many in the governing Labour Party though are saying that a government which includes both Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard is looking nigh on impossible. Most people see the pair's ongoing problems as defeating the Labour Party's chance of governing Australia well plus as having a negative impact on the elections scheduled for 2013.
More about the split here
The Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard will be in a less safe position politically following this resignation. Rudd claims he was put in the position of feeling he had to resign due to a lack of support from Gillard.
Media gossip was predicting that Rudd was facing the sack from Gillard. In the end he appears to have preempted that. Yesterday Rudd was in Washington DC. At midnight Rudd announced that he was resigning saying, "The simple truth is that I cannot continue to serve as foreign minister if I don't have prime minister Gillard's support."
Prime Minister Gillard had planned a vote in Parliament next Tuesday which could have led to his dismissal as Foreign Secretary. It would have been make or break for Kevin. Ms Gillard obviously thins he has taken the wrong way out by making an announcement whilst in Washington DC, and not personally to her.
Kevin Rudd has called the speculation that he may launch a bid to take over as Prime Minster a soap opera, saying, quite rightly, that there is more important business in hand.. He does however still have that option. Since he was ousted as the country's PM he has remained a popular choice with many of the electorate. If he wants to challenge Gillard over leadership he has a limited amount of time. Early indications are that Rudd will not launch a challenge but you never can make such a call as 100% true.
Referring back to when he was pushed out of the Prime Minster role Rudd said, "Australia must be governed by the people, not by the factions." He went on to say, "We all know that what happened then was wrong and must never happen again."
Many in the governing Labour Party though are saying that a government which includes both Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard is looking nigh on impossible. Most people see the pair's ongoing problems as defeating the Labour Party's chance of governing Australia well plus as having a negative impact on the elections scheduled for 2013.
More about the split here
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