The degrading of a Prime Minister
When a political leader breaks ground, their role is bound to be examined and analysed, with judgement ultimately cast in history books yet to be written. When that leader is Julia Gillard, the intrigue, scheming and sheer nastiness that surrounded her reign only adds to the desire to understand just how things went so wrong for our first female Prime Minister. So how will history judge Julia? And who was the person behind the “Ice Queen” persona?
This is what former Victorian Labor MP and author Mary Delahunty wanted to find out. Luckily for her, she was granted unique access to the PM in her last year in office. She got to see Julia Gillard in both public and private moments,and ask her how she kept going in the face of relentless degrading abuse.