Julia Gillard
Prime Minister of Australia from 2010 to 2013 / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Julia Eileen Gillard AC (born 29 September 1961) is an Australian former politician who served as the 27th prime minister of Australia from 2010 to 2013. She held office as leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), having previously served as the 13th deputy prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010, under Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. She is the first and only woman to hold either office in Australian history.
Julia Gillard | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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27th Prime Minister of Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 24 June 2010 – 27 June 2013 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Monarch | Elizabeth II | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Governor General | Quentin Bryce | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Deputy | Wayne Swan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Kevin Rudd | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded 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 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Leader of the Labor Party | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 24 June 2010 – 26 June 2013 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Deputy | Wayne Swan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Kevin Rudd | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Kevin Rudd | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Deputy Leader of the Labor Party | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 4 December 2006 – 24 June 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Leader | Kevin Rudd | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Jenny Macklin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Wayne Swan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Manager of Opposition Business | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 8 December 2003 – 10 December 2006 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Leader | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Mark Latham | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Anthony Albanese | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Member of the Australian Parliament for Lalor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 3 October 1998 – 5 August 2013 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Barry Jones | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Joanne Ryan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Julia Eileen Gillard (1961-09-29) 29 September 1961 (age 62) Barry, Wales | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Citizenship |
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Political party | Labor | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Domestic partner | Tim Mathieson (2006–2021) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Education | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Alma mater | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Signature | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Website | Personal website | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born in Barry, Wales, Gillard migrated with her family to Adelaide in South Australia in 1966. She attended Mitcham Demonstration School and Unley High School. Gillard went on to study at the University of Adelaide, but switched to the University of Melbourne in 1982, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Laws in 1986 and a Bachelor of Arts in 1989. During this time, she was president of the Australian Union of Students from 1983 to 1984. In 1987, Gillard joined the law firm Slater & Gordon, eventually becoming a partner in 1990, specialising in industrial law. In 1996, she became chief of staff to John Brumby, the Leader of the Opposition in Victoria.
Gillard was first elected to the House of Representatives at the 1998 election for the seat of Lalor. Following the 2001 election, she was appointed to the Shadow Cabinet. In December 2006, Gillard became the running mate of Kevin Rudd in a successful leadership challenge to Kim Beazley, becoming deputy leader of the opposition. After Labor's victory at the 2007 election, she was appointed as the deputy prime minister of Australia, and was also given the roles of Minister for Education, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, and Minister for Social Inclusion.
On 24 June 2010, after Rudd lost internal support within the Labor Party and resigned as leader, Gillard was elected unopposed as his replacement in a leadership spill, and was sworn-in as prime minister. She led Labor through the 2010 election weeks later, which saw the first hung parliament since 1940. Gillard was able to form a minority government with the support of the Greens and three independents. During its term of office, the Gillard government introduced the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), the Gonski funding, oversaw the initial rollout of the National Broadband Network (NBN), and controversially implemented a carbon pricing scheme, which was widely perceived as a breach of a pre-election commitment.
Gillard's premiership was often undermined by party instability and numerous scandals, including the AWU affair and the Health Services Union expenses affair. Gillard and Rudd became embroiled in a lengthy political rivalry, resulting in Gillard losing the leadership of the Labor Party back to him in a June 2013 leadership spill. Her resignation as prime minister took effect the next day, and she announced her retirement from politics.
