Then Australian prime minister Julia Gillard greets US President Barack Obama during a visit to Canberra in 2011. Credit:Andrew Meares At the time the pair met Ms Gillard was facing questions over her role in the AWU affair dating back to her time as a lawyer with Slater and Gordon in the 1990s. Mrs Clinton told Ms Gillard that she had ''seen this movie before'', a reference to the questions the Clintons faced over the Whitewater development scandal. Mrs Clinton offered Ms Gillard the following advice: "You've got to stand up to it and be clear about it and name it for what it is because the temptation is to say, 'Look this is so absurd, it'll die a death', whereas these things unfortunately don't die a death." The then prime minister also revealed how she discussed race and gender with US President Barack Obama saying the two shared a bond based on their unique understanding of what it was like to be the first to reach high office.

Ms Gillard and Hillary Clinton, pictured in Washington together in 2011, shared experiences of the relentless scrutiny endured by both women. Credit:Pool photo by Gary Ramage ﻿Ms Gillard said Mr Obama's experience as the first African American president and her status as Australia's first female prime minister helped them to understand each other. "I think there is a little bit of a spark there about the sense of being 'The First' and consequently having to deal with things that someone else who's in your position has never had to," Ms Gillard said. Although Ms Gillard said she admired Mrs Clinton for being "very fearless in putting forward her values" she was ambivalent when asked whether or not the former secretary of state should run for the presidency in 2016. "I almost don't know what to wish for her," Ms Gillard said.

"It's been a life lived so much on what can be a very stressful and unforgiving stage that I'd understand if she said that's enough....But there'd also be a great sense of delight if you got to watch her do it too." The interview with Dr Summers took place at Ms Gillard's Sydney residence – Kirribilli House – and was done on June 10. Speculation about leadership was beginning to build – again – and Ms Gillard was to face a difficult week. An obscene menu making references to Ms Gillard's body was revealed, she was questioned on radio about the sexuality of her partner Tim Mathieson and she faced questions about her political judgment when she gave a speech about abortion and warning of life under a government of men in "blue ties". Twelve days later Ms Gillard was replaced as prime minister by Kevin Rudd.

The former prime minister said "the days where you feel hemmed in by the barriers around you" were the worst thing about being prime minister. "When you want to be getting along with something, something important, but for whatever reason – often associated with the media, sometimes associated with internal Labor dynamics – you feel like you're being hemmed in by distractions". The other down side was the complete lack of privacy – something Ms Gillard said no one could fully understand until they experienced it. "Until you experience the complete loss of anonymity, that there is never a moment outside your most private of spaces that you're not observed or commented upon, until you actually live through that, you can intellectually understand it but really in your guts you can't feel it." The best thing about being a prime minister was, she said, being able to do things: "You can see something that you think needs changing and change it. I can go to places now, particularly schools, where I can say: 'That child has a better education because three years ago I decided to do this'."

Although she did not know that she was closer to the end of her prime ministership than she would have imagined Ms Gillard told Dr Summers the things she was most proud of were "things that actually support family [and] support women" such as DisabilityCare, education reform, increased spending on childcare and the equal pay case. For the full interview: http://annesummers.com.au/asr/ Follow the National Times on Twitter