Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has survived a leadership crisis of her ruling Labour party, as internal unrest mounts ahead of a general election in September.
Gillard’s decided to call a leadership vote after senior cabinet minister Simon Crean openly called for a vote, with the premier lagging badly in opinion polls and facing rampant leadership speculation.
Today’s unrest in parliament came after Ms. Gillard issued a state apology for the forced adoption of tens of thousands of babies, born mostly to unmarried mothers in Australia between the 1950s and 1970s.
The adoptions were driven largely by religious groups in the post-war period.
Australia’s former leader Kevin Rudd did not stand against Prime Minister Gillard.
He says the party is together on one issue – they don’t want the opposition leader in power:
