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Rudd Resigns - Labor Into Leadership Spill
Kevin Rudd has addressed the country in a press conference where Gillard will soon take to the microphone. He stated he will not make any declaration of intention to challenge leadership until he arrives in Australia.
He said he's shocked and disappointed about the personal attacks on him, and laid out some policies that he sees are the way forward for the party. First, a dedication to small business, followed by manufacturing support, and health reform.
Kevin Rudd threw the towel in as Foreign Minister, citing a lack of confidence and support from Prime Minister Julia Gillard and her cronies. “In recent days, Minister Crean and a number of other faceless men have publicly attacked my integrity and therefore my fitness to serve as a minister in the government.” Rudd said in his resignation speech from Washington.
He went on to hint at his intentions from here, quipping “There is one over-riding question for my caucus colleagues, and that is, who is best placed to defeat Tony Abbott at the next election?”
Rudd also took the opportunity to condemn the sly political manoeuvring that saw him unseated as PM. “I can promise you this, there is no way - no way - that I will ever be party to a stealth attack on a sitting prime minister elected by the people. We all know that what happened then was wrong, and it must never happen again.” he said.
Gillard will respond to Rudd’s resignation at a press conference this morning.In light of this latest development, prominent business leaders have chastised the government for sapping consumer confidence and putting the economic management of the country in the back seat.
All of our politicians have diverted their attention and energy in the past few weeks to a potential leadership challenge rather than running the country, Myer chief executive Bernie Brookes said, a sentiment echoed by his industry counterparts.
The Aussie dollar has hit a 1 month low on the back of all of this.
Ten Earnings Slump
Channel Ten continues to struggle despite the addition of some of Australia’s best business men and women to its share registry. Yesterday the network warned of a thumping 40% plunge in profits after a significant fall in TV advertising.
They shook things up this morning however by bringing forward their new breakfast show, which was supposed to begin on Monday, to debut today with the news of a possible Labor leadership spill.
Over the past 18 months, casino croupier James Packer, mining magnate Gina Rinehart and media mogul Lachlan Murdoch and have all bought significant chunks of the company, only to see them whittled away since. The latter two sit on Ten’s board.
Today Fairfax Media report their earnings, which should help gauge whether the print media is facing a similar challenge.
If It’s Not Greece, We’ll Find Something Else
It’s only been two days, if that, since Greece got its bailout package and already business news is back with negative sentiment. “Stocks Slip on Global Growth Concerns”, “How Far Will the Market Drop Today?” are just a couple of this morning’s rosy headlines.
Sure, there’s been some soft economic data overnight, but the Aussie market's been up for four days on the trot, and over 5% this year. Don’t believe all the doom and gloom, that’s good stuff!
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