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Julia Gillard
Prime Minister of Australia from 2010 to 2013
"Gillard" redirects here. For other uses, see Gillard (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Jill Gallard.
Julia Eileen Gillard (born 29 September 1961) is an Australian former politician who was the 27th prime minister of Australia and the leader of the Labor Party (ALP) from 2010 to 2013. Born in Barry, Wales and raised in Adelaide, she was the member of parliament (MP) for the Victorian division of Lalor from 1998 to 2013. She was also the 13th deputy prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010, under Kevin Rudd. She is the first and only woman to hold either office in Australian history.
Born in Barry, Wales, Gillard migrated with her family to Adelaide in South Australia in 1966. She attended Mitcham Demonstration School and Unley High School. Gillard went on to study at the University of Adelaide, but switched to the University of Melbourne in 1982, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Laws in 1986 and a Bachelor of Arts in 1989. During this time, she was president of the Australian Union of Students from 1983 to 1984. In 1987, Gillard joined the law firm Slater & Gordon, eventually becoming a partner in 1990, specialising in industrial law. In 1996, she became chief of staff to John Brumby, the Leader of the Opposition in Victoria. Gillard was first elected to the House of Representatives at the 1998 election for the seat of Lalor. Following the 2001 election, she was appointed to the shadow cabinet. In December 2006, Gillard became the running mate of Kevin Rudd in a successful leadership challenge to Kim Beazley, becoming deputy leader of the opposition. After Labor's victory at the 2007 election, she was appointed as deputy prime minister, and was also given the roles of Minister for Education, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, and Minister for Social Inclusion.
On 24 June 2010, after Rudd lost internal support within the Labor Party and resigned as leader, Gillard was elected unopposed as his replacement in a leadership spill, and was sworn-in as prime minister. She led Labor through the 2010 election weeks later, which saw the first hung parliament since 1940. Gillard was able to form a minority government with the support of the Greens and three independents. During its term of office, the Gillard government introduced the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), the Gonski funding, oversaw the early rollout of the National Broadband Network (NBN), and controversially implemented a carbon pricing scheme, which was widely perceived as a breach of a pre-election commitment. Her premiership was often undermined by party instability and numerous scandals, including the AWU affair and the Health Services Union expenses affair. Gillard and Rudd became embroiled in a lengthy political rivalry, resulting in Gillard losing the leadership of the party back to him in a June 2013 leadership spill. Her resignation as prime minister took effect the next day, and she announced her retirement from politics.
In the years following her retirement, Gillard has been a visiting professor at the University of Adelaide, the Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution's Center for Universal Education, the chair of the Global Partnership for Education since 2014 and the chair of Beyond Blue since 2017. She released her memoir, My Story, in September 2014. In April 2021, she became chair of the Wellcome Trust, succeeding Eliza Manningham-Buller.[1] Although Gillard often ranked poorly in opinion polls as prime minister,[2][3] her premiership has been more favourably received in retrospect.[4] Political experts often place her in the middle-to-upper tier of Australian prime ministers.[5]
Early life
Birth and family background
Gillard was born on 29 September 1961 in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales.[6][7] She is the second of two daughters born to John Oliver Gillard (1929–2012) and the former Moira Mackenzie (born 1928); her older sister Alison was born in 1958.[8] Gillard's father was born in Cwmgwrach, but was of predominantly English descent; he worked as a psychiatric nurse.[9][10] Her mother was born in Barry, and is of distant Scottish and Irish descent; she worked in a Salvation Army nursing home.[11][12]
After Gillard suffered from bronchopneumonia as a child, her parents were advised it would aid her recovery if they were to live in a warmer climate.[8] This led the family to migrate to Australia in 1966, settling in Adelaide, South Australia.[13] The Gillard family's first month in Australia was spent in the Pennington Hostel, a now-closed migrant facility located in Pennington, South Australia.[14][15] In 1974, eight years after they arrived, Gillard and her family became Australian citizens. As a result, Gillard held dual citizenship until she renounced her British citizenship prior to entering the Australian parliament in 1998.[16][17]
