page_title: Gillard Government
section_title: Foreign policy
hierarchical_section_title: Gillard Government / Policies / Foreign policy
caption_attribution_description: Bob Carr
context_page_description: The Gillard Government was the Government of Australia led by the 27th Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard, of the Australian Labor Party. The Gillard Government succeeded the First Rudd Government by way of the Labor Party leadership spill, and began on 24 June 2010, with Gillard sworn in as Prime Minister by the Governor-General of Australia, Quentin Bryce. The Gillard Government ended when Kevin Rudd won back the leadership of the Australian Labor Party on 26 June 2013 and commenced the Second Rudd Government.
  Before mounting her successful 2010 challenge to Rudd's leadership, Gillard had served as Deputy Prime Minister in the First Rudd Government. With Treasurer Wayne Swan as her Deputy, Gillard went on to lead her party to the 2010 Australian federal election against the Liberal-National Coalition led by Tony Abbott. The election resulted in a hung Parliament in which Gillard secured the support of the Australian Greens and three independents to form Government. Leadership challenges occurred intermittently between Gillard and Rudd resulting in Labor leadership spills in February 2012, March 2013 and June 2013, the last of which ended her prime ministership.
context_section_description: Stephen Smith served in the First Gillard Ministry as Minister for Foreign Affairs. Following the 2010 election, Gillard appointed her former leader Kevin Rudd (a career diplomat) to the portfolio. Relations between the pair remained strained, and Rudd was replaced as Foreign Minister in February 2012 following his failed bid for the leadership of the Labor Party. Former New South Wales Premier Bob Carr was selected to join the Senate in place of the retiring Mark Arbib and joined Cabinet as the new Minister for Foreign Affairs.
  During her first major international tour as Prime Minister, Julia Gillard told ABC TV's 7.30 Report:
  [F]oreign policy is not my passion. It's not what I've spent my life doing. You know, I came into politics predominantly to make a difference to opportunity questions, particularly make a difference in education. So, yes, if I had a choice I'd probably more be in a school watching kids learn to read in Australia than here in Brussels at international meetings.
  For his part, Kevin Rudd was an active Foreign Affairs Minister. Following the 2011 Egyptian revolution and resignation of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, Rudd called for "constitutional reform and a clear timetable towards free and fair elections". In response to the 2011 Libyan civil war, Rudd announced in early March 2011 that a no-fly zone should be enforced by the international community as a "lesser of two evils" to prevent dictator Muammar Gaddafi from using the Libyan airforce to attack protesters and rebels. The Age and other media outlets reported this as representing a rift between Rudd and Prime Minister Gillard, and said that US officials in Canberra had sought official clarification on what the Australian government was proposing. Speaking from Washington, Ms Gillard said in response that the United Nations Security Council should consider a "full range" of options to deal with the situation, and that Austialia was not planning to send forces to enforce a no-fly zone.
  For her part, Prime Minister Gillard attended the APEC Japan 2010 summit in, where she held her first face-to-face meeting with US President Barack Obama. Obama thanked the Prime Minister for Australia's continuing assistance and contribution to the Afghanistan War. While Gillard sent her condolences to the American people and the President for the American casualties in Afghanistan
  Gillard travelled to the United States in March 2011 to mark the 60th Anniversary of the ANZUS Alliance and was invited to address the United States Congress. Gillard made her first visit to Washington as Prime Minister on 5 March 2011. She held meetings with President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. She also met with Michelle Obama and John McCain. Gillard, addressed a joint session of the United States Congress, the fourth Australian leader to do and first foreign dignitary to address the 112th congress.
  In April 2011, Gillard embarked on a North Asia trip, promoting closer military, economic and trade ties. Her visit to Japan was the first by a foreign dignitary after the devastating earthquake and tsunami. South Korea and China were also part of her trip.
  Gillard was the first foreign leader to address the Parliament of New Zealand.
  In Commonwealth relations, 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 (CHOGM) in Perth in October of that year. The Perth CHOGM saw the historic announcement, by Gillard and British Prime Minister David Cameron, of changes to the succession laws regarding to thrones of the Commonwealth realms, overturning rules privileging male over female heirs to the line of succession and removing a ban on Roman Catholic consorts.
  In late 2011, the Gillard Government reversed the Rudd Government's policy of blocking uranium sales to India for not being a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Tensions between Rudd and Gillard culminated in 
caption: Former New South Wales Premier Bob Carr joined Cabinet as Minister for Foreign Affairs following Kevin Rudd's failed February 2012 bid for the Labor leadership.
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