Deputy Prime Minister of Australia and Julia Gillard. In both cases, they succeeded incumbent Prime Ministers who lost the support of their party caucus mid-term and their election as party leader preceded their predecessor's resignations and their subsequent appointments as Prime Minister. Frank Forde, who had been deputy Labor leader when John Curtin died, was interim Prime Minister between 6 and 13 July 1945, when a leadership ballot took place that elected Ben Chifley as Curtin's successor. In November 2007, when the Australian Labor Party won government, Julia Gillard became Australia's first female, and first foreign-born, Deputy Prime Minister. In 2017, the position became vacant
Julia Gillard day. Ten minutes before the ballot was due to occur, Rudd publicly announced that he would not contest the leadership, in line with the commitment he had made following the 2012 contest. As such, Gillard and Wayne Swan were the only candidates for the Leadership and Deputy Leadership of the Labor Party, and were elected unopposed. This marked the first time in history that an incumbent Labor Leader was elected unopposed at a leadership ballot. Several ministers subsequently resigned from the government, including Chief Government Whip Joel Fitzgibbon, Human Services Minister Kim Carr, and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson. Gillard declared