CANBERRA - Senator Aden Ridgeway, only the second Aborigine to sit in the federal Parliament, has become the first indigenous leader of a leading Australian political party - for the moment.
The 39-year-old member of the New South Wales Gumbainggir people was last night expected to beconfirmed as interim leader of the Australian Democrats, the centre-left party at present tearing itself to bits.
But Ridgeway's elevation from the deputy leadership is only temporary and fraught with uncertainty and angst after the resignation of former leader Senator Natasha Stott-Despoja on Wednesday.
Stott-Despoja, the 32-year-old South Australian installed in a bid to revitalise a party shedding supporters dismayed at a perceived shift away from core values, quit after a group of fellow senators (Ridgeway included) made it clear they no longer wanted her in the job.
Ridgeway's problem is that while he may be able to win over most of his Senate colleagues, the structure of the party demands that members elect their leader by referendum, rather than by the more conventional vote of the parliamentary party.
The membership has previously twice displayed its support of Stott-Despoja and has demonstrated its anger at senators perceived to have undermined her leadership. While Stott-Despoja remains firm in her determination not to recontest the leadership, her supporters say that those who brought her down will suffer.
West Australian Senator Brian Grieg, who may stand against Ridgeway, said yesterday he had been flooded with emails and phone calls from members angry at the coup that ousted Stott-Despoja.
"Members are saying overwhelmingly that they're going to consider very seriously nominations from any senator who may have played a role in bringing about this mess and bringing about Natasha's downfall," he said.
"There's a sense a lot of members don't want to reward bad behaviour."
Ridgeway, who says that leadership of the Democrats comes with a "crown of thorns", accepts that he will run against a wave of ill-feeling, but believes the party needs unity and that he is the man for the job.
"Certainly from my perspective I think that I come into this as truly an underdog in relation to the need to mend the rift that exists in the party and in the party room, and it seems most appropriate that in this context, I think that people need to keep their eye on the ball," he said.
