Gold Coast City has welcomed Australia’s 27th and first female Prime Minister; Julia Gillard, who sat down with Gold Coast Premier Events’ Karen Phillips at a breakfast event at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre this morning.
Attended by locals, leaders and legends of the Gold Coast City community, including the Robina Group, the breakfast allowed guests an insight into Ms Gillard’s eagerly awaited tell-all memoir, My Story, in which she shares the story of her tumultuous journey through Australian politics.
Love her or loathe her and whatever your political ideology, Julia’s story is nothing short of spectacular.
The daughter of Welsh migrants, growing up in Adelaide with her sister and parents and attending public schools, away from a life of privilege, during an era where division between genders was very much alive and well, Julia’s value for education, ambition and compassion saw her follow a career in politics that led to a three year and three day reign in Australia’s most powerful position.
Arguably the most effective Australian Prime Minister, passing the most legislation to date of all other parliamentary leaders, Julia’s time in the top job was characterised by nation changing policies.
As Prime Minister of Australia for three years and three days, her term in parliament was successful but also fractured, fraught with Labour party factional feuds, which eventually ended her reign as Australia’s 27th Prime Minister.
Talking this morning to Karen Phillips, Julia shared some insights into life as a woman in politics, life during and after the Lodge and what she hopes to achieve in the future.
My Story has sold out in every state of Australia to date and has naturally attracted criticism and congratulations from her former political colleagues. However, Julia says she is unruffled by any negative response from Canberra. According to Julia, her book has not been written for the inner circle of politics; her aim with My Story was to reach beyond that to everyday Australians, who don’t necessarily follow politics, to give an insight to the behind the scenes life of the Prime Minister of Australia.
Discussing life at the Lodge, Julia remarked on the peculiarity of leaving an ordinary life to live in a fully staffed, fully secure residence designed to host the world’s most powerful leaders. Despite initial struggles with the loss of privacy, Julia attributes her partner Tim Mathieson’s determination to normalise the extraordinary situation to the creation of a warm, family environment, including the introduction of a very famous puppy, Rueben, given to Julia for her 50th birthday.
Taking a trip down memory lane, Julia reminisced about her childhood in Adelaide and the values her parents instilled in her that have carried through her life in politics and beyond.
Born in Wales in 1961 and migrating to Adelaide in 1966, Julia was raised alongside her sister in an era where women tended to have short careers, often working only until marriage and children supersceded their paid work and men dominated in the workforce, particularly in politics. Despite this, Julia recalls her parents pushing for her and her sister to aim high, strive for success in education and in their careers.
Values of ambition and education were underpinned also by compassion, with both of Julia’s parents working in the caring profession and Julia attributing their kindness to the compassion that is part of her character today.
Musing on the concept of sliding doors, Julia wonders if things had been different in her childhood, would her life have turned out the same? While attending public school, Julia was fortunate to live in an area where the government schooling was good quality and a different choice may have had a very different outcome for this very successful woman. The lesson? According to Julia, the fundamental lesson from this reflection is that government is an important and powerful institution, which changes and shapes lives.
Perhaps it’s these humble beginnings that allow our former Prime Minister to remain firmly grounded. Julia, when asked about the incredible lifestyle of celebrity, having rubbed shoulders with world leaders, global stars and international royalty, remains humble. Despite tackling huge global policy issues and leading an intense, powerful and public life, Julia says despite being somewhat remarkable in hindsight, it’s really about people; behind the personas, it’s about forging a human connection, person to person.
As the very first female Prime Minister and an iconic female global leader, Julia spoke of life in the spotlight as a woman in politics. Often concentrating largely on Julia’s appearance, media reported on her image, her choice of clothing and her hair. Recalling her very first job as Prime Minster, which saw her travel to Afghanistan to visit Australian troops, Julia remembers frustration as media reported on her clothing choices, suggesting it was inappropriate to critique her appearance at such a serious engagement. Julia concluded that during her time in parliament, she learned people think they can judge a women’s character from the way she appears, which only serves to trivialise women and prevent moving beyond the superficial to the real issues. She notes it’s also a very different dialogue to that of men in the spotlight.
Promising more gender discussion in her book, Julia says she hopes her insight into life as a female leader inspires conversations across our nation. Though frustrated by the lack of equality in the perception of women in media and society in Australia, Julia admits she was conscious when writing her book to avoid minimising the huge achievements and relative freedom of women in our country, especially compared with the issues women face around the globe.
Articulate and ambitious, smart, funny and compassionate, Julia Gillard is a woman in a million.
Ending her Prime Ministership in June 2013, there hasn’t been much downtime for Julia. During this time, she has written her entire memoir, and delved into supporting national and global education initiatives, working with agencies such as the Brookings Institution, the University of Adelaide and the Clinton Foundation.
There doesn’t appear to be much rest in the horizon for our former leader either. On the promotional trail with her book, My Story, Julia is moving across the nation to tell her remarkable and resilient story.
To read more about Julia’s memoir, My Story, visit Julia Gillard – My Story
