Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard - the Obama of Australia or the treacherous Eve?

(Anna & Betsy - Bond Journalism Students)

Australian political history was made with the first female Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, ousting Kevin Rudd and taking the top job on June 24.

Bond University international relations associate professor Rosita Dellios said it was time Australia had a female Prime Minister.

“New Zealand has been ahead of us in this game, so its time Australia caught up with its first female prime minister,” she said.

While Australians vote for a party rather than an individual candidate a number of people said they did not vote for the party of the person they wanted to be prime minister.

Labor voter Jeremy Carreon said he did not vote for Julia Gillard to be the prime minister of Australia.

“At first I was a bit frustrated because I wasn’t expecting or prepared to have a female prime minister,” he said.

“She came to power at default and I believe that she was very much part of Kevin Rudd’s demise as well.”

Many locals felt the leadership reshuffle was wrong, while others believed there were strong indications that an overthrow was imminent.

Varsity Lakes business owner and resident Vicky O’Brien said the overthrow was un-Australian and the situation was handled badly by Labor party members.

“The [reshuffling] was disgusting,” she said.

“I strongly believe that even though [Kevin Rudd] hadn’t done a very good thing in the past, they [The Labor party] did not do the right thing.”

Another Varsity Lakes resident Lauren Kode said she was also appalled by the overthrow.

“It was quite sudden and ridiculous on the part of Julia Gillard and not only her, but the other politicians that had an interest in it as well,” she said.

McPherson Liberal national candidate Karen Andrews said had thought there was a strong possibility the Labor party would make changes out of fear of losing the forthcoming election.

“The polls had been indicating a very strong possibility that the Rudd government would lose in the forthcoming federal election so there was always a possibility that there would be some changes,” she said. 

“But I think that a lot of Australians were certainly caught by surprise at the speed at which it happened and the circumstances.”

Varsity Lakes resident Vicky O’Brien said she thought Australia would have to wait and see if Julia Gillard would do a better job than Kevin Rudd.

“Time will tell, it is very hard yet [to judge], it is still early days but I hope so,” she said.

Bond University’s Rosita Dellios said Julia Gillard was a role model for all Australian women.

“Women should be able to look at Julia Gillard and say she was persistent, she worked hard and that she understood that it was not easy to step up into the top job of Australia,” she said.

“So she should definitely be an inspiration to all women.”