2010-06-24 09:40

Australia's new Prime Minister Julia Gillard leaves a special Caucus meeting after a leadership ballot at Federal Parliament House in Canberra June 24, 2010.[Agencies]

CANBERRA - Julia Eileen Gillard, a Welsh-born Australian politician, on Thursday has become Australia's first female Prime Minister after Kevin Rudd stood down as Labor leader at a caucus meeting in the morning.

Treasurer Wayne Swan was elected deputy leader unopposed.

Since 3 December 2007, Gillard has been the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, the first woman and the first foreign-born person to hold this position.

On 11 December 2007, 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.

After the resignation of Kevin Rudd, Gillard was elected unopposed as Leader of the Australian Labor Party at a special caucus meeting on 24 June 2010, making her the first female leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP).

Gillard has been an ALP member of the House of Representatives since the 1998 federal election. She represents the Division of Labor in Victoria.