The Strategic Priorities Budget Committee (SPBC), better known as the Gang of Four, was a political strategic grouping within the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

, comprising then-Prime Minister

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian diplomat and former politician who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and June to September 2013. He held office as the Leaders of the Australian Labo ...

, Deputy Prime Minister

Julia Gillard Julia Eileen Gillard (born 29 September 1961) is an Australian former politician who served as the 27th prime minister of Australia from 2010 to 2013. She held office as the leader of the Labor Party (ALP), having previously served as the ...

, Treasurer

Wayne Swan Wayne Maxwell Swan (born 30 June 1954) is an Australian politician serving as the 25th and current Australian Labor Party National Executive#National Presidents, National President of the Labor Party since 2018, previously serving as the 14th de ...

and Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner. This name refers to the tightly held concentration of political power between the group throughout the

First Rudd government First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

(2007–10), which deliberated on various political issues concerning the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

to the

Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme The Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (or CPRS) was a cap-and-trade emissions trading scheme for anthropogenic greenhouse gases proposed by the Rudd government, as part of its climate change policy, which had been due to commence in Australia i ...

Aftermath

Among the Gang of Four, Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard's careers were intertwined most. Due to the declining poll numbers and the dissatisfaction with Rudd's leadership before the 2010 Federal Election, enough Labor Caucus members stopped supporting Rudd as prime minister and switched their support to Gillard. Instead of standing in the

leadership spill In Australian politics, a leadership spill (or simply a spill) is a declaration that the leadership of a parliamentary party is vacant and open for contest. A spill may involve all or some of the leadership positions (leader and deputy leader in ...

, Rudd resigned and Gillard became the new prime minister without any opposition. In the election, Labor lost its

majority government A majority government is a government by one or more governing parties that hold an absolute majority of seats in a legislature. Such a government can consist of one party that holds a majority on its own, or be a coalition government of multi ...

but with the support of one Greens MP and three

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MPs, it formed a

minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in ...

. Although Gillard appointed Rudd as

Minister for Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral re ...

in September 2010, Gillard and Rudd became political rivals. In February 2012, Rudd resigned from the Foreign Ministry and lost the leadership spill against Gillard. Despite her win, Labor continued to decline in the polls. In March 2013, former Labor Leader,

Regional Minister In England, regional ministers were appointed from 2007 on a part-time basis as part of Her Majesty's Government. Each minister had other departmental responsibilities, as well as specific responsibilities for one of the English regions. Their sta ...

, and ally of Gillard,

Simon Crean Simon Findlay Crean (26 February 1949 – 25 June 2023) was an Australian politician and trade unionist. He was the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and leader of the opposition from 2001 to 2003. He represented the seat of Hotham i ...

switched his support for Rudd. In response, Gillard called for a new leadership spill. However, Rudd didn't become a candidate, citing the lack of an "overwhelming majority" requesting his return and Gillard won the spill unopposed. After the spill, Gillard sacked Crean from the Cabinet. In June 2013, most of the Labor Caucus was convinced that Gillard would lose the upcoming elections. Rudd emerged as the only alternative in the

and defeated Gillard. Before the spill, Gillard pledged that she would retire from politics if she lost the vote. After her loss, she kept her promise and announced her retirement. Rudd steered the Labor Party in the 2013 Federal Election but was defeated by the

Coalition A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...

. After the election defeat, Rudd resigned from the leadership and parliament seat. In the 2010 leadership spill, Wayne Swan was also elected as the Deputy Leader seat that was vacated by Gillard. He was also appointed as the Deputy Prime Minister. Swan continued to hold his

Treasurer A treasurer is a person responsible for the financial operations of a government, business, or other organization. Government The treasury of a country is the department responsible for the country's economy, finance and revenue. The treasure ...

position until Labor lost power in 2013. In June 2018, he was elected national president of the ALP and retired from the parliament in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

. Lindsay Tanner announced his retirement in the 2010 elections to spend more time at home with his family. He announced that he had made this decision before the leadership change.

Notes

References

External links

The Gang of Four
– an excerpt from the ABC's '' The Killing Season'' Australian Labor Party politicians {{poli-org-stub