Education and legal career
Gillard attended Mitcham Demonstration School before going on to Unley High School.[18] She began an arts degree at the University of Adelaide, during which she was president of the Adelaide University Union from 1981 to 1982.[19] In her second year at the university, Gillard was introduced to politics by the daughter of a state Labor minister.[who?] Accordingly, she joined the Labor Club and became involved in a campaign to fight federal education budget cuts.[8][13] Gillard cut short her courses in Adelaide in 1982, and moved to Melbourne to work with the Australian Union of Students.[20] In 1983, she became the second woman to lead the Australian Union of Students, serving until the organisation's discontinuation in 1984. She was also the secretary of the left-wing organisation Socialist Forum.[21][22] Having transferred her studies to the University of Melbourne, Gillard graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1986 and a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1989.[23] In 1987, she joined the law firm Slater & Gordon in Werribee, Victoria, working in industrial law.[11] In 1990, she was admitted as a partner; at the age of 29, she was the youngest partner within the firm, and one of the first women to hold the position.[24][25]
Early political involvement
From 1985 to 1989, Gillard was president of the Carlton branch of the Labor Party.[6] She stood for Labor preselection in the Division of Melbourne prior to the 1993 federal election, but was defeated by Lindsay Tanner.[26] At the 1996 federal election, Gillard won the third position on Labor's Senate ticket in Victoria, behind Robert Ray and Barney Cooney.[27][28] However, on the final distribution of preferences she was defeated by Lyn Allison of the Australian Democrats.[29][30]
In 1996, Gillard resigned from her position with Slater & Gordon to serve as chief of staff to John Brumby, at that time the Leader of the Opposition in Victoria.[6][30][31] She was responsible for drafting the affirmative-action rules within the Labor Party in Victoria that set the target of pre-selecting women for 35 per cent of "winnable seats". She also played a role in the foundation of EMILY's List, the pro-choice fund-raising and support network for Labor women.[32]
Gillard has cited Welsh Labour politician Aneurin Bevan as one of her political heroes.[24]
Member of Parliament (1998–2007)
Gillard was first elected to the House of Representatives at the 1998 federal election representing Lalor, a safe Labor seat near Melbourne, replacing Barry Jones who retired. She made her maiden speech to the House on 11 November 1998.[33] Gillard was a member of the standing committee for Employment, Education and Workplace Relations from 8 December 1998 to 8 December 2001, in addition to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs from 20 March 2003 to 18 August 2003. Within the joint committees, she was a member of the Public Accounts and Audit from 8 December 1998 to 11 February 2002, in addition to the Native Title and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land Fund from 20 March 2003 to 11 August 2003.[6]
Shadow Minister (2001–2007)
After Labor's defeat at the 2001 federal election, Gillard was elected to the Shadow Cabinet under then-Labor Leader Simon Crean, where she was given responsibility for Population and Immigration. In February 2003, she was given additional responsibilities for Reconciliation and Indigenous Affairs.[34] In these roles, in the wake of the Tampa and Children Overboard affairs, which were partly credited with Labor's 2001 election loss, Gillard developed a new immigration policy for the Labor Party.[13]
Gillard was later promoted to the position of Shadow Minister for Health and Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House (to Mark Latham) on 2 July 2003.[25][35] During this time, she shadowed Tony Abbott, with the rivalry between the two often attracting attention from the media.[36] She was later given additional responsibility for managing opposition business in the House of Representatives by Latham, who had succeeded Beazley as Labor Party leader.[37]
In the aftermath of Labor's fourth consecutive defeat in the 2004 federal election it was widely speculated that Gillard might challenge Jenny Macklin for the deputy leadership, but she did not do so.[38] Gillard had been spoken of as a potential future leader of the party for some years, but never stood in a leadership contest. After Mark Latham resigned as Labor Leader in January 2005, Gillard appeared on ABC's Australian Story in March 2006, after which an Ipsos Mackay poll conducted for Network Ten's Meet the Press found that more respondents would prefer Gillard to be Labor Leader; she polled 32% compared with Beazley's 25% and Kevin Rudd's 18%.[8][39][40] Although she had significant cross-factional support, she announced on 25 January 2005 that she would not contest the leadership, allowing Beazley to be elected unopposed.[41]
