Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Monday 06 October
7:15 PM - 8:15 PM
Location
Deakin's Costa Hall, Geelong Waterfront Campus
1 Gheringhap Street Geelong Victoria 3220
Get directions
Julia Gillard was Australia’s first female prime minister. Much has been said and written (already) about her three years at the top, but now she’s telling her side of the tale.
Her leadership was tumultuous, action-packed and controversial. But as notable as the controversy was her management of a hung parliament and the record amount of legislation passed during her term.
Gillard will tell her story – without shying away from her mistakes or misjudgements. Gillard has always been driven by a sense of purpose: her policy achievements included major education reform and ensuring a dignified future for Australians with disabilities. But that purpose wasn’t always reflected in her policy decisions. She cut funds to education despite her championing of it, refused to budge on gay marriage, and slashed Newstart payments to single parents. And despite leading the way in carbon pricing reform, she failed to sell her scheme to the public.
This is your chance to hear the former prime minister open up about her experiences, with the distance that makes for insightful reflection – and candour. In Geelong, she’ll be in conversation with Andrew Scott.
Featuring
Andrew Scott
Dr Andrew Scott is associate professor in politics and policy at Deakin University, Melbourne. He is the author of four books and numerous book chapters and articles on aspects of Australian politics, policy and history.
He has specialised in the history, present and future of the Australian Labor Party and the labour movement. Andrew’s fifth book will be published this year by Monash University Publishing.
Andrew was also a contemporary of Julia Gillard’s in student politics in the 1980s.
Julia Gillard
Julia Gillard was sworn in as the 27th Prime Minister of Australia on 24 June 2010 and served in that office until June 2013. She is the first woman to ever serve as Australia’s Prime Minister or Deputy Prime Minister.
Her memoirs, My Story, were published by Random House in September 2014.
As Prime Minister and in her previous role as Deputy Prime Minister, Gillard delivered nation-changing policies including reforming Australian education at every level from early childhood to university education, creating an emissions trading scheme to combat climate change, improving health care, commencing the nation’s first ever national scheme to care for people with disabilities, addressing the gender pay gap for social and community sector workers and delivering an apology to all those who had suffered through the practice of forced adoptions.
In October 2012, she received worldwide attention for her speech in Parliament on the treatment of women in professional and public life. She currently serves as the inaugural Chair of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at Kings College in London, which through research, practice and advocacy, is addressing women’s under-representation in leadership.
Julia Gillard is the Chair of Beyond Blue, one of Australia’s leading mental health awareness bodies; is Chair of global funding body for education in developing countries, the Global Partnership for Education; and is Patron of the Campaign for Female Education.