Julia Gillard Following her defeat in the leadership vote on 26 June 2013, Gillard congratulated Rudd on his win and announced that she would immediately tender her resignation as Prime Minister to the Governor-General, Quentin Bryce. She also announced, in keeping with her pledge before the leadership vote, that she would not re-contest her seat of Lalor at the upcoming election, and thus would retire from politics. In her final speech, she reflected on the honour of being the first female head of government in Australia and expressed confidence for the future of women leaders in Australia: Gillard's resignation as Prime Minister
Gillard Government the pair remained strained, and Rudd was replaced as Foreign Minister in February 2012 following his failed bid for the leadership of the Labor Party. Former New South Wales Premier Bob Carr was selected to join the Senate in place of the retiring Mark Arbib and joined Cabinet as the new Minister for Foreign Affairs. During her first major international tour as Prime Minister, Julia Gillard told ABC TV's "": For his part, Kevin Rudd was an active Foreign Affairs Minister. Following the 2011 Egyptian revolution and resignation of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, Rudd called for "constitutional reform and a