Julia Gillard

**Julia Eileen Gillard** (born 29 September 1961) is an Australian politician who is the 27th Prime Minister of Australia and Leader of the Australian Labor Party from June 2010. She was previously the 13th Deputy Prime Minister of Australia from 2007 until 2010 and held the cabinet positions of Minister for Education, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and Minister for Social Inclusion from 2007 to 2010. She was the first and to date only woman to hold the positions of Deputy Prime Minister, Prime Minister and leader of a major party in Australia.

## Early Life

### Birth and family background

Gillard was born on 29 September 1961 in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. She is the second of two daughters born to John Oliver Gillard (1929–2012) and the former Moira Mackenzie (b. 1928); her older sister Alison was born in 1958. Gillard's father was born in Cwmgwrach, but was of predominantly English descent; he worked as a psychiatric nurse. Her mother was born in Barry, and is of distant Scottish and Irish descent; she worked in a Salvation Army nursing home.

After Gillard suffered from bronchopneumoniaas a child, her parents were advised it would aid her recovery if they were to live in a warmer climate.This led the family to migrate to Australia in 1966, settling in Adelaide, South Australia. The Gillard family's first month in Australia was spent in the Pennington Hostel, a now-closed migrant facility located in Pennington, South Australia. 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.

### Education and legal career

Gillard attended Mitcham Demonstration School before going on to Unley High School. She began an arts degree at the University of Adelaide, during which she was president of the Adelaide University Union from 1981 to 1982.  In her second year at the university, Gillard was introduced to politics by the daughter of a state Labor minister. Accordingly, she joined the Labor Club and became involved in a campaign to fight federal education budget cuts. Gillard cut short her courses in Adelaide in 1982, and moved to Melbourne to work with the Australian Union of Students. 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. 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. In 1987, she joined the law firm Slater & Gordon in Werribee, Victoria, working in industrial law. 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 wo I men to hold the position.

### Early political involvement

From 1985 to 1989, Gillard served as President of the Carlton branch of the Labor Party. She stood for Labor preselection in the Division of Melbourne prior to the 1993 federal election, but was defeated by Lindsay Tanner. At the 1996 federal election, Gillard won the third position on Labor's Senate ticket in Victoria, behind Robert Ray and Barney Cooney. However, on the final distribution of preferences she was defeated by Lyn Allison of the Australian Democrats.

In 1996, Gillard resigned from her position with Slater & Gordon in order to serve as chief of staff to John Brumby, at that time the Leader of the Opposition in Victoria. She was responsible for drafting the affirmative-actionrules 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.Gillard has cited Welsh Labour politician Aneurin Bevan as one of her political heroes.

## Member of Parliment 1998 Present

Gillard was first elected to the House of Representatives at the 1998 federal electionrepresenting Lalor, a safe Labor seat near Melbourne, replacing Barry Jones who retired. She made her maiden speech to the House on 11 November 1998.

## Deputy Prime Minister 2007-2010

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. 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.

## Prime Minister 2010 Present

Julia Gillard became Prime Minister after winning th labour leadership on 24th June 2010. On 21st August 2010 Julia Gillard won the most seats in the 2010 Australia Federal Election. Labor Won 75 Seats the Coalition won 69 Seats the greens won 1 Seat and Other parties won 5 seats. Julia Gillard formed a minorty government after the 2010 Federal election with the support of 3 Independent MPs and 1 Green MP.

## Personal Life

Gillard met Tim Mathieson in 2004, and they have been in a relationship since 2006.

Gillard's mother told ABC TV's Australian Storyprogram that Gillard had spoken from a young age of never wanting children. Gillard herself told the program that while she admired women who could balance child rearing with a career, "I'm not sure I could have. There's something in me that's focused and single-minded and if I was going to do that, I'm not sure I could have done this."