First Gillard Ministry First Gillard Ministry The First Gillard Ministry (Labor) was the 66th ministry of the Australian government and was led by the prime minister, Julia Gillard. It succeeded the first Rudd Ministry upon its swearing in by the Governor-General of Australia, Quentin Bryce, on 24 June 2010. It was replaced by the second Gillard Ministry on 14 September 2010 after the 2010 election. The change in ministry followed a series of events on 23–24 June that led to the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, first calling a leadership ballot within the governing Labor Party after being challenged by his deputy, Julia Gillard,
Julia Gillard February 2012. Rudd told the media "I can only serve as Foreign Minister if I have the confidence of Prime Minister Gillard and her senior ministers" after Gillard failed to repudiate cabinet ministers who publicly criticised Rudd and his tenure as Prime Minister. The situation had been further exacerbated by the revelation on "Four Corners" that Gillard's staff wrote her victory speech for the 2010 leadership election two weeks prior to her challenge, contradicting Gillard's earlier claims that she had only resolved to challenge Rudd the day before the vote. This revelation caused particular conflict between Labor factions to surface,