Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd were in Werribee for a community cabinet last year. 73396 Picture: DAMJAN JANEVSKI
By XAVIER SMERDON
JULIA Gillard survived an attempt to oust her from office from political rival Kevin Rudd yesterday.
The Federal Member for Lalor, Ms Gillard was challenged by Mr Rudd after he resigned as Foreign Minister and a leadership ballot was held yesterday morning.
There was little surprise as Ms Gillard retained the top job comfortably with 71 votes compared to just 31 for Mr Rudd.
Before the vote took place both opponents had called on the Labor Party to unite no matter what the result.
Ms Gillard said following the results of the ballot that she was confident she could lead her team to win the next election against Tony Abbott.
Mr Rudd promised before the vote that if he lost he would move to the backbench and not challenge Ms Gillard again.
But speculation that Ms Gillard could be challenged by another member of parliament if her public approval rating does not improve may continue.
The Prime Minister was in Werribee last week where she toured Bethany Primary School with the Minister for School Education Peter Garrett, to showcase the controversial My School website.
Ms Gillard would not answer questions about the leadership challenge but took the opportunity to spruik the website.
“We want every child in Australia to have access to a world class education. Giving them the best start in life is at the heart of what we stand for as a party and as a nation,” she said.
