Julia Eileen Gillard was born on 29 September 1961 and is an Australian former politician who served as the 27th prime minister of Australia from 2010 to 2013, holding office as leader of the Australian Labor Party.
123 Facts About Julia Gillard
2.
Julia Gillard previously served as the 13th deputy prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010, under Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
3.
Julia Gillard is the first and only female to hold either office in Australian history.
4.
Julia Gillard attended Mitcham Demonstration School and Unley High School.
5.
Julia 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.
6.
Julia Gillard was first elected to the House of Representatives at the 1998 election for the seat of Lalor.
7.
In December 2006, Julia Gillard became the running mate of Kevin Rudd in a successful leadership challenge to Kim Beazley, becoming deputy leader of the opposition.
8.
On, after Rudd lost internal support within the Labor Party and resigned as leader, Julia Gillard was elected unopposed as his replacement in a leadership spill, and was sworn-in as prime minister.
9.
Julia Gillard led Labor through the 2010 election weeks later, which saw the first hung parliament since 1940.
10.
Julia Gillard was able to form a minority government with the support of a Green MP and three independents.
11.
The Julia Gillard government introduced the National Disability Insurance Scheme, introduced Gonski funding for Australian education, implemented carbon pricing in Australia, and oversaw the National Broadband Network.
12.
On 26 June 2013, after a lengthy period of leadership instability, Julia Gillard lost the leadership of the Labor Party back to Rudd at a leadership spill.
13.
Julia Gillard released her memoir, My Story, in September 2014.
14.
Julia Gillard was born on 29 September 1961 in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales.
15.
Julia Gillard is the second of two daughters born to John Oliver Gillard ; her older sister Alison was born in 1958.
16.
Julia Gillard's father was born in Cwmgwrach, but was of predominantly English descent; he worked as a psychiatric nurse.
17.
Julia Gillard's mother was born in Barry, and is of distant Scottish and Irish descent; she worked in a Salvation Army nursing home.
18.
Julia Gillard attended Mitcham Demonstration School before going on to Unley High School.
19.
Julia Gillard began an arts degree at the University of Adelaide, during which she was president of the Adelaide University Union from 1981 to 1982.
20.
Julia Gillard cut short her courses in Adelaide in 1982, and moved to Melbourne to work with the Australian Union of Students.
21.
Julia Gillard was the secretary of the left-wing organisation Socialist Forum.
22.
From 1985 to 1989, Julia Gillard was president of the Carlton branch of the Labor Party.
23.
Julia Gillard stood for Labor preselection in the Division of Melbourne prior to the 1993 federal election, but was defeated by Lindsay Tanner.
24.
At the 1996 federal election, Julia Gillard won the third position on Labor's Senate ticket in Victoria, behind Robert Ray and Barney Cooney.
25.
Julia Gillard 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".
26.
Julia Gillard played a role in the foundation of EMILY's List, the pro-choice fund-raising and support network for Labor women.
27.
Julia Gillard has cited Welsh Labour politician Aneurin Bevan as one of her political heroes.
28.
Julia 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.
29.
Julia Gillard made her maiden speech to the House on 11 November 1998.
30.
Julia 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.
31.
Julia Gillard was later promoted to the position of Shadow Minister for Health and Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House on 2 July 2003.
32.
Julia Gillard was later given additional responsibility for managing opposition business in the House of Representatives by Latham, who had succeeded Beazley as Labor Party leader.
33.
Julia Gillard had been spoken of as a potential future leader of the party for some years, but never stood in a leadership contest.
34.
On 1 December 2006, as part of a cross-factional political partnership with Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard challenged Jenny Macklin for the deputy leadership.
35.
On 11 December 2007, Julia 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.
36.
Julia Gillard assumed these duties for a total of 69 days throughout Rudd's tenure, during his various overseas travel engagements.
37.
Julia 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".
38.
Julia Gillard launched the government's "Digital Education Revolution" program, which provided laptops to all public secondary school students and developed quality digital tools, resources and infrastructure for all schools.
39.
On 23 June 2010 he announced that Julia Gillard had asked him to hold a leadership ballot the following day to determine the leadership of the Labor Party, and hence the Prime Ministership of Australia.
40.
Shortly afterward, Julia Gillard was sworn in as the 27th Prime Minister of Australia by Governor-General Quentin Bryce, with Swan being sworn in as Deputy Prime Minister.