In the years following her retirement, Gillard has been a visiting professor at the University of Adelaide, the Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution's Center for Universal Education, and has been the chair of the Global Partnership for Education since 2014 and as the chair of Beyond Blue since 2017. She released her memoir, My Story, in September 2014. In April 2021, she became chair of the Wellcome Trust, succeeding Eliza Manningham-Buller.[1] Although Gillard often ranked poorly in opinion polls as prime minister,[2][3] her premiership has been more favourably received in retrospect.[4] Political experts often place her in the middle-to-upper tier of Australian prime ministers.[5]
Birth and family background
Gillard was born on 29 September 1961 in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales.[6][7] She is the second of two daughters born to John Oliver Gillard (1929–2012) and the former Moira Mackenzie (born 1928); her older sister Alison was born in 1958.[8] Gillard's father was born in Cwmgwrach, but was of predominantly English descent; he worked as a psychiatric nurse.[9][10] Her mother was born in Barry, and is of distant Scottish and Irish descent; she worked in a Salvation Army nursing home.[11][12]
After Gillard suffered from bronchopneumonia as a child, her parents were advised it would aid her recovery if they were to live in a warmer climate.[8] This led the family to migrate to Australia in 1966, settling in Adelaide, South Australia.[13] The Gillard family's first month in Australia was spent in the Pennington Hostel, a now-closed migrant facility located in Pennington, South Australia.[14][15] In 1974, eight years after they arrived, Gillard and her family became Australian citizens. As a result, Gillard held dual citizenship until she renounced her British citizenship prior to entering the Australian parliament in 1998.[16][17]
Education and legal career
Gillard attended Mitcham Demonstration School before going on to Unley High School.[18] She began an arts degree at the University of Adelaide, during which she was president of the Adelaide University Union from 1981 to 1982.[19] In her second year at the university, Gillard was introduced to politics by the daughter of a state Labor minister.[who?] Accordingly, she joined the Labor Club and became involved in a campaign to fight federal education budget cuts.[8][13] Gillard cut short her courses in Adelaide in 1982, and moved to Melbourne to work with the Australian Union of Students.[20] In 1983, she became the second woman to lead the Australian Union of Students, serving until the organisation's discontinuation in 1984. She was also the secretary of the left-wing organisation Socialist Forum.[21][22] Having transferred her studies to the University of Melbourne, Gillard graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1986 and a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1989.[23] In 1987, she joined the law firm Slater & Gordon in Werribee, Victoria, working in industrial law.[11] In 1990, she was admitted as a partner; at the age of 29, she was the youngest partner within the firm, and one of the first women to hold the position.[24][25]
Early political involvement
From 1985 to 1989, Gillard was president of the Carlton branch of the Labor Party.[6] She stood for Labor preselection in the Division of Melbourne prior to the 1993 federal election, but was defeated by Lindsay Tanner.[26] At the 1996 federal election, Gillard won the third position on Labor's Senate ticket in Victoria, behind Robert Ray and Barney Cooney.[27][28] However, on the final distribution of preferences she was defeated by Lyn Allison of the Australian Democrats.[29][30]
In 1996, Gillard resigned from her position with Slater & Gordon to serve as chief of staff to John Brumby, at that time the Leader of the Opposition in Victoria.[6][30][31] She was responsible for drafting the affirmative-action rules within the Labor Party in Victoria that set the target of pre-selecting women for 35 per cent of "winnable seats". She also played a role in the foundation of EMILY's List, the pro-choice fund-raising and support network for Labor women.[32]
Gillard has cited Welsh Labour politician Aneurin Bevan as one of her political heroes.[24]
Gillard was first elected to the House of Representatives at the 1998 federal election representing Lalor, a safe Labor seat near Melbourne, replacing Barry Jones who retired. She made her maiden speech to the House on 11 November 1998.[33] Gillard was a member of the standing committee for Employment, Education and Workplace Relations from 8 December 1998 to 8 December 2001, in addition to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs from 20 March 2003 to 18 August 2003. Within the joint committees, she was a member of the Public Accounts and Audit from 8 December 1998 to 11 February 2002, in addition to the Native Title and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land Fund from 20 March 2003 to 11 August 2003.[6]
Shadow Minister (2001–2007)
