Julia Gillard became Australia's first female prime minister in June 2010 and held office until 2013. Born in the Welsh port town of Barry in 1961, Gillard migrated to Australia with her parents when she was 4. An outstanding student in her hometown, Adelaide, she became president of the Australian Union of Students at Melbourne University in 1983. She worked as a lawyer for a firm specializing in class actions and industrial relations, becoming partner at Slater and Gordon in 1990.

Moving into politics, she became the chief-of-staff to Victoria state opposition leader John Brumby, and then won a seat in parliament in 1998. Kevin Rudd entered parliament at the same time as Gillard, and they formed an alliance in 2006. While in the Rudd government she held several portfolios, including minister for employment and workplace relations, minister for education, and minister for social inclusion - as well as the deputy prime minister post.

It was in 2010 that Gillard moved to the very top, ousting Mr. Rudd as he changed direction over a high-profile carbon trading scheme policy. She said she had initiated the challenge - which took many by surprise - because his government was losing its way.

Under Gillard, the government passed into law its clean energy bill, which introduced an emissions trading scheme, and also a mining tax aimed at boosting government revenue amid a resources boom. On asylum, Labor reversed policy, reopening offshore processing centers on Nauru and in Papua New Guinea as the number of boat arrivals climbed. On tobacco, it enacted into law legislation that put strict controls on packaging, effectively removing branding, in a bid to reduce smoking.

She currently serves as the Chair of Beyond Blue, one of Australia’s leading mental health awareness bodies; is the inaugural Chair of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, which through research, practice and advocacy, is addressing women’s under-representation in leadership. In 2021 she was appointed as the Chair of Wellcome, a global charitable foundation which supports science to solve urgent health challenges. She recently completed her appointment leading the Royal Commission into Early Childhood Education and Care in South Australia. Her second book "Women and Leadership: Real Lives, Real Lessons" is co-authored by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and was released in 2020. Her third book, 'Not Now, Not Ever – 10 years on from the misogyny speech', was released in October 2022.

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