Deputy Opposition Leader (2006–2007)
Main article: Australian Labor Party leadership spill, 2006
On 1 December 2006, as part of a cross-factional political partnership with Kevin Rudd, Gillard challenged Jenny Macklin for the deputy leadership.[42] After Rudd successfully replaced Beazley as Labor Leader on 4 December 2006, Macklin chose to resign, allowing Gillard to become Deputy Leader unopposed.[43] In the subsequent reshuffle, Gillard was allocated responsibility for Employment, Workplace Relations and Social Inclusion, as well as being made Deputy Leader of the Opposition.[44]
Deputy Prime Minister (2007–2010)
Main article: Rudd government (2007–10)
After the Labor Party's victory in the 2007 federal election, Gillard was sworn in as the first ever female Deputy Prime Minister of Australia on 3 December 2007.[45] In addition to being appointed to the position of Deputy Prime Minister, Gillard was given responsibility for a so-called "super ministry", the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.[46]
She was a member of the Strategic Priorities Budget Committee (SPBC) – also referred to as "Gang of Four" – which comprised Rudd and his most senior ministers: Gillard, Treasurer Wayne Swan and Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner.[47] Formed in late-2007 as a result of an internal review, the SPBC was responsible for the government's handling of the 2007–08 global financial crisis.[48]
On 11 December 2007, Gillard was acting prime minister while Rudd attended the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali, becoming the first woman ever to hold that position.[49] She assumed these duties for a total of 69 days throughout Rudd's tenure, during his various overseas travel engagements.[50] Gillard quickly became known as a highly regarded debater, with her performances during parliamentary question time prompting Peter van Onselen to call her "the best parliamentary performer on the Labor side".[51]
Ministerial portfolios
In her role as Minister for Education, Gillard travelled to Washington, D.C., in 2009, where she signed a deal with US Secretary of EducationArne Duncan to encourage improved policy collaboration in education reform between both countries.[52] The establishment of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), an independent authority responsible for the development of a national curriculum, was amongst her first policy pursuits in 2008.[53] She launched the government's "Digital Education Revolution" (DER) program, which provided laptops to all public secondary school students and developed quality digital tools, resources and infrastructure for all schools.[54] In conjunction with DER, Gillard oversaw the "Building the Education Revolution" (BER) program, which allocated $16 billion to build new school accommodation including classrooms, libraries and assembly halls.[55][56]
Gillard also ensured the implementation of the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) in 2008, whereby a series of standardised tests focused on basic skills are administered annually to Australian students.[57] This was followed by the introduction of the My School website; launched in January 2010, the website reports on data from NAPLAN and displays information such as school missions, staffing, financial information, its resources and its students' characteristics.[58][59]
As Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Gillard removed the WorkChoices industrial relations regime introduced by the Howard government, and replaced it with the Fair Work Act.[60] This established a single industrial relations bureaucracy called Fair Work Australia.[61]
Prime Minister (2010–2013)
2010 leadership vote
Main article: 2010 Australian Labor Party leadership spill
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd suffered a decline in his personal ratings, and a perceived loss of support among his own MPs, following the failure of the Government's insulation program, controversy regarding the implementation of a tax on mining, the failure of the government to secure passage of its carbon trading scheme and some policy debate about immigration policy. Significant disaffection had arisen within the Labor Party as to the leadership style and direction of Rudd.[62] On 23 June 2010 he announced that Gillard had asked him to hold a leadership ballot the following day to determine the leadership of the Labor Party, and hence the Prime Ministership of Australia.[63]
