Julia Gillard Following her defeat in the leadership vote on 26 June 2013, Gillard congratulated Rudd on his win and announced that she would immediately tender her resignation as Prime Minister to the Governor-General, Quentin Bryce. She also announced, in keeping with her pledge before the leadership vote, that she would not re-contest her seat of Lalor at the upcoming election, and thus would retire from politics. In her final speech, she reflected on the honour of being the first female head of government in Australia and expressed confidence for the future of women leaders in Australia: Gillard's resignation as Prime Minister
Gillard Government Plibersek and Stephen Smith were more circumspect, but supported Gillard. Labor Senator Doug Cameron and Immigration Minister Chris Bowen came out in support of Rudd and called on their colleagues to show him respect. Labor Ministers Robert McClelland and Martin Ferguson also declared for Rudd, saying Gillard could not win against Tony Abbott. In an emotional address, Minister Anthony Albanese announced that he had offered his resignation as Leader of the House of Representatives and would be supporting Rudd because he believed the manner in which he had been replaced in 2010 was wrong. Prime Minister Gillard refused to accept