In August 2002 Allison, along with fellow senators Aden Ridgeway, John Cherry, and Andrew Murray, succeeded in forcing Natasha Stott Despoja to resign from leadership. The media did not portray the spill kindly, labelling them the 'Gang of Four'. Allison was Deputy Leader of the Australian Democrats from 2002 to 2004. On 3 November 2004, following the resignation of Andrew Bartlett after the October 2004 election, she was elected unopposed as Leader. She took over the leadership at a time when the Democrats were at their lowest ever public opinion rating since the party was founded in 1977.