After Labor's defeat at the 2001 federal election, Gillard was elected to the Shadow Cabinet under then-Labor Leader Simon Crean, where she was given responsibility for Population and Immigration. In February 2003, she was given additional responsibilities for Reconciliation and Indigenous Affairs.[34] In these roles, 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.[13]
Gillard was later promoted to the position of Shadow Minister for Health and Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House (to Mark Latham) on 2 July 2003.[25][35] During this time, she shadowed Tony Abbott, with the rivalry between the two often attracting attention from the media.[36] She was later given additional responsibility for managing opposition business in the House of Representatives by Latham, who had succeeded Beazley as Labor Party leader.[37]
In the aftermath of Labor's fourth consecutive defeat in the 2004 federal election it was widely speculated that Gillard might challenge Jenny Macklin for the deputy leadership, but she did not do so.[38] Gillard had been spoken of as a potential future leader of the party for some years, but never stood in a leadership contest. After Mark Latham resigned as Labor Leader in January 2005, Gillard appeared on ABC's Australian Story in March 2006, after which an Ipsos Mackay poll conducted for Network Ten's Meet the Press found that more respondents would prefer Gillard to be Labor Leader; she polled 32% compared with Beazley's 25% and Kevin Rudd's 18%.[8][39][40] Although she had significant cross-factional support, she announced on 25 January 2005 that she would not contest the leadership, allowing Beazley to be elected unopposed.[41]
Deputy Opposition Leader (2006–2007)
On 1 December 2006, as part of a cross-factional political partnership with Kevin Rudd, Gillard challenged Jenny Macklin for the deputy leadership.[42] After Rudd successfully replaced Beazley as Labor Leader on 4 December 2006, Macklin chose to resign, allowing Gillard to become Deputy Leader unopposed.[43] In the subsequent reshuffle, Gillard was allocated responsibility for Employment, Workplace Relations and Social Inclusion, as well as being made Deputy Leader of the Opposition.[44]
After the Labor Party's victory in the 2007 federal election, Gillard was sworn in as the first ever female Deputy Prime Minister of Australia on 3 December 2007.[45] In addition to being appointed to the position of Deputy Prime Minister, Gillard was given responsibility for a so-called "super ministry", the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.[46]
She was a member of the Strategic Priorities Budget Committee (SPBC) – also referred to as "Gang of Four" – which comprised Rudd and his most senior ministers: Gillard, Treasurer Wayne Swan and Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner.[47] Formed in late-2007 as a result of an internal review, the SPBC was responsible for the government's handling of the 2007–08 global financial crisis.[48]
On 11 December 2007, Gillard was acting prime minister while Rudd attended the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali, becoming the first woman ever to hold that position.[49] She assumed these duties for a total of 69 days throughout Rudd's tenure, during his various overseas travel engagements.[50] Gillard quickly became known as a highly regarded debater, with her performances during parliamentary question time prompting Peter van Onselen to call her "the best parliamentary performer on the Labor side".[51]
Ministerial portfolios
In her role as Minister for Education, Gillard travelled to Washington D.C. in 2009, where she signed a deal with US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to encourage improved policy collaboration in education reform between both countries.[52] The establishment of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), an independent authority responsible for the development of a national curriculum, was amongst her first policy pursuits in 2008.[53] She launched the government's "Digital Education Revolution" (DER) program, which provided laptops to all public secondary school students and developed quality digital tools, resources and infrastructure for all schools.[54] In conjunction with DER, Gillard oversaw the "Building the Education Revolution" (BER) program, which allocated $16 billion to build new school accommodation including classrooms, libraries and assembly halls.[55][56]
Gillard also ensured the implementation of the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) in 2008, whereby a series of standardised tests focused on basic skills are administered annually to Australian students.[57] This was followed by the introduction of the My School website; launched in January 2010, the website reports on data from NAPLAN and displays information such as school missions, staffing, financial information, its resources and its students' characteristics.[58][59]
As Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Gillard removed the WorkChoices industrial relations regime introduced by the Howard government, and replaced it with the Fair Work Act.[60] This established a single industrial relations bureaucracy called Fair Work Australia.[61]