Julia Gillard is Australia's first female PM

CREATING HISTORY: Julia Eileen Gillard was born Sept 29, 1961 in Wales.

CANBERRA: Julia Gillard has become Australia's first female Prime Minister after Kevin Rudd stood down as Labour Party leader before a leadership ballot, a Labour government official said, reports China's Xinhua news agency on Thursday.

Gillard was unelected unopposed, making her the nation's 27th prime minister and its first female leader.
She has chosen Treasurer Wayne Swan to be her Deputy Prime Minister, Senator Michael Forshaw announced after the caucus meeting.
Gillard had the numbers - reportedly 74 of the 112 caucus votes - and the majority support of the party.
"Rudd and Gillard were expected to go head to head, but Rudd stood down at the last minute. Word of the leadership change came around 25 minutes into the meeting, with reports emerging that Rudd had bowed to pressure, making way for Gillard to become Labor leader and the new prime minister.
"She is expected to be sworn in within days," Forshaw said, adding that he is now looking confidently forward to the next election led by the new team.
Rudd become the shortest-serving Australian prime minister since 1972, with his leadership falling apart after a string of poor opinion polls showed him losing ground over recent decisions to shelve a carbon-reduction scheme and impose a new mining tax.
Rudd led the party to victory at 2007 elections after 11 years in opposition.
New Prime Minister Gillard said she is honoured to be Australia's first female prime minister.
While, Small Business Minister Craig Emerson said the coalition will now have a great fight on its hands with Gillard at the helm.
Asked if the Labour Party had done the right thing by Rudd, Emerson said: "Look, Julia is now the prime minister. She worked hard for that, she has been a very effective deputy, I congratulate her, I think everyone does."
Emerson said the government will be very strong and unified heading into the election.
Gillard is expected to make a full statement soon.
Since Dec 3 2007, Gillard has been the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, the first woman and the first foreign-born person to hold this position.
On Dec 11 same year, she became the first woman in Australia's history to assume the prime ministerial role, when she acted as prime minister while the previous Prime Minister Kevin Rudd attended the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali.
She is also the Minister for Education, the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and the Minister for Social Inclusion.
Gillard has been an Australian Labour Party member of the House of Representatives since the 1998 federal election. She represents the Division of Labor in Victoria.

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