It’s hard to believe that this isn’t ancient history. Mary Delahunty has written an account of the last 12 months of the Prime Ministership of Julia Gillard, ending in September of 2013. For the non-Australians in the audience, think redhead and misogyny. If that doesn’t help do a YouTube search for her. It seems like ancient history to me, because there have been three Prime Ministers in Australia since.

This is an admittedly partisan account, written by a fellow Labor woman, a person who was Education Minister in Victoria close to 2 decades ago, but was still certainly worth reading. I am an admirer of Julia Gillard (so I guess this is a partisan review), but I can agree with Ms Delahunty’s sometimes critical judgements of her friend, and also with the reasons she advances for forgiving them. Many people who reach high office do so quite unprepared for the job they are taking on, but the best of them have the opportunity to grow in the role. Julia Gillard, leader of a minority government and the subject of blatantly sexist opposition from all sides, including her own, didn’t.

She must take great comfort from the fact that her two immediate successors both crashed and burned with much less to show for it than she. ( )