As late as May 2010, prior to challenging Rudd, Gillard was quipping to the media that "There's more chance of me becoming the full-forward for the Dogs than there is of any change in the Labor Party".[64] Consequently, Gillard's move against Rudd on 23 June appeared to surprise many Labor backbenchers. Daryl Melham, when asked by a reporter on the night of the challenge if indeed a challenge was on, replied: "Complete garbage. ABC have lost all credibility."[65] As he was being deposed, Rudd suggested that his opponents wanted to move Labor to the right, saying on 23 June: "This party and government will not be lurching to the right on the question of asylum seekers, as some have counselled us to do."[64]
Main article: Gillard government
Initially, The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the final catalyst for the move on Rudd was sparked by a report that Rudd had used his chief of staff to sound out back benchers on his level of support, thus implying that "he did not trust the repeated assurances by Ms Gillard that she would not stand".[66] Later, ABC's 7:30 Report said the seeds for the challenge to Rudd came from "factional heavyweights" Bill Shorten and Senator David Feeney, who secured the support of "New South Wales right power broker" Mark Arbib and that Feeney and Arbib went to discuss a challenge with Gillard on the morning of 23 June and a final numbers count began for a challenge.[67] Accounts have continued to differ as to the extent of Gillard's foreknowledge and planning of the replacement of Rudd.[68]
Rudd initially said that he would challenge Gillard, but it soon became apparent that he did not have enough support within the party to survive in his position. Hours before the vote on 24 June, he resigned as prime minister and Leader of the Labor Party, leaving Gillard to assume the leadership unopposed. Treasurer Wayne Swan was at the same time elected unopposed to succeed Gillard as Deputy Leader.[69]
Shortly afterward, Gillard was sworn in as the 27th prime minister of Australia by Governor-GeneralQuentin Bryce, with Swan being sworn in as deputy prime minister.[70] The members of the Rudd Ministry, with the exception of Rudd himself who returned to the backbenches, subsequently became the members of the First Gillard Ministry. It was the first time in Australian history that both the head of state as well as the head of government were female.
Later that day, in her first press conference as prime minister, Gillard said that at times the Rudd government "went off the tracks", and "[I] came to the view that a good Government was losing its way".[71] Gillard offered wider explanation of her motivations for replacing Rudd during the 2012 Labor leadership spill in which Rudd challenged Gillard to regain the Labor leadership, telling the media that the Rudd government had entered a "period of paralysis" and that Rudd's work patterns were "difficult and chaotic".[72]
Upon her election by the Labor Party, Gillard said that she wouldn't move into The Lodge until she was elected prime minister in her own right, instead choosing to divide her time between a flat in Canberra and her home in Altona, a western suburb of Melbourne.[73] Gillard moved into The Lodge on 26 September 2010.[74]
As well as being the first female prime minister, and the first never to have married, Gillard is the first prime minister since Billy Hughes to have been born overseas.[69]
The leadership question remained a feature of the Gillard government's terms in office, and amidst ongoing leadership speculation following an ABC TV Four Corners examination of the events leading up to Rudd's replacement which cast doubt on Gillard's insistence that she did not actively campaign for the Prime Ministership, Attorney-General Nicola Roxon spoke of Rudd's record in the following terms: "I don't think we should whitewash history – while there are a lot of very good things our government did with Kevin as prime minister, there were also a lot of challenges, and it's Julia who has seen through fixing a lot of those problems."[75]
2010 election
Main article: 2010 Australian federal election
On 17 July 2010, 23 days after becoming prime minister and after receiving the agreement of the Governor-General Quentin Bryce, Gillard announced the next federal election would be held on 21 August 2010.[76] Gillard began campaigning with a speech using the slogan "moving forward".[77] In the early stages of the campaign, a series of leaks were released by purported Labor Party sources, indicating apparent divisions within Cabinet over the replacement of Kevin Rudd by Gillard.[78] Midway through the campaign, Gillard offered journalists a self-assessment of her campaign by saying that she had been paying too much attention to advisers in her strategy team, and she wanted to run a less "stage-managed" campaign:[79]
I think it's time for me to make sure that the real Julia is well and truly on display, so I'm going to step up and take personal charge of what we do in the campaign from this point.
Gillard met Opposition leader Tony Abbott for one official debate during the campaign. Studio audience surveys by Channel Nine and the Seven Network suggested a win to Gillard.[80] Unable to agree on further debates, the leaders went on to appear separately on stage for questioning at community forums in Sydney and Brisbane, Queensland. An audience exit poll of the Rooty Hill RSL audience indicated an Abbott victory.[81] Gillard won the audience poll at the Broncos Leagues Club meeting in Brisbane on 18 August.[82] Gillard also appeared on the ABC's Q&A program on 9 August.[83] On 7 August, Gillard was questioned by former Labor leader turned Channel Nine reporter Mark Latham.[84]
Gillard officially "launched" Labor's campaign in Brisbane five days before polling day, outlining Labor policies and using the slogan: "Yes we will move forward together".[85]
Labor and the Coalition each won 72 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives,[86] four short of the requirement for majority government, resulting in the first hung parliament since the 1940 election. Labor suffered an 11-seat swing, even though it won a bare majority of the two-party vote.[87][88] Both major party leaders sought to form a minority government.[89][90][91][92][93]
Six crossbenchMPs held the balance of power.[94][95] Four crossbench MPs, Greens Adam Bandt and independents Andrew Wilkie, Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor declared their support for Labor on confidence and supply,[96][97] allowing Gillard and Labor to remain in power with a minority government.[98][99][100] Governor-General Bryce swore in the Second Gillard Ministry on 14 September 2010.[101]
Domestic policies
Economy
Gillard came to office in the aftermath of the global financial crisis of 2007–2008. Government receipts fell during the international downturn and the Rudd government had employed pump priming expenditure.[102] Upon taking over as leader of the Labor Party on 24 June 2010, Gillard said she could "assure" Australians that the Federal Budget would be in surplus in 2013.[103] The Government continued to promise this outcome until December 2012. Gillard initially ruled out a "carbon tax" but said that she would build community consensus for a price on carbon and open negotiations with the mining industry for a re-vamped mining profits tax.[67][103][104] Following the 2010 hung parliament election result, the Labor Party elected to adopt the Australian Greens preference for a carbon tax to transition to an emissions trading scheme, establishing a carbon price via the Clean Energy Act 2011. The government also introduced a revised Minerals Resource Rent Tax and the Queensland Flood Levy.
In his 2012–13 Budget, Treasurer Swan announced that the government would deliver a $1.5 billion surplus.[105] The government cut defence and foreign aid spending.[106] In December 2012, Swan announced that the government no longer expected to achieve a surplus, citing falling revenue and global economic conditions.[107]
Health
Like her predecessor Rudd, Gillard had said that health is a priority in her agenda. She announced during the 2010 election, that there would be an increase of 270 placements for emergency doctors and nurses and 3,000 extra nursing scholarships over the following 10 years.[108] She also said mental health would be a priority in her second term, with a $277 million suicide-prevention package which would target high-risk groups.[109] As the election delivered a hung parliament, a $1.8 billion package was given to rural hospitals, which was agreed to by the independents to support her re-election.[97]
In October 2010, her government introduced legislation to reform funding arrangements for the health system, with the intention of giving the Commonwealth responsibility for providing the majority of funding to public hospitals and 100 per cent of funding for primary care and GP services.[110] In February 2011, Gillard announced extensive revision of the original health funding reforms proposed by the Rudd government, which had been unable to secure the support of all state governments. The revised Gillard government plan proposed that the federal government move towards providing 50% of new health funding (and not 60 per cent as originally agreed) and removed the requirement of the states to cede a proportion of their GST revenue to the Federal Government to fund the new arrangement.[111] The new agreement was supported by all state premiers and chief ministers[112] and signed on 2 August.[113]
Immigration
In relation to population targets for Australia, Gillard told Fairfax Media in August 2010 that while skilled migration is important: "I don't support the idea of a big Australia". Gillard also altered the nomenclature of Tony Burke's role as "Minister for Population" to that of "Minister for Sustainable Population".[114] The Government released a "sustainable population strategy" in May 2011 which did not specify a target population.[115] In October 2011 trade minister Craig Emerson released a paper with Gillard's approval which advocated for continued rapid rates of population growth.[116]
After winning leadership of the Labor Party, Gillard identified addressing the issue of unauthorised arrivals of asylum seekers as a priority of her government. She announced that negotiations were underway for a return to "offshore processing" of asylum seeker claims. Gillard ruled out a return to processing at Nauru and named East Timor as a preferred location for new detention and processing facilities.[117][118] The East Timorese government rejected the plan.[119]
In October 2010, her government announced that it would open two detention centres for 2000 immigrants, due to the pressures in allowing women and children to be released into the community. One was to be opened in Inverbrackie, South Australia, and one in Northam, Western Australia.[120] She said it would be a short-term solution to the problem and that temporary detention centres would be closed.
On 15 December 2010, a ship containing 89 asylum seekers crashed on the shore of Christmas Island, killing up to fifty people.[121][122] Refugee and migrant advocates condemned the government's hardline policy as responsible for the tragedy,[123][124] and Labor Party president Anna Bligh called for a complete review of the party's asylum seeker policy.[125] Gillard returned early from holidays in response to the crash, and to review asylum seeker policy.[125] Some months later Gillard would announce "The Malaysia Solution" in response.[126]
In April 2011, Australia's federal government confirmed that a detention centre for single men would be built at the old army barracks at Pontville, 45 minutes north of Hobart, Tasmania. This immigration detention centre would house up to 400 refugees.[127] Also in April 2011, immigration detainees at the Villawood detention centre rioted in protest of their treatment, setting fire to several buildings.[128]
In May 2011, Gillard announced that Australia and Malaysia were finalising an arrangement to exchange asylum seekers. Gillard and Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said they were close to signing a bilateral agreement which would result in 800 asylum seekers who arrive in Australia by boat being taken to Malaysia instead. Australia would take 4,000 people from Malaysia who have previously been assessed as being refugees.[129] However, on 31 August, the High Court ruled that the agreement to transfer refugees from Australia to Malaysia was invalid, and ordered that it not proceed. Australia would still accept 4,000 people who have been assessed as refugees in Malaysia.[130][131]
The asylum seeker debate returned during August 2012 following the report of the Expert Panel on Asylum Seekers, led by retired Air Chief MarshallAngus Houston. Accepting the panel's recommendation, Gillard on 12 August 2012 announced that a bill then before Parliament would be amended to allow the Government to choose sites for off-shore processing. At the same time she announced the Government would nominate the former detention centres on Nauru and Manus Island, Papua New Guinea to be re-opened.[132] The amended bill passed with the support of the Opposition on 16 August 2012.[133]
Education
Gillard held the responsibilities of the Education portfolio for four days after becoming prime minister, before appointing Simon Crean as Education Minister on 28 June 2010. Following the 2010 election, Peter Garrett assumed the role of Minister for Education, where he remained until June 2013. Gillard also altered the nomenclature of "Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research" to comprise tertiary education; Chris Evans, Chris Bowen, and later, Craig Emerson, each was Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Science and Research in the Gillard government.
