Former Australian premier Kevin Rudd has announced he will run against current Prime Minister Julia Gillard to become leader of the ruling party.
The former leader, who was ousted as prime minister by Ms Gillard in 2010, quit as foreign minister while in Washington on Wednesday in preparation for a bid to reclaim his old job.
Ms Gillard called a vote after weeks of speculation that he would challenge her for the role.
"Rightly or wrongly, Julia has lost the trust of the Australian people, and starting on Monday I will start restoring that trust," he said.
"That is why I have decided to contest the leadership of the Australian Labor Party .
"It's no secret that our government has a lot of work to do if it is to regain the confidence of the Australian people."
The secret ballot will be held on Monday as the bitter rivals attempt to resolve strife within the ruling party.
Ms Gillard has said she will abandon her leadership ambitions if politicians in her party choose Mr Rudd over her on Monday, and she called on her rival to do the same if he loses.
Tensions mounted recently after a video of Mr Rudd uttering expletives while trying to record a message in Mandarin was posted anonymously on YouTube .
In announcing her decision to call the leadership ballot, Ms Gillard said Mr Rudd, as leader, had "very difficult and very chaotic work patterns".
"The government that Kevin Rudd had led had entered a period of paralysis," she said.
The opposition has seized on Labor's infighting, with Treasury spokesman Joe Hockey describing the attacks on Mr Rudd as vicious, malevolent and an "absolute disgrace".
"The way the Labor Party has attacked its own former prime minister is the worst political expediency I have seen in 16 years in Australian politics," he said.
"The attacks on Kevin Rudd have been vicious and malevolent. I have never seen anything like it."
But Labor has continued to unleash its fury on the man who led them out of the political wilderness to electoral victory for the first time in more than a decade in 2007 and who still remains popular among the public.
6 comments