Julia Gillard quotes

Julia Gillard is an Australian politician who served as the 27th Prime Minister of Australia. She was the first woman to hold this office in the country's history. She remains an influential advocate for education, gender equality, and mental health. Here are 47 of her quotes:

I thought that, that side of [Rudd's] character – the very anxious, 'I must be in the media, I must shine in Parliament today' – would fall away when he became Labor leader and there was no more fighting for the spotlight; the spotlight was well and truly on him.

Julia Gillard

I was seriously worried about his psychological state, I thought he wasn't coping, and he wasn't showing any signs of finding a way back to coping ... At that point, if you'd asked him to make a huge decision as Prime Minister on that day, yes, I would have been concerned about his capacity. My sense of him at that point was that he was spent in a physical and psychological sense.

Julia Gillard

It's a big emotional thing to do, to challenge the leadership of your political party. There is nothing pleasant about it, there's nothing fun about it. It's quite a horrible gut-wrenching process.

Julia Gillard

Now I understand for Mr Downer and other members of the chattering classes in the Liberal Party: they might think what qualifies you to know about national security, is you sit in a minister's office typing press releases all of your lives, with the greatest risk to your personal safety being a papercut – Mr Downer might think that's appropriate; well I do not.

Julia Gillard

You've got to gather yourself, you've got to give the speech, go see the Governor-General, do all of that. And then you get to have a few drinks with friends, so that's not that hard.

Julia Gillard

Will the misogynists and the nut jobs on the internet continue to circulate them? Yes, they will. And it wouldn't matter what I said and it wouldn't matter what documents were produced and it wouldn't matter what anybody else said, they will pursue this claim for motivations of their own which are malicious and not in any way associated with the facts.

Julia Gillard

Our future growth relies on competitiveness and innovation, skills and productivity... and these in turn rely on the education of our people.

Julia Gillard

I know reform is never easy. But I know reform is right.

Julia Gillard

Through hard work and education, we can deliver a strong economy and opportunity for all.

Julia Gillard

The global economic outlook remains fragile and uncertain. Global economic imbalances persist and we must address them or risk future instability.

Julia Gillard

I don't think it would have been possible ... You always have choices, yes, but I don't think there was any way of stuffing the genie back into the bottle.

Julia Gillard

There is nothing that should lead you to expect bastardry of that magnitude. Hard things happen; a hard thing happened to Malcolm Turnbull, a hard thing happened to Bob Hawke, a hard thing happened Kim Beazley, a hard thing happened to Kevin Rudd, a hard thing happened to me. You can still make choices on how you conduct yourself.

Julia Gillard

I indicate to the Leader of the Opposition that the government is not dying of shame-my father did not die of shame. What the Leader of the Opposition should be ashamed of is his performance in this parliament and the sexism he brings with it.

Julia Gillard

Hindsight can give you insights about what went wrong. But only faith, reason and bravery can propel you forward.

Julia Gillard

I will not be lectured about sexism and misogyny by this man. I will not. And the Government will not be lectured about sexism and misogyny by this man. Not now, not ever. The Leader of the Opposition says that people who hold sexist views and who are misogynists are not appropriate for high office. Well, I hope the Leader of the Opposition has got a piece of paper and he is writing out his resignation, because if he wants to know what misogyny looks like in modern Australia he does not need a motion in the House of Representatives; he needs a mirror.

Julia Gillard

Kevin was very fragile in the face of criticism including the implied criticism that comes with bad polls or bad news stories.

Julia Gillard

It's a cute project to work on.

Julia Gillard

I suggest Australians rush to their kitchens and check that their spoons aren't bent after that performance.

Julia Gillard

What I believe, what the Labor Party believes, is that marriage is between a man and a woman.

Julia Gillard

We cannot have the government or the Labor party go to the next election with a person leading the party and a person floating around as the potential alternative leader. Anybody who enters the ballot tonight should do it on the following conditions: that if you win you're Labor leader, that if you lose you retire from politics.

Julia Gillard

I was very conscience that if you put even your toe on this very sticky piece of paper, then you would be caught on it.

Julia Gillard

I always had this long shadow from the way in which I became Prime Minister, and active steps were taken basically every day of my prime ministership to have that shadow become darker and darker, not lighter and lighter.

Julia Gillard