Julia Gillard summary

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Julia Gillard, (born Sept. 29, 1961, Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales), Prime minister of Australia (2010–13). She was born in Wales, but her family moved to Australia in 1966. After earning degrees in law and arts from the University of Melbourne in 1986, she joined a private law practice. As a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), she was first elected to the federal House of Representatives in 1998. In 2006 she became deputy leader of the ALP. After the party won the 2007 elections, she became deputy to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. Following Rudd’s resignation as ALP leader in 2010, Gillard was promptly elected his successor. She was sworn in as Australia’s first female prime minister in June 2010. In June 2013 Gillard was defeated by Rudd in an ALP leadership vote; she then resigned as prime minister.

prime minister Summary

Prime minister, the head of government in a country with a parliamentary or semipresidential political system. In such systems, the prime minister—literally the “first,” or most important, minister—must be able to command a continuous majority in the legislature (usually the lower house in a

government Summary

Government, the political system by which a country or community is administered and regulated. Most of the key words commonly used to describe governments—words such as monarchy, oligarchy, and democracy—are of Greek or Roman origin. They have been current for more than 2,000 years and have not

Australia Summary

Australia, the smallest continent and one of the largest countries on Earth, lying between the Pacific and Indian oceans in the Southern Hemisphere. Australia’s capital is Canberra, located in the southeast between the larger and more important economic and cultural centres of Sydney and Melbourne.