41.
Later that day, in her first press conference as Prime Minister, Julia Gillard said that at times the Rudd government "went off the tracks", and "[I] came to the view that a good Government was losing its way".
42.
Julia Gillard offered wider explanation of her motivations for replacing Rudd during the 2012 Labor leadership spill in which Rudd challenged Julia Gillard to regain the Labor leadership, telling the media that the Rudd government had entered a "period of paralysis" and that Rudd's work patterns were "difficult and chaotic".
43.
On 17 July 2010,23 days after becoming prime minister and after receiving the agreement of the Governor-General Quentin Bryce, Julia Gillard announced the next federal election would be held on 21 August 2010.
44.
Julia Gillard began campaigning with a speech using the slogan "moving forward".
45.
Midway through the campaign, Julia Gillard offered journalists a self-assessment of her campaign by saying that she had been paying too much attention to advisers in her strategy team, and she wanted to run a less "stage-managed" campaign:.
46.
Julia Gillard met Opposition leader Tony Abbott for one official debate during the campaign.
47.
Julia Gillard officially "launched" Labor's campaign in Brisbane five days before polling day, outlining Labor policies and using the slogan: "Yes we will move forward together".
48.
Julia Gillard initially ruled out a "carbon tax" but said that she would build community consensus for a price on carbon and open negotiations with the mining industry for a re-vamped mining profits tax.
49.
Julia Gillard announced during the 2010 election, that there would be an increase of 270 placements for emergency doctors and nurses and 3,000 extra nursing scholarships over the following 10 years.
50.
In February 2011, Julia Gillard announced extensive revision of the original health funding reforms proposed by the Rudd government, which had been unable to secure the support of all state governments.
51.
In relation to population targets for Australia, Julia Gillard told Fairfax Media in August 2010 that while skilled migration is important: "I don't support the idea of a big Australia".
52.
Julia Gillard altered the nomenclature of Tony Burke's role as "Minister for Population" to that of "Minister for Sustainable Population".
53.
Julia Gillard announced that negotiations were underway for a return to "offshore processing" of asylum seeker claims.
54.
Julia Gillard ruled out a return to processing at Nauru and named East Timor as a preferred location for new detention and processing facilities.
55.
Julia Gillard said it would be a short-term solution to the problem and that temporary detention centres would be closed.
56.
Julia Gillard returned early from holidays in response to the crash, and to review asylum seeker policy.
57.
Some months later Julia Gillard would announce "The Malaysia Solution" in response.
58.
In May 2011, Julia Gillard announced that Australia and Malaysia were finalising an arrangement to exchange asylum seekers.
59.
Julia Gillard held the responsibilities of the Education portfolio for four days after becoming Prime Minister, before appointing Simon Crean as Education Minister on 28 June 2010.
60.
Julia Gillard altered the nomenclature of "Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research" to comprise tertiary education; Chris Evans, Chris Bowen, and later, Craig Emerson, each was Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Science and Research in the Julia Gillard government.
61.
Julia Gillard continued to put the My School website centre of her education agenda, which was controversial at the time when she implemented it as Minister for Education.
62.
Julia Gillard had since unveiled the revamped version, My School 2.0, promising better information to parents.
63.
In 2010, Julia Gillard agreed with Nick Xenophon, Andrew Wilkie and the Australian Greens to introduce poker machine reform legislation into the Australian parliament by May 2012.
64.
Julia Gillard stated that he would support the government's alternative plan to trial pre-commitment in the ACT and require that pre-commitment technology be installed in all poker machines built from 2013, but that this fell short of what he had been promised in return for supporting the government.
65.
The triennial Labor conference held in December 2011 saw Julia Gillard successfully negotiate an amendment on same-sex marriage to see the party introduce a conscience vote to parliament through a private member's bill, rather than a binding vote.
66.
Julia Gillard opened her speech by announcing that the Parliament would take responsibility for the practice of forced adoptions:.
67.
Julia Gillard represented Australia at the Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton in London in April 2011 and hosted the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth in October of that year.
68.
At the CHOGM, Julia Gillard hosted Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia in what was almost certainly the monarch's final tour Down Under, due to her advanced age.
69.
When Julia Gillard replaced Rudd in 2010, Stephen Smith retained the portfolio of Foreign Affairs up until the 2010 election, when he was moved to Defence.
