On 3rd anniversary, Australian PM pushed to leave

PAPUA NEW GUINEA, Port Moresby : Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard (R) talks with local school children in Port Moresby during her trip to Papua New Guinea on May 10, 2013. INQUIRER file photo

CANBERRA — Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard is spending her third anniversary in office resisting pressure from colleagues to open her job to a ballot.

An opinion poll published Monday suggests the ruling center-left Labor Party is headed for a devastating defeat at elections set for Sept. 14. Successive polls suggest Labor would be more popular with voters with Gillard’s predecessor Kevin Rudd as leader.

She ousted Rudd in an internal party coup on July 24, 2010. Now many in government want him back.

Gillard says she will neither quit nor put her leadership to a vote of government lawmakers.

Read more...