Julia Gillard

The Honourable Julia Gillard MP
27th Prime Minister of Australia
Incumbent
Assumed office 24 June 2010
Deputy	Wayne Swan
Preceded by	Kevin Rudd
Leader of the Labor Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 24 June 2010
Deputy	Wayne Swan
Preceded by	Kevin Rudd
Deputy Prime Minister of Australia
In office 3 December 2007 – 24 June 2010
Prime Minister	Kevin Rudd
Preceded by	Mark Vaile
Succeeded by	Wayne Swan
Member of the Australian Parliament for Lalor
Incumbent
Assumed office 3 October 1998
Preceded by	Barry Jones
Personal details
Born	(1961-09-29) 29 September 1961 Barry, United Kingdom
Political party	Labor Party
Residence	Altona, Victoria
Alma mater	University of Melbourne University of Adelaide

Julia Eileen Gillard (born 29 September 1961 in Barry, Wales) is the Prime Minister of Australia, and is the first female to hold that office. She was sworn in as Australia's 27th Prime Minister on 24 June 2010.

On 11 December 2007 she became the first woman in Australia's history to assume the prime ministerial role, when she acted as prime minister while Kevin Rudd attended the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali. She is also the Minister for Education, the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and the Minister for Social Inclusion.

Gillard was elected unopposed as Leader of the Australian Labor Party at a special caucus meeting on 24 June 2010, making her the first female leader of the party and the first female Australian Prime Minister. She is also the first foreign-born Prime Minister since Billy Hughes, who led from 1915 to 1923. When being sworn in by the Governor-General of Australia, Ms Quentin Bryce, Ms Gillard chose not to make references to any "god".

Gillard has been an ALP member of the House of Representatives since the 1998 federal election. She represents the Division of Lalor in Victoria.

Early life

Gillard was born in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales in 1961. Her father was a coal miner in Wales, and she has a sister, Alison, who is three years older; Nye Bevan remains one of her political heroes.

After Julia suffered from bronchopneumonia as a child, her parents were advised it would aid her recovery to live in a warmer climate. The family chose to migrate to Australia in 1966, settling in Adelaide.

Her father trained as a psychiatric nurse, while her mother worked at the local Salvation Army Old People's Home. Gillard and her sister attended Mitcham Demonstration School, and then graduated from Unley High School in 1978. She then attended the University of Adelaide, and on graduation moved to Melbourne to work with the Australian Union of Students (AUS). In 1987 she graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Laws degree and with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1990.

In 1987 she joined left-leaning law firm Slater & Gordon at Werribee, working in the area of industrial law. In 1990 at the age of 29, she was admitted as one of their first female partners.

In a 2007 interview, Gillard stated: “I used to think I wanted to be a school teacher. There was an English teacher at Mitcham Primary [in Adelaide], who was a real stickler for standards and grammar and punctuation but who was also very kindly. I thought teachers were good; I thought it would be a rewarding job, seeing the eyes of young people light up with new information. I got talked out of that ambition for good or for ill by a school friend’s mother, who said, ‘No, you’re really good at arguing and debating, you should try law.’ If I hadn’t been pre-selected for the seat of Lalor and run successfully in the 1998 election, I’d probably still be somewhere in and around the law; public sector law perhaps. Maybe giving tutorials, trying to pound law into other people’s heads.”

Political provenance

Introduced to politics in her second year at the University of Adelaide by the daughter of a state Labor official, she joined the Labour Club and became involved in a campaign to fight state education budget cuts.

Moving to Melbourne, in 1983, Gillard became the second woman to lead the Australian Union of Students. Gillard was also formerly the secretary of the left-wing organisation, Socialist Forum. As an active member of the Socialist Forum, she lobbied for the scrapping of the ANZUS treaty, making Leningrad a sister city of Melbourne, and introducing a super-tax on the rich.

From 1996 to 1998, Gillard served as Chief-of-Staff to Victorian Opposition Leader, John Brumby. She was responsible for drafting the affirmative action rules within the Labor Party in Victoria, setting the target of women being preselected in 35 percent of winnable seats within a decade. She also played a role in the foundation of EMILY's List, the pro-choice fund-raising and support network for Labor women.

Opposition Member

Gillard was elected as Member for Lalor in the House of Representatives at the 1998 election. She made her first speech to the house on 11 November 1998.

Shadow Minister for Population and Immigration (2001–03)

After Labor's defeat at the 2001 election, Gillard was elected to the Shadow Cabinet with the portfolio of Population and Immigration. In February 2003 she was given the additional portfolios of Reconciliation and Indigenous Affairs.

In the wake of the Tampa and Children Overboard affairs, which were partly credited with Labor's 2001 election loss, Gillard developed a new immigration policy for the Labor Party.

Shadow Minister for Health (2003–06)

Gillard was promoted to the position of Shadow Health Minister in July 2003. Shortly after this the government moved the then Workplace Relations Minister, Tony Abbott, into the health portfolio. The rivalry between Abbott and Gillard often attracted attention from the media. Additionally, she gained responsibility for managing opposition business in the House of Representatives.

In the aftermath of the Labor loss at the October 2004 election, it was speculated that Gillard might challenge Jenny Macklin for the deputy leadership, but she did not do so.

Gillard has been touted as a potential future leader of the party for some years but, until 2005, she stayed out of leadership contests. After Mark Latham resigned as leader in January 2005, however, she emerged as a possible successor along with Kim Beazley and Kevin Rudd.

After appearing on the ABC's Australian Story program in March 2006, an Ipsos Mackay poll in April 2006, conducted for the Ten Network's Meet the Press program, found that respondents would prefer Gillard to be Labor leader. She polled 32% compared to Beazley's 25% and Kevin Rudd's 18%.

Although she had significant cross-factional support, she announced on 25 January 2005 that she would not be contesting the leadership, allowing Beazley to be elected unopposed.

Deputy Leader of the Opposition

Julia Gillard at her first press conference as Deputy Leader of the Australian Labor Party, 4 December 2006, with new Leader Kevin Rudd

On 1 December 2006, in a cross factional political partnership with Kevin Rudd, Gillard launched a challenge for the deputy leadership of the ALP. Once Rudd was elected as leader, the incumbent deputy leader and Kim Beazley's deputy, Jenny Macklin, did not contest the contest and on 4 December 2006 she was elected unopposed. In the frontbench reshuffle following the leadership change, Gillard was elected to take the Employment and Workplace Relations portfolio.

Deputy Prime Minister of Australia

The Labor Party won the 2007 federal election and, on 3 December 2007, Gillard was sworn in as Deputy Prime Minister of Australia.

In addition to the deputy prime ministership, Gillard was given responsibility for a so-called "super ministry", the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. She has three distinct portfolios: Minister for Education; Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations; and Minister for Social Inclusion. In her role as Minister for Education, Gillard travelled to Washington, D.C. where she signed a deal with the United States Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, to nurture improved policy collaboration in education reform between both countries.

On 11 December 2007 she became the first woman in Australia's history to be in the prime ministerial role, by assuming the role of acting prime minister while Kevin Rudd attended the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali. In the first year of government, she served as acting prime minister for 69 days during Rudd's overseas travel engagements.

Gillard is a highly regarded debater and her performances during parliamentary question time have prompted Peter van Onselen to call her "the best parliamentary performer on the Labor side".

Minister for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations

Gillard removed the WorkChoices industrial relations regime introduced by the Howard government, and replaced it with the Fair Work Bill. This established a single industrial relations bureaucracy called Fair Work Australia.

In 2009 Gillard oversaw the government's "Building the Education Revolution" program, which allocated AU$16 billion to build new school accommodation including classrooms, libraries and assembly halls.

Personal life

Gillard's partner is Tim Mathieson, a hairdresser. She does not have any children.

See also

• Rudd Ministry

External links

• Official Federal HOR webpages for Julia Gillard
• Official Federal Ministrial webpages for Julia Gillard
• Official ALP webpages for Julia Gillard
• The Hon Julia Gillard MP – Deputy Prime Minister
• Official Facebook page of Julia Gillard
• Search or browse Hansard for Julia Gillard at OpenAustralia.org