Julia Gillard Net Worth

What Is Julia Gillard's Net Worth?

Julia Gillard (also known as The Honourable Julia Gillard AC) is an Australian former politician who has a net worth of $2 million. Julia Gillard was the Australian Labor Party leader from 2010 to 2013, and she served as the 27th Prime Minister of Australia from 2010 to 2013. She first became a member of the Australian Parliament in 1998. Educated at the University of Melbourne in the '80s, Gillard subsequently joined a law firm, where she specialized in industrial law, after which she entered into politics. After being elected to the House of Representatives in 1998, she was elected to the Shadow Cabinet three years later, where she was given the portfolio of Population and Immigration. Julia became the first female Deputy Prime Minister of Australia in the 2008 federal election, and she became the first female Prime Minister after Kevin Rudd resigned in June 2010. She lost the leadership of the Labor Party to Rudd in June 2013. During her speech congratulating Rudd, she announced that she would immediately tender her resignation as Prime Minister.

Gillard's political views/positions include support of legal abortion and uncertainty about the safety issues of euthanasia, and she gained attention for a 2012 speech in which she accused opposition leader Tony Abbott of misogyny. Since her retirement, Julia has served as the Senior Fellow at the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution, a visiting professor at the University of Adelaide, and the chair of the Global Partnership for Education, Beyond Blue, and the Wellcome Trust. She has published the books "My Story" (2014), "Women and Leadership: Real Lives, Real Lessons" (2020), and "Not Now, Not Ever – 10 years on from the misogyny speech'" (2022). In 2017, Julia was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC)  in honor of her "eminent service to the Parliament of Australia, particularly as Prime Minister, through seminal contributions to economic and social development, particularly policy reform in the areas of education, disability care, workplace relations, health, foreign affairs and the environment, and as a role model to women."

Early Life

Julia Gillard was born Julia Eileen Gillard on September 29, 1961, in Barry, Wales. She is the daughter of Moira Mackenzie and John Oliver Gillard, and she has an older sister named Alison. Her mother was of Irish and Scottish descent and was employed by a Salvation Army nursing home, while her father had English heritage and was a psychiatric nurse. As a child, Julia was diagnosed with bronchopneumonia, and her parents were advised that a warmer climate might help her recovery. The family moved to Adelaide, Australia, in 1966, and spent the next month living in the Pennington Hostel. They became Australian citizens in 1974, and Gillard held dual citizenship until 1998, when she entered the Australian parliament and renounced her British citizenship. Julia attended Mitcham Demonstration School and Unley High School, then she enrolled at the University of Adelaide in pursuit of an arts degree. She was the president of the Adelaide University Union and a member of the Labor Club. Gillard moved to Melbourne in 1982 and got involved with the Australian Union of Students, becoming the organization's leader the following year. She also served as the secretary of the Socialist Forum. Julia earned a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Melbourne in 1986, followed by a Bachelor of Arts in 1989.

In 1987, Gillard began working in industrial law at the Victoria-based law firm Slater & Gordon, and in 1990, she became the firm's youngest partner at the age of 29. She was the president of the Labor Party's Carlton branch from 1985 to 1989. Julia left Slater & Gordon in 1996 to serve as Leader of the Opposition John Brumby's chief of staff. One of her responsibilities was drafting the Labor Party of Victoria's affirmative-action rules, which aimed to pre-select women for 35% of "winnable seats." Gillard helped establish EMILY's List, a pro-choice support and fundraising network for women in the Labor Party.

Career

During the 1998 federal election, Gillard ran as the Labor Party candidate for Lalor and was elected to the House of Representatives. She served on the Employment, Education and Workplace Relations committee from December 1998 to December 2001, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs committee from March 2003 to August 2003, and the Public Accounts and Audit committee from December 1998 to February 2002. Julia remained in the House of Representatives until 2007, and she was also a Shadow Minister from 2001 to 2007 and a Deputy Opposition Leader from 2006 to 2007. She served as Deputy Prime Minister to Kevin Rudd from 2007 to 2010, then she became the 27th Prime Minister of Australia in June 2010 after Rudd's resignation. According to her official website, Gillard "delivered nation-changing policies including reforming Australian education at every level from early childhood to university, creating an emissions trading scheme, improving the provision and sustainability of health care, aged care and dental care, commencing the nation's first ever national scheme to care for people with disabilities and restructuring the telecommunications sector as well as building the National Broadband Network." She remained prime minister until June 2013, when she was succeeded by her predecessor, Kevin Rudd. Due to an agreement between Gillard and Rudd that the loser of the June 2013 leadership vote would retire from politics, Julia subsequently resigned from her position and announced her retirement.

In 2014, Julia released the memoir "My Story," which is described as "account of what was hidden behind the resilience and dignified courage Gillard showed as prime minister, her view of the vicious hate campaigns directed against her, and a reflection on what it means – and what it takes – to be a woman leader in contemporary politics." She followed her memoir with the books "Women and Leadership: Real Lives, Real Lessons" (2020), and "Not Now, Not Ever – 10 years on from the misogyny speech'" (2022).

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Personal Life

From 2006 until the early 2020s, Julia was in a relationship with Tim Mathieson. On the subject of having children, Gillard told the ABCTV program Australian Story that she admired women who could successfully balance motherhood with a career, adding "I'm not sure I could have. There's something in me that's focused and single-minded and if I was going to do that, I'm not sure I could have done this." Julia is a fan of the Australian Football League team the Western Bulldogs and the National Rugby League team the Melbourne Storm. Though she was raised Baptist, Gillard later became an atheist.

Honors

In 2014, Gillard received an honorary doctorate from Victoria University for "her outstanding contribution to Australian society as a Federal Member of Parliament representing the western region of Melbourne, and especially for her role in championing important reforms in the education sector and in disability care." In 2015  the Vrije Universiteit Brussel presented her with an honorary doctorate for "her achievements as a woman committed to education and to social inclusion, and for the impact of her commitment on the situation of children, youngsters and women worldwide." She has also received honorary doctorates from the University of Canberra and Deakin University. In early 2016, the Julia Gillard Library opened in Melbourne; the Wyndham City Council chose the name of the library in honor of her contributions as prime minister and as a member of parliament. In 2021, Julia received the Government of Japan's Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun.

Real Estate

In 2013, Gillard sold her three-bedroom home in Melbourne for $921,000. The man who purchased the home said that he bought it for his wife, who is Julia's "number one fan," according to real estate agent Anna Grech.

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