Julia Gillard opens up about Kevin Rudd, Alan Jones, Germaine Greer, misogyny, 'the real Julia', and what Paul Keating told her the day she lost the prime ministership.

I still, even with the benefit of hindsight, don't see an alternative to what I did that day ... I don't think I had a choice.

"I still, even with the benefit of hindsight, don't see an alternative to what I did that day ... I don't think I had a choice ...

"I thought [Kevin Rudd's] reaction would be one of hurt and acute distress. I mean, I know, you know, a lot now about what it feels like to lose the prime ministership, so I expected him to feel very, very battered and bruised.

"I think, you know, on the loss of the prime ministership, yes, I did expect him to be miserable. But I also expected that emotion of relief that he was free from the weight of it to be a very strong one because he had found it so difficult in those last few months. Obviously I was wrong about that."

If anything, the reputation I have from that night is one of political brutality. Actually, in the moment, I was hesitant. A conversation went too long, I certainly fed hope [to Kevin Rudd]. I shouldn't have done that. I really do here and more extensively in the book talk about my sense of self-recrimination over that.

"[I] still read in the newspapers, 'the woman who wielded the knife'. If anything, the reputation I have from that night is one of political brutality. Actually, in the moment, I was hesitant. A conversation went too long, I certainly fed hope [to Kevin Rudd].

"I shouldn't have done that. I really do here and more extensively in the book talk about my sense of self-recrimination over that."

I knew the [misogyny] speech had landed heavily. I knew that I'd really kind of pushed them into some form of submission but I didn't have any sense of how it was going outside the chamber. Meanwhile, it's going viral.

"I knew the [misogyny] speech had landed heavily. I knew that I'd really kind of pushed them into some form of submission but I didn't have any sense of how it was going outside the chamber.

"Meanwhile, it's going viral, so by the time I got back to the office, it was like the whole world was, you know, people ringing, people emailing, just madness everywhere about this speech. Just a mad enthusiasm for this speech."

I put my hand up for that 100 per cent. That's my fault, you know. Sort of a dumb, dumb error - rookie error maybe.

"I put my hand up for that 100 per cent. That's my fault, you know. Sort of a dumb, dumb error - rookie error maybe. I mean, I wasn't a rookie in politics, I was a rookie at being prime minister. I'd felt like our campaigning style wasn't letting me get out and about enough. I did feel sort of confined by it."

There's nothing I can say that would be kind about Mr Jones. I mean, he intruded on my family's grief when we lost my father ...What on Earth explains anyone getting up in front of an audience and, for comedy, reflecting on the loss of someone's parent?

"There's nothing I can say that would be kind about Mr Jones. I mean, he intruded on my family's grief when we lost my father. I had to ring my sister to get her - you know, we'd lost dad, to go and speak to mum because I knew it was just going to be a huge public issue ...

"[His apology] was mealy-mouthed in the extreme - only after he'd been put under commercial pressure because so many people were disgusted. What on Earth explains anyone getting up in front of an audience and, for comedy, reflecting on the loss of someone's parent?

"Everybody can make slips and bad remarks, everybody's made an error in their lives. But there was something so cruel about that. He wasn't just my father, I'm not the only family member involved. It was a disgraceful thing, unforgiveable."

I actually felt sorry for Germaine [Greer] ... I just thought, for her, who came into public consciousness for writing The Female Eunuch, for being the feminist of our times, to end up talking like that for cheap laughs about another woman was really a very sad thing.

"When that all broke in the media, I actually felt sorry for Germaine [Greer], because I'd sort of, you know, already had enough critique about my fashion and my body shape to not be particularly insulted about references to my body.

"But I just thought, for her, who came into public consciousness for writing The Female Eunuch, for being the feminist of our times, to end up talking like that for cheap laughs about another woman was really a very sad thing."

I think you are entitled to still say something is not right about treatment of women [in Australia], even though it doesn't in any way equal the kind of evils we see overseas.

"Here in Australia, in the context in which we live, where happily no-one is abducting schoolgirls to stop them going to school, no-one's stoning women to death, in the context in which we live, I think you are entitled to still say something is not right about treatment of women, even though it doesn't in any way equal the kind of evils we see overseas."

I'd had no life experience that prepared me for having staff around you in that close, intimate sense that staff in The Lodge or Kirribilli are.

"I'd had no life experience that prepared me for having staff around you in that close, intimate sense that staff in The Lodge or Kirribilli are.

"And I thought, there's only a couple of ways of reacting to this. You could pretend you were poncing around in Downton Abbey or something like that or you could just try and embrace it and make it an extended kind of family circumstance. And Tim and I chose to do that, to just make it feel like we were kind of all hanging out together.

Of the things I don't miss about the prime ministership, I don't miss the Canberra press gallery ... For some, during my period as prime minister, they became activists in the leadership contest. And yes, I am very critical of that, because that's not their job as journalists.

"Of the things I don't miss about the prime ministership, I don't miss the Canberra press gallery.

"All you had to do during my time as prime minister if you were a journo in search of a story [was] ring up someone on the backbench who you knew to be good with a colourful, zinging quote ... get the colourful quote, off the record - "Labor source says..." - and then leadership story done. That's how it was.

"For some, during my period as prime minister, they became activists in the leadership contest. And yes, I am very critical of that, because that's not their job as journalists."

There were women who worked at the Prime Minister's Office with me who took all of the calls, and they would constantly get calls saying, 'I like the jacket she's got on today', 'I don't like the jacket', 'What on earth made her wear that necklace?', 'Don't tell me she's had her hair cut!'

"There were women who worked at the Prime Minister's Office with me who took all of the calls, and they would constantly get calls saying, 'I like the jacket she's got on today', 'I don't like the jacket', 'What on earth made her wear that necklace?', 'Don't tell me she's had her hair cut!'

It would just be never-ending. There's the level of it which is just - it takes more time to get all of this right for a woman and then there's the level of it which is more prejudicial than that."

I think if I'd had a clear run ... I think in those circumstances I could have out-campaigned Abbott. I would have run a better campaign and I could have landed us in around about the same spot.

"I think if I'd had a clear run, that is, you know, let's say we'd left that parliamentary week with no challenge, with me as prime minister, with [Kevin Rudd] having absolutely knocked off any destabilising, with him and his supporters genuinely putting their shoulder to the wheel to get us re-elected, I think in those circumstances I could have out-campaigned Abbott.

"I would have run a better campaign and I could have landed us in around about the same spot. That's my view. Others will contest it. I get that."

Is Mr Abbott Clive Palmer's slave today? I mean, it depends on how people want to argue it and put the politics but it's certainly true that on big questions where the major parties have divided, Mr Abbott can't do anything unless Clive Palmer says yes.

The day after I finished being prime minister, starting to pack up my office, I took a call from Paul Keating who said to me, 'We all get taken out in a box, love. Sorry, sorry to hear about you. We all get taken out in a box, love.' And never a truer word spoken.

"If you think you'd like to see yourself in the media, you'd like to be a celebrity, you know, try out for Big Brother - politics is not for you. You should only do it if you really know why you're doing it.

"Will it end in tears? Yes, absolutely. The day after I finished being prime minister, starting to pack up my office, I took a call from Paul Keating who said to me, 'We all get taken out in a box, love. Sorry, sorry to hear about you. We all get taken out in a box, love.' And never a truer word spoken."



