A Podcast of One's Own with Julia Gillard

In this episode, Julia sits down with activist, sexual consent champion and a voice for her generation, Chanel Contos. Chanel was a catalyst for transforming how consent education works in Australia. In 2021, aged just 22, she sparked a national media storm when she exposed the alarming level of sexual assault in Sydney private schools. From here, the “Teach Us Consent” Campaign was born –  an online petition asking for sexual...

Sam Mostyn has had a formidable career in executive positions, working across business, sport, climate change, the arts, policy and not for profit.

She recently led the Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce, and was the first woman AFL Commissioner, where she spearheaded the creation of a women’s league. 

Now Sam is taking over from Julia as Chair of Beyond Blue, Australia’s leading mental health support service.

In thi...

Elly Desmarchelier is a proud disabled woman who uses her voice to advocate for the 1 in 5 Australians living with disability. 

Elly was the public face of a national campaign to maintain and defend the integrity of Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme, taking the fight all the way to Parliament House in Canberra.

Elly and Julia discuss the barriers and discrimination Elly has faced and overcome throughout he...

In this episode, Julia is joined by music legend, humanitarian and activist, Annie Lennox. Hailed as one of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time by Rolling Stone, Annie has won more Brit Awards than any other female artist in history, sold over 80 million records worldwide as a solo artist and in Eurythmics with Dave Stewart and was named "the most successful female British artist in UK music history" by the Official...

Turia Pitt is the epitome of determination and grit.

She’s been defying expectations ever since she was caught in a grassfire at 24, suffering burns to 65% of her body.

Surviving against overwhelming odds, she’s rebuilt her life and is now a business owner, writer, motivational speaker and Mum.

Julia and Turia discuss the day that changed her life forever, how she forged a new path for herself and the gender inequality ...

Angela Rayner is the Deputy Leader of the British Labour Party. She has a remarkable life story, which she shared with Julia at a live event hosted by The Global Institute for Women's Leadership at King's College London.

In this episode, you'll hear that conversation, recorded live from the event. Angela not only spoke to Julia about her own life, but they also discussed the gendered barriers on the political frontline and what...

When the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in 2021 after two decades of democratic rule, the world watched in horror. Despite initial promises that women would be able to exercise their rights within Sharia Law, the Taliban has systematically excluded women and girls from public life.

In the months that have followed, the situation has only grown more desperate for Afghanistan’s women, who now live under ...

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon is an author of three New York Times best-selling books: The Dressmaker of Khair Khana, about a young entrepreneur who supported her community under the Taliban, Ashley's War, which follows a special ops unit of women in the US army, and The Daughters of Kobani, the extraordinary story of the women in the Kurdish militia that took on ISIS and won.

She serves as a senior fellow at the Co...

In this special episode of A Podcast of One’s Own, we take you inside Julia’s sold out Sydney Writers’ Festival event at the Sydney Town Hall with Indira Naidoo.

More than a decade on from what is now known as the Misogyny Speech, Julia and Indira discuss the speech’s origins, where we are today and the future for women leaders. 

The event was recorded live by the ABC’s Compass program, which is hosted by Indira.

Sho...

In this episode Julia speaks with Roanna McClelland - an author, an academic researcher, a political adviser, a former colleague and a friend. 

Roanna has just published her first book, The Comforting Weight of Water, which is set in a near future where it never stops raining and a young adolescent runs wild. The story explores coming of age when society – and all its cues – have been washed away.

Water, the environment ...

Founded in 2012, the Stella Prize is a major literary award celebrating Australian women’s writing, and championing diversity and cultural change.

To celebrate the 2023 award, Julia sat down with this year’s winner, poet Sarah Holland-Batt.

Sarah’s work, The Jaguar, is a deeply personal collection of poems canvassing different dimensions of love, loss and beauty. It delves particularly into her beloved father’s long journey w...

In this episode, Julia is joined by Dr Elise Stephenson to take a deep dive into gender equality in space. They unpack some of the major barriers facing women and marginalised groups in the industry – everything from equipment failures to inadequate research – and explore the unprecedented opportunities the rapidly developing space sector presents for improving the lives of generations to come by building a sustainable and gen...

In 2020, Dame Sharon White became the first-ever woman to become chair of John Lewis & Partners, the largest employee-owned business in the UK. In 2022 she was named the UK’s most influential black person in the Powerlist awards. She was the first woman to lead the UK’s media regulator, Ofcom, and she came to that position after a distinguished career in Treasury, the Department for International Development and the World Bank....

Angela Saini is an award-winning science journalist and author. She has worked as a reporter for numerous media outlets including the BBC, the Guardian, New Scientist and National Geographic. In 2020, Angela was named one of the World’s Top 50 Thinkers by Prospect Magazine and in 2018 she was voted one of the most respected journalists in the UK.

Angela has written Superior: The Return of Race Science, which was publis...

Regina Waugh has been working in public service for over a decade to advance the rights of marginalised groups, champion gender equality and advocate for the LGBTQ+ community. Regina served as the Obama administration’s director for human rights and gender at the White House National Security Council and as the chief of staff in the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues at the US Department of State. Today, she is working wit...

On 9 October 2012, Julia Gillard stood in Parliament House and delivered one of the most impassioned and iconic speeches in the history of Australian politics. The “misogyny speech” reverberated around the world and continues to reach further into our collective consciousness to this day. Julia’s words were a call to arms from the highest office in the nation – that misogyny and sexism should no longer be tolerated, because women a...

Rosie Campbell is professor of politics and Director of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London, where she works with Julia. Rosie has authored research on voting behaviour, public opinion and the politics of diversity and political recruitment.

In this episode, Julia asks Rosie about women’s participation in politics and gendered patterns of support for the populist radical right. Julia and Rosie ...