Plain-spoken Welsh-born leader with common touch

JULIA EILEEN Gillard, Australia’s first female prime minister, was born in Barry, Wales, on September 29th, 1961. Her family emigrated to Adelaide, South Australia, in 1966 as part of the huge influx of “£10 Poms” (named for the price of their boat fare to Australia). The scheme attracted over one million British migrants between 1945 and 1972.

Gillard started college in Adelaide but switched to the University of Melbourne, where she studied arts and law, while at the same time joining the Labor Party and becoming president of the Australian union of students.

After graduation she became an industrial law solicitor with Slater Gordon, one of Australia’s best known legal firms, and worked her way up to a partnership. Slater Gordon represents several unions and Gillard made powerful allies of senior union and Labor Party figures at this time.

Despite this, she failed three times to get a nomination to run for office with Labor, and began work for the party as chief-of-staff to the then Victorian state opposition leader John Brumby.

Having impressed the party in this role, Gillard finally got a nomination and was elected a federal MP in 1998. She represents the Melbourne suburb of Lalor, an area dominated by low-income families.

After seeing her star rise quickly in the party, she became Labor’s deputy leader in 2006 in a “dream team” ticket with Kevin Rudd. Gillard, from the left of the party, and Rudd, from the right, were not natural allies, but came together to seize control of Labor from leader Kim Beazley, who was failing to connect with the public.

In the run-up to the 2007 federal election, Liberal senator Bill Heffernan described Gillard as “deliberately barren” and said she was unfit for leadership because she was childless. The remarks backfired and Heffernan was forced to apologise.

During the campaign she also had several run-ins with Tony Abbott, who is now the leader of the Liberal Party.

When Labor won power in November 2007 Gillard became deputy prime minister as well as the minister for both industrial relations and education.

She is widely regarded as Labor’s best performer in parliament, particularly for her ability to keep her cool and sense of humour regardless of what barbs are thrown at her from the opposition benches.

Where Rudd was seen as a policy wonk who over-complicated everything, Gillard was praised for her common touch and plain speaking. That comes with a broad Australian accent, which has often been likened to the title characters of the Kath and Kim television comedy show.

When recent polling said Labor would lose the election due before the end of the year, the party turned to Gillard to challenge Rudd for the leadership of the party and the country.

She referred to her childhood and thanked her parents in her first speech as prime minister yesterday. “I grew up in the great state of South Australia. I grew up in a home of hardworking parents. They taught me the value of hard work. They taught me the value of respect. They taught me the value of doing your bit for the community,” she said. “And it is these values that will guide me as Australia’s prime minister.” Gillard lives with her partner Tim Mathieson, who is a hairdresser.