CANBERRA - In a surprise revolt, the Australian Democrats have turned on Aboriginal Senator Aden Ridgeway and elected a little-known gay rights activist as interim leader.
Ridgeway went into an executive meeting on Thursday night all but certain he would move from deputy leader to replace Senator NatashaStott-Despoja, who quit this week over internal party schisms.
Ridgeway, who would have been the first Aboriginal leader of a major Australian political party, had strong support among his colleagues in Canberra.
He also had the backing of Stott-Despoja, who said Ridgeway should hold the post until a referendum of members elected a new leader.
But in an upset that has rocked Ridgeway and his longer-term ambitions for the leadership, the national executive heeded grass-roots fury at the "gang of four" senators whose dislike of Stott-Despoja forced the party into crisis.
Stott-Despoja was the choice of the broad membership - which, under party rules, decides who will be leader - and there was widespread outrage that Ridgeway and his fellow senators had undermined her position.
Despite Stott-Despoja's repeated determination not to re-contest the job, there is strong pressure for her to again stand as leader.
In the meantime, the interim leadership has gone to Senator Brian Greig, one of her close supporters.
"What I was hearing overwhelmingly was that there was a sense of anxiety and angst about automatically appointing Senator Ridgeway into the top job, given the part he played in recent events," Greig told ABC Radio.