70.
When Julia Gillard was not present in the Australia due to international commitments, or in other circumstances, Wayne Swan assumed the title of acting prime minister; when neither leader nor deputy were present in Australia, Leader of the Government in the Senate Chris Evans assumed the role, as occurred in October and November 2012.
71.
The Julia Gillard government released the Asian Century White Paper in October 2012, offering a strategic framework for "Australia's navigation of the Asian Century".
72.
On her first day as prime minister, Julia Gillard reassured US president Barack Obama of Australia's continuing support for the military campaign in Afghanistan, which was then in its ninth year of operation.
73.
Julia Gillard visited Afghanistan on 2 October 2010, meeting with members of the Australian Defence Force in Tarinkot, and President Hamid Karzai in Kabul.
74.
Julia Gillard made her second trip to Afghanistan on 7 November 2011; much like her first trip, Gillard visited the 1,550 Australian troops based in Tarinkot, before meeting Karzai in Kabul where the two discussed the transition plans for Afghan military control.
75.
Julia Gillard made her third and final trip to the country on 15 October 2012, where she met with President Kurzai, the governor of the Urozgan Province, before visiting the troops based in the aforementioned province.
76.
Relations between Australia and India improved throughout Julia Gillard's premiership, following a strained period between the two countries as a result of the Rudd government's decision to ban uranium sales to India in 2007, and the prolonged attacks against Indians living in Australia during 2009 to 2010.
77.
The change in policy was supported a month later at the Labor Party National Conference, and Julia Gillard reversed Australia's ban on exporting uranium to India on 4 December 2011.
78.
Julia Gillard further expressed that any future agreement to sell uranium to India would include strict safeguards to ensure it would only be used for civilian purposes, and not end up in nuclear weapons.
79.
Julia Gillard made her prime-ministerial visit to India on 16 October 2012, for a three-day bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, where they negotiated the safeguards required prior to the commencement of uranium trading between India and Australia.
80.
The prospect of a quick trading arrangement was downplayed by both leaders in 2012; nevertheless, Julia Gillard's efforts in brokering the deal was a precursor of the agreement being finalised between Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, in 2014.
81.
Julia Gillard maintained the close bonds between Australia and New Zealand throughout her tenure as prime minister.
82.
Julia Gillard had a close working relationship with her New Zealand counterpart, Prime Minister John Key, who was among the first international leaders to congratulate Gillard on gaining the premiership in June 2010.
83.
On 15 February 2011, Julia Gillard made her first trip to New Zealand, during which she met with Key and held a luncheon with business leaders in Auckland.
84.
Julia Gillard's second visit to New Zealand, coincided with the September 2011 gathering of the Pacific Islands Forum, held in Auckland, of which both Australia and New Zealand are members.
85.
Julia Gillard made her final trip to New Zealand on 9 February 2013; visiting Queenstown, she and Prime Minister Key announced a deal on asylum seekers, which would see New Zealand accept 150 refugees annually from Australia, starting in 2014.
86.
Julia Gillard asked me to 'stand by for emails explaining George Bush is a great statesman, torture is justified in many circumstances and those Iraqi insurgents should just get over it'.
87.
On 9 March 2011, Julia Gillard travelled to the United States to mark the 60th Anniversary of the ANZUS Alliance.
88.
Julia Gillard held formal meetings with President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
89.
Julia Gillard met with First Lady Michelle Obama, and senior US Senator John McCain.
90.
Julia Gillard addressed a joint session of the United States Congress, becoming the fourth Australian leader to do so and first foreign dignitary to address the 112th congress.
91.
Former Labor Party advisor Anne Summers said in 2012 that "Julia Gillard is being persecuted both because she is a woman and in ways that would be impossible to apply to a man".
92.
On 9 October 2012, Julia Gillard raised "sexism and misogyny" in a speech opposing a motion to remove Peter Slipper, her choice as Speaker of the House of Representatives, after revelations of inappropriate conduct on his part became public.
93.
Julia Gillard linked the speech to the context of the then ongoing Alan Jones "died of shame" controversy.
94.
The situation had been further exacerbated by the revelation on Four Corners that Julia Gillard's staff wrote her victory speech for the 2010 leadership election two weeks prior to her challenge, contradicting Julia Gillard's earlier claims that she had only resolved to challenge Rudd the day before the vote.
