MEMBER for Lalor Julia Gillard will make history when she is sworn in as Australia’s first female Deputy Prime Minister.
Ms Gillard, 46, appears certain to be confirmed in the second highest political position in the country following Kevin Rudd’s sweeping victory taking the ALP to power in the Federal Election.
Before going to press, the Labor Party was set to win 83 seats, the Coalition 58 and others two, giving the ALP a majority of 23 seats and ending John Howard’s 11-year domination of Australian politics.
Ms Gillard described her feelings on becoming the first female Deputy PM as “humbling.”
“It’s obviously a humbling sensation more than anything else,” she said on the ABC election coverage on Saturday night.
“I’m going to have to really think about it overnight.”
Later, she said she would be at work early on Sunday to start Labor’s new agenda and there would be no celebration party.
“It’s an exciting time and I’m looking forward to getting to work,” she said.
In his victory speech on Saturday night, new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Ms Gillard had been “fantastic” as the Deputy Leader of the Australian Labor Party.
“She will be fantastic as the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia,” he said.
In the National Tally Room in Canberra, it was obvious there were tears in Ms Gillard’s eyes as he spoke.
Ms Gillard romped home in her seat of Lalor with a swing to her of nearly seven per cent, taking her margin to 15 per cent.
She defeated, by a big margin, the Liberal Party’s Peter Curtis, the Greens Jay Tilley, Family First’s Steve Gleeson, the DLP’s Libby Krepp, and the Australian Democrats’ Roger Howe.
It was a controlled and cautious Ms Gillard leading up to the election.
On a street walk in Werribee, part of her seat, last Friday, she was given a bouquet of flowers and a bunch of red roses from shopkeepers.
“We know as a matter of electoral mathematics it’s going to be a tight, tough contest,” she said.
“We need to win 16 seats, and that is a huge thing to do.
“We would be trying to create a third Labor Government from Opposition since World War II.
“Kevin Rudd has talked about climbing Everest.
“We’re going to keep at it and keep campaigning until the polling stations close tomorrow evening.”
Ms Gillard cast her vote, in the company of Member for Gellibrand, Nicola Roxon, (also returned handsomely) at the Seabrook Primary School on Saturday just after 11am.
When quizzed about her prospects to become Deputy PM, she said:
“I’m taking one step at a time.
“I think we have campaigned well on fresh ideas for Australia’s future and now it’s up to the Australian people to decide.”
And decide they did.
As a panelist for the ABC coverage in the National Tally Room in Canberra, Ms Gillard repeated her view that winning 16 seats was “a tough ask.”
That was just after 6pm.
At 7.05pm, when early figures were favoring Labor, host Kerry O’Brien asked: “How are you feeling right now?”
“I’m still nervous,” she replied.
At 8.30pm, when it was apparent seats in NSW and Queensland were tumbling to Labor, she said: “I’m a cautious person Kerry, but I think on the numbers we’re seeing, I believe Labor will form a government.”
And she smiled _ a quiet, restrained, confident smile.
On the tally room floor, the broadcast was nearly drowned out by the hundreds of people cheering and chanting: “Julia.”
When it looked likely that the Prime Minister John Howard would lose his seat of Bennelong to former ABC journalist Maxine McKew, Ms Gillard paid tribute to the PM’s service in office, but added she obviously disagreed with his policies.
As the dust cleared on an emphatic Labor victory, Ms Gillard, who has also been the Shadow Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations, said the ALP’s success was largely due to the unpopularity of the Coalition’s WorkChoices reforms.
“I think the thing that first caused the so-called Howard battlers to look at the government and not like what they saw was WorkChoices,” she said.
“I think that really did crack a substantial proportion of the so-called Howard battler demographic.
“Once they saw one flaw then they started looking for a few more, so people re-engaged with politics.
“Then climate change undoubtedly became a template as to how the government had gone stale in office.”
She added that the government had lost touch on cost-of-living issues.
Ms Gillard promised to quickly move on changes to Australia’s industrial relations system.
