Gillard, Julia (1961-…), served as prime minister of Australia from June 2010 to June 2013. Gillard was the first woman ever to hold the office. She had previously served as deputy prime minister under Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. Gillard became prime minister after successfully challenging Rudd for leadership of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). The ALP is a political party with traditional ties to the labor movement. Rudd regained control of the ALP from Gillard in 2013.
Early life.
Julia Eileen Gillard was born in Barry, Wales, on Sept. 29, 1961. In 1966, she moved to Australia with her family. She earned Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws degrees from the University of Melbourne. After completing her Bachelor of Laws degree in 1987, she began practicing law with the firm Slater & Gordon. She became one of the firm’s first female partners in 1990. In 1996, Gillard left the legal profession to become a politician.
Entry into politics.
While she was in college, Gillard had become active in the ALP in the state of Victoria. Through the 1980’s and 1990’s, she worked for the ALP in several local and state positions. In 1996, she became chief of staff to Victoria’s state opposition leader. In 1998, she was elected to represent Lalor, an electoral division in Melbourne, in Australia’s House of Representatives. 
From 2001 to 2007, during the prime ministership of the Liberal Party’s John Howard, Gillard held several positions in the Labor shadow ministry. A shadow ministry consists of the leading members of the official opposition party. Gillard’s posts included shadow minister for employment and industrial relations, and social inclusion; shadow minister for health; shadow minister for population and immigration; and shadow minister for reconciliation and Indigenous affairs. In addition, she was the ALP’s manager of opposition business from 2003 to 2006. In 2006 and 2007, she was the deputy leader of the ALP, and therefore the deputy opposition leader.
The ALP in power.
In the 2007 general election, the ALP defeated the sitting coalition government headed by Prime Minister Howard. Kevin Rudd, as ALP leader, became prime minister. Gillard became Australia’s first female deputy prime minister. Under Rudd, she also served as minister for education, minister for employment and workplace relations, and minister for social inclusion.
Rudd lost support in 2010 after he failed to enact a proposed carbon trading policy. He also received criticism for proposing a tax increase for Australia’s mining companies. In June, Gillard challenged Rudd for leadership of the ALP. On June 24, the ALP voted to replace Rudd with Gillard. She then became ALP leader and prime minister. In an August general election, neither the ALP nor the Liberal-National coalition won a clear parliamentary majority. Weeks of negotiations followed, with the ALP and the coalition each trying to persuade the independent and Green Party members of Parliament to side with them and form a government. By early September, enough members of Parliament had sided with the ALP to allow the party to remain in power. Gillard remained in office as prime minister.
After she became prime minister, but before the August 2010 general election, Gillard had promised not to introduce a tax on carbon. In 2011, however, she introduced plans to tax carbon dioxide emissions in order to combat climate change.
During the 2010 election campaign, Gillard had promised to offer Rudd a Cabinet position if the ALP remained in power. Following her victory, she named Rudd as her foreign affairs minister. In February 2012, Rudd stepped down as foreign minister. He then challenged Gillard for the ALP leadership but was unsuccessful. Gillard then named former New South Wales Premier Bob Carr as foreign minister.
Refugees.
In the early 2000’s, an increasing number of people sought political asylum (shelter and protection) in Australia. Thousands of people from countries including Afghanistan, Iran, and Sri Lanka attempted to sail to Australia from Indonesia. Many traveled in overcrowded wooden boats that were not sturdy enough to handle the rough waters between the two countries. The Royal Australian Navy diverted many of the boats to a processing center on Christmas Island, an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean. The refugees were held at the center on Christmas Island until the government could process their asylum claims.
In July 2011, Gillard’s government reached an agreement with the government of Malaysia under which Malaysia would accept asylum seekers from Australia in return for Australia accepting refugees from Malaysia. Later that year, however, the High Court of Australia ruled the agreement illegal on the grounds that Malaysia did not provide enough protection for the asylum seekers. In addition, the Malaysian government had not signed international agreements on the treatment of refugees. Australia’s Liberal-National coalition sought to reopen a detention center in the Pacific Islands nation of Nauru that had operated under Prime Minister John Howard in the early 2000’s.
In June 2012, the Senate rejected a compromise bill that would have both reopened the center in Nauru and allowed Australia to send asylum-seekers to Malaysia for processing. Following the defeat, Gillard created a nonpartisan panel to develop a new plan to deal with the refugees. The panel recommended reopening detention centers on Nauru and the Pacific Islands nation of Papua New Guinea. In August, Gillard’s government announced that it would increase the number of refugees it processed each year. In the following months, the government began transporting asylum-seekers from Christmas Island to Nauru and Papua New Guinea.
Life after politics.
Kevin Rudd successfully challenged Gillard for the ALP leadership in June 2013. Gillard stepped down from her post on June 26, and Rudd was sworn in as prime minister the following day. She did not seek reelection to the House in a general election held that September.
In 2014, Gillard was appointed to head the Global Partnership for Education, an organization aiming to expand educational opportunities for children in developing countries. In 2017, she was made a Companion of the Order of Australia, an award for service to the country or to humanity.