At the July 2010 National Press Club, Gillard stated "I will make education central to my economic agenda because of the role it plays in developing the skills that lead to rewarding and satisfying work – and that can build a high-productivity, high-participation economy."[134][135] The Gillard government in January 2011 extended tax cuts to parents to help pay for stationery, textbooks or computer equipment under the Education Tax Refund scheme.[136]
As Education Minister under Rudd, Gillard commissioned David Gonski to be chairman of a committee to make recommendations regarding funding of education in Australia. The findings and recommendations of the committee were later presented to the Gillard government in November 2011, whereafter deliberations were entered into by the Federal and state governments to consider its content. The committee's report is known as the Gonski Report.[137] Subsequently, the proposed reforms (an increase in funding) became known as "Gonski" and supporters urged governments to "Give a Gonski". The report was removed from the government website by the newly elected Abbott government after the 2013 Federal election and is preserved by Australia's Pandora Archive.[138]
Gillard continued to put the My School website centre of her education agenda, which was controversial at the time when she implemented it as Minister for Education. Although it was popular amongst parents, the website helped parents view statistics of the school their children attended. She had since unveiled the revamped version, My School 2.0, promising better information to parents.[139]
Universities also placed highly on her education agenda. Legislation which would have been voted on in November 2010 would have seen the introduction of a national universities regulator; however, this was delayed until 2011 following criticisms from the higher education sector. It was also announced by her government that legislation to establish the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency would also be introduced early 2011.[140]
Climate change
The Rudd Labor opposition promised to implement an emissions trading scheme (ETS) before the 2007 federal election which Labor won. Rudd, unable to secure support for his scheme in the Senate, dropped it. During his 2012 leadership challenge against Gillard's prime ministership, Rudd said that it was Gillard and Swan who convinced him to delay his Emissions Trading Scheme.[141]
In the 2010 election campaign, Gillard pledged to build a "national consensus" for a carbon price by creating a "citizens assembly", to examine "the evidence on climate change, the case for action and the possible consequences of introducing a market-based approach to limiting and reducing carbon emissions", over the course of one year. The assembly was to be selected by an independent authority who would select people from the electoral roll using census data.[142] The plan was never implemented. After the 2010 Election, Gillard agreed to form a minority government with the Greens and Independents and replaced her "citizens assembly" plan with a climate change panel consisting of Labor, Greens and independent members of the Australian parliament.[143] The panel ultimately announced backing for a temporary carbon tax, leading up to an Emissions Trading Scheme.
During the 2010 election campaign, Gillard also said that no carbon tax would be introduced under a government she led.[144] In the first hung parliament result in 70 years, the Gillard government, with the support of the Australian Greens and some cross bench independents, negotiated the implementation of a carbon tax (the preferred policy of the Australian Greens), by which a fixed-price carbon tax would proceed to a floating-price ETS within a few years under the plans. The government proposed the Clean Energy Bill in February 2011,[145] which the opposition claimed to be a broken election promise.[146]
The bill was passed by the Lower House in October 2011[147] and the Upper House in November 2011.[148]
Poker machines
In 2010, Gillard agreed with Nick Xenophon, Andrew Wilkie and the Australian Greens to introduce poker machine reform legislation (to curb problem gambling) into the Australian parliament by May 2012. After members of the cross bench advised that they would not support this bill in the Australian House of Representatives, Gillard withdrew her support. Wilkie said that many Australians felt "very let down by the PM", and fellow anti-gambling campaigner Xenophon accused the Prime Minister of "backstabbing the person who put her in office".[149]
On 21 January 2012, Wilkie announced that he was withdrawing his support for the Gillard government after it broke the agreement he had signed with Gillard to implement mandatory precommitment for all poker machines by 2014. He stated that he would support the government's alternative plan to trial pre-commitment in the ACT and require that pre-commitment technology be installed in all poker machines built from 2013, but that this fell short of what he had been promised in return for supporting the government.[150] In response, Gillard and Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs Jenny Macklin argued that there was not enough support in the House of Representatives for Wilkie's preferred option for it to be passed, and that they had been advised it was technically unfeasible to implement mandatory commitment within the time frame he had specified.[151]