There it is, folks. Kevin Rudd, three years after he was ousted by his colleagues, has returned to the leadership of the parliamentary Labor Party – and presumably to the Prime Minister-ship.
We’ll have full analysis of what this will mean nationally and for SA in the morning.
7.28pm Sky News is reporting both Wayne Swan and Stephen Conroy have quit their leadership positions, as expected.
7.26pm Wayne Swan is currently addressing caucus. There has not yet been a vote on the deputy leadership.
7:22pm 57-45 Rudd – Gillard. No spill for the deputy. Kevin Rudd is the new leader of the Federal parliamentary Labor party. He is also the Prime Minister-elect – he now will need a commission from the Governor-General.
The returning officer has announced the results to the media scrum surrounding the caucus room. He says “The mood is quite sombre, I think that most people are happy that the issue of the leadership has been put behind them.”
7.20pm The ABC’s Barrie Cassidy says Rudd will have a short window in which to convince people of his message. Cassidy says Rudd should lead with his support for gay marriage.
7:14pm The Coalition is about to start its own joint party room meeting, to discuss “leadership change”. ‘We expect that means the ALP’s leadership change’, Chris Uhlmann deadpans.
7.11pm The ABC’s venerable election analyst Antony Green says he’s never seen a party recover from the poor-opinion-poll position the Federal ALP is in.
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7.10pm TV news is showing images of all the journalists waiting outside the caucus room. They’re all on their phones. #newmediareality
7.07pm Sky News reporting both Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd spoke within the party room.
They’ve been in there for 37 minutes now, folks – but remember, if Kevin Rudd was returned as leader, a second leadership ballot for deputy Prime Minister (currently strong Gillard-backer Wayne Swan) was likely to have been held as well.
7:00pm Sky News are now reporting Anthony Albanese will be named deputy leader.
6.55pm Sky News have now put a date on the Rudd election – August 24. That’s eight weeks away, on a Saturday. For what it’s worth, that’s round 22 in the AFL – the final round.
6.53pm The ABC’s Chris Uhlmann points out this ballot is only for leader of the parliamentary Labor party. Julia Gillard is still the Prime Minister until the Governor-General takes advice to appoint someone else. The ABC have now officially used the phrase “constitutional crisis”.
6.50pm Here’s Bill Shorten’s full statement on his support for Rudd, as emailed to journalists in Canberra.
6.47pm David Speers on Sky News saying his sources are telling him Bill Shorten did a deal with Rudd. Shorten made a public announcement, Rudd will give him Treasury.
6.44pm Simon Benson of the Daily Telegraph says Kevin Rudd will call an August election.
6:43pm News.com.au are now tweeting that Kevin Rudd has won the leadership. Still no official announcement.
"news.com.au @newscomauHQ
IT’S RUDD. He has the numbers, and he’ll have the leadership |"
6.42pm Barrie Cassidy on ABC Radio National is now saying his sources are telling him the same thing.
6:39pm Sky News are reporting the Gillard camp are saying Kevin Rudd has won the vote.
Stay informed, daily
6:32pm the MPs are assembled inside the caucus room for the vote. The expectation is this won’t take long.
Meanwhile, the ABC have called Shorten the Prime Minister’s “Praetorian Guard”, a recognition of how important he has been in locking support behind Gillard.
The ABC’s Mark Simkin has dipped into the Harry Potter novels for his language, declaring of the leadership challengers “neither can live whilst the other survives”.
6.27pm Labor MPs including the Prime Minister are filing into the caucus room for the vote. The PM has entered surrounded by her supporters. Challenger Kevin Rudd has entered by himself.
6:20pm The ballot will be in about 10 minutes. Key player Bill Shorten has announced he’s changed his vote from Julia Gillard to challenger Kevin Rudd.
Minutes ago he told media Rudd was the only person who could make Labor competitive at this year’s Federal election.
“The future of this nation and the Labor party is at stake. Therefore I shall be supporting Kevin Rudd.
“Kevin Rudd, if elected tonight, provides the best platform for Labor to be competitive at the next election.
“This is not an easy decision for me personally. It is my personal conviction that the best interests of the nation and the Labor party must come first.”
Earlier
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has called a ballot for the Labor leadership for 7pm tonight (6.30 SA time).
She has vowed to retire from politics if she loses – and has called on Kevin Rudd to do the same should he lose.
“This is it,” Gillard told Sky News.
“I am asking my party to endorse me.”
Rudd also agreed to Gillard’s condition – saying he won’t contest the next election if he loses tonight’s ballot.
“I will be a candidate,” Rudd told reporters.
“Many, many MPs have requested me for a long, long time to contest the leadership of the party because the parlous circumstances we now face,” Rudd said.
Watch Julia Gillard announcing tonight’s caucus spill.
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