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 conclusion of a criminal investigation. After a week of controversy, Gillard announced that she was asking Slipper to delay his return to the Chair pending the conclusion of concurrent civil proceedings, in an effort to dispel what she described as a "dark cloud" over her government (a reference also to the ongoing Craig Thomson affair involving a Labor MP linked to corruption allegations). In the light of poor polling results for the Gillard Government, speculation that Foreign Minister and former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd wished to challenge Gillard for the leadership culminated with Rudd resigning from the Cabinet on 22