Julia Eileen Gillard is a former Prime Minister of Australia. She served from 2010-2013. She was Australia’s first, and so far only, woman to serve as Prime Minister.
As Prime Minister and in her previous role as Deputy Prime Minister, Ms Gillard was central to the successful management of Australia’s economy during the Global Financial Crisis and as Australia positioned to seize the benefits of Asia’s rise. Ms Gillard delivered nation-changing policies including reforming Australian education at every level from early childhood to university, creating an emissions trading scheme, improving the provision and sustainability of health care, aged care and dental care, commencing the nation’s first ever national scheme to care for people with disabilities and restructuring the telecommunications sector as well as building the National Broadband Network. In foreign policy, Ms Gillard strengthened Australia’s alliance with the United States, secured stronger architecture for the relationship with China, upgraded Australia’s ties with India, and deepened ties with Japan, Indonesia and South Korea. Ms Gillard has represented Australia at the G20, including winning Australia’s right to host the 2014 meeting, the East Asia Summit, APEC, NATO-ISAF, and chaired CHOGM. Under Ms Gillard’s leadership, Australia was elected to serve on the United Nations Security Council. As Prime Minister, Ms Gillard developed Australia’s guiding policy paper, Australia in the Asian Century. In October 2012, Ms Gillard received worldwide attention for her speech in Parliament on the treatment of women in professional and public life.
Since leaving office, Ms Gillard has dedicated her time to advocacy, governance roles, and writing. In 2021, she was appointed Chair of Wellcome, a global charitable foundation based in the UK, which supports science to solve urgent worldwide health challenges. Ms Gillard is also the founder and inaugural Chair of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership (GIWL) at King’s College London and the Australian National University. Ms Gillard is Patron of Beyond Blue, one of Australia’s foremost mental health awareness bodies, after serving as Chair from 2017 to 2023. As a life-long advocate for increasing access to education, especially in developing nations, Ms Gillard was Chair of the Global Partnership for Education from 2014 to 2021. She also led the Royal Commission into Early Childhood Education and Care in South Australia which concluded in August 2023.