95.
Julia Gillard responded to these developments by announcing a leadership ballot for the morning of 27 February 2012, saying that if she lost the vote she would return to the backbench and renounce any claims to the leadership.
96.
At the leadership ballot, Julia Gillard won comfortably by a vote of 71 to 31.
97.
Julia Gillard declared that the question of the Labor leadership was now "settled".
98.
Nevertheless, speculation on Julia Gillard's leadership remained a major issue, with polling results indicating an electoral disaster were she to lead the Labor Party into the election.
99.
That afternoon, before any letter had been published, Julia Gillard called a leadership spill live on television.
100.
Julia Gillard challenged any would-be opponent to join her in a pledge that, while the winner would become leader, the loser would immediately retire from politics.
101.
Julia Gillard announced, in keeping with her pledge before the leadership vote, that she would not re-contest her Labor seat at the upcoming election, and thus would retire from politics.
102.
Subsequent to the federal election held on 7 September 2013, Julia Gillard was succeeded as the Member for Lalor by her preferred replacement, Joanne Ryan, a former school principal.
103.
Analyses of Jacqueline Kent's 2009 biography of Julia Gillard suggest that her membership in the Left faction is "more organisational than ideological".
104.
Julia Gillard expressed support for legal abortion in 2005, saying that "Women without money would be left without that choice or in the hands of backyard abortion providers" and that she understood "the various moral positions" regarding abortions.
105.
The triennial Labor conference held in December 2011 saw Julia Gillard successfully negotiate an amendment on same-sex marriage to see the party introduce a conscience vote to parliament through a private member's bill, rather than a binding vote.
106.
In July 2013, Julia Gillard signed a book deal for her memoirs with Penguin Australia.
107.
Julia Gillard later joined former Labor Prime Ministers Bob Hawke and Paul Keating at Bill Shorten's Labor campaign launch on 19 June 2016.
108.
Julia Gillard had been a supporter of Hillary Clinton's Democratic Party candidacy for President of the United States, from as early as September 2014 when Gillard announced that she would "loudly barrack from the sidelines" should Clinton run.
109.
Julia Gillard attended the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on 25 July 2016, alongside former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
110.
On 11 February 2015, Julia Gillard received an honorary doctorate from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel "for her achievements as a woman committed to education and to social inclusion, and for the impact of her commitment on the situation of children, youngsters and women worldwide"; and she held a Kapuscinski Development Lecture on "the importance of education in development contexts" at the said university.
111.
Julia Gillard was conferred an Honorary Doctorate of Laws by Deakin University, for her promotion of "education opportunities in Australia, especially to groups under-represented in higher education", in December 2016.
112.
In February 2014, Julia Gillard was appointed chairwoman of the Global Partnership for Education, an international organisation focused on getting all children into school for a quality education in the world's poorest countries.
113.
In September 2016 Julia Gillard was appointed a visiting professor at King's College London, joining the King's Policy Institute to chair the Global Institute for Women's Leadership, as well as the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies.
114.
Julia Gillard is the most recent former prime minister to have received such award since John Howard in 2008, and the sixth prime minister overall.
115.
Julia Gillard is the 8th Australian prime minister to receive the award, after Edmund Barton, Robert Menzies, John McEwen, Gough Whitlam, Malcolm Fraser, Bob Hawke, and John Howard.
116.
In October 2022 it was announced that Julia Gillard would be leading the Royal Commission into early education in South Australia.
117.
Julia Gillard met Tim Mathieson in 2004, and they began a relationship in 2006.
118.
Julia Gillard's mother told ABC TV's Australian Story program that Julia Gillard had spoken from a young age of never wanting children.
119.
Julia Gillard owned a single-storey home in the south-western Melbourne suburb of Altona which she occupied prior to The Lodge and sold in December 2013.
120.
Julia Gillard is a public supporter of the Western Bulldogs Australian rules football team and the Melbourne Storm rugby league team.
121.
Julia Gillard was brought up in the Baptist tradition, but is an atheist.
122.
Julia Gillard provided pro-bono legal assistance to help establish the AWU Workplace Reform Association for Wilson and his associate Ralph Blewitt.
123.
Julia Gillard was involved in providing legal services in relation to the purchase of a Fitzroy property by Wilson and Blewitt.