Julia Gillard: Former Prime Minster’s cheeky dig at Tony Abbott

They famously clashed during their time in politics – and now, our first female leader has made another hilarious swipe at her former rival.

Australia’s first and only female Prime Minister has taken a sneaky jab at former rival Tony Abbott during tonight’s Q and A episode.

The comments were in response to a question from viewer Marco Forstner who asked who had been the best Prime Minister since Ms Gillard left office – Kevin Rudd, Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull or Scott Morrison.

Ms Gillard erupted in laughter and initially tried a diplomatic response, nominating Kevin Rudd as