SYDNEY — Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Thursday survived an attempt by a senior lawmaker within her own party to oust her from her job, after her predecessor Kevin Rudd, whom she deposed in a 2010 party coup, unexpectedly declined to run against her.
Andrew Taylor/Reuters
Prime Minister Julia Gillard of Australia survived a leadership crisis on Thursday.
Also on Thursday, Ms. Gillard issued for the first time a public apology for a decades-long government policy of forced adoptions that ended only in the 1970s. Tens of thousands of babies are believed to have been taken by the state — many of them from unmarried, often teenage mothers — and given to childless married couples as part of the policy.
Governments, churches, hospitals and even charities sanctioned the widespread practice, in which many mothers were tricked into signing adoption papers under the influence of drugs. Speaking to a crowd of victims during a ceremony at Parliament House in Canberra, Ms. Gillard apologized for the policy.
"Today, this Parliament, on behalf of the Australian people, takes responsibility and apologizes for the policies and practices that forced the separation of mothers from their babies which created a lifelong legacy of pain and suffering," she said. "We deplore the shameful practices that denied you, the mothers, your fundamental rights and responsibilities to love and care for your children."
Ms. Gillard had accepted a public demand for a leadership ballot put forward earlier in the day by Simon Crean, a cabinet minister and former leader of the governing Labor Party. Mr. Crean had said that the party could only hope to prevail in September elections by returning Mr. Rudd to office.
But Mr. Rudd declined to challenge her for the leadership, citing an earlier promise not to do so unless he had overwhelming support. The vote was held as scheduled, and Ms. Gillard was re-elected unopposed.
Ms. Gillard, Australia's first female prime minister, has seen her poll ratings plummet since announcing in January that federal elections would be held in September. The unusually early announcement kicked off an election season that has already been bruising.
Ms. Gillard has led a tenuous minority government since her parliamentary majority was diminished in a disappointing 2010 election. Although she beat back a leadership challenge from Mr. Rudd early in 2012, she has since slid in the polls against Tony Abbott, the leader of the opposition Liberal-National coalition. Mr. Rudd has insisted that he would not challenge Ms. Gillard again for the leadership, but his supporters had been actively canvassing the party for votes should his name be put forward during a ballot like the one held Thursday.
Ms. Gillard is seen by many within the party as an ineffective campaigner who is unlikely to deliver a victory in the Sept. 14 elections. Supporters of Mr. Rudd, such as Mr. Crean, had seemed confident earlier in the day. "Something needs to be done to break this deadlock," Mr. Crean said at a hastily assembled news conference in the capital, Canberra. He said he had personally asked Ms. Gillard to hold the leadership ballot — known in Australia as a "spill" — because the party had lost its way and its confidence in her leadership.
A defiant Ms. Gillard quickly announced that she would indeed hold the ballot that day, avoiding what could have become an awkward and possibly prolonged attempt by her opponents to gather enough signatures to force her to acquiesce to a vote.
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