2009 New South Wales Labor Party leadership spill

2009 New South Wales Labor Party
leadership spill

← 2008 3 December 2009 2011 →

Spill motion

Candidate Spill motion Nathan Rees Caucus vote 43 25 Seat – Toongabbie Faction – Unaligned[a]

Leadership spill

Candidate Kristina Keneally Nathan Rees Caucus vote 47 21 Seat Heffron Toongabbie Faction Right Unaligned[a]

Leader before election Nathan Rees Elected Leader Kristina Keneally

Deputy leadership spill

Candidate Carmel Tebbutt Caucus vote Unopposed Seat Marrickville Faction Left

Deputy before election Carmel Tebbutt Elected Deputy Carmel Tebbutt

The 2009 New South Wales Labor Party leadership spill was held on 3 December 2009 to elect the leader of the New South Wales Labor Party and, ex officio, Premier of New South Wales.^[1][2]

Incumbent premier Nathan Rees lost a spill motion after several months of speculation about a possible challenge.^[3][4] He contested the subsequent leadership election, but was defeated by planning minister Kristina Keneally.^[5][6] Carmel Tebbutt was returned unopposed as deputy leader (and Deputy Premier), creating the first all-female leadership team in Australia at a state or federal level.^[7][8]

Keneally was sworn in as premier the following day, becoming the first female Premier of New South Wales and the state's fourth premier in as many years.^[9][10] She led Labor to a landslide defeat less than two years later at the 2011 New South Wales state election.^[11][12]

Prior to the spill, Rees said that any challenger "would be a puppet" of factional powerbrokers Eddie Obeid and Joe Tripodi.^[13][14] The claim was rejected by Keneally, who stated "I am nobody's puppet, I am nobody's protege, I am nobody's girl".^[15][16]