Politics
Introduced to politics in her second year at the University of Adelaide by the daughter of a State Labor Minister, Gillard joined the Labor Club and became involved in a campaign to fight federal education budget cuts.
After moving to Melbourne, in 1983 Gillard became the second woman to lead the Australian Union of Students. She was also formerly the secretary of the left-wing organisation, Socialist Forum.
In 1995, Gillard took leave from her legal firm to contest the 1996 federal election as a Senate candidate, standing third on the ALP's ticket, although she was unsuccessful.
One year later in 1996, Gillard resigned from her position with Slater & Gordon in order to become the Chief of Staff to John Brumby, at that time the Leader of the Opposition in Victoria. 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.
The Welsh Labour politician Aneurin Bevan remains one of her political heroes.
Read more about this topic: Julia Gillard
Famous quotes containing the word politics:
“All you can be sure about in a political-minded writer is that if his work should last you will have to skip the politics when you read it. Many of the so-called politically enlisted writers change their politics frequently.... Perhaps it can be respected as a form of the pursuit of happiness.”
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961)
“Writing is the continuation of politics by other means.”
—Philippe Sollers (b. 1936)
“All politics takes place on a slippery slope. The most important four words in politics are “up to a point.””
—George F. Will (b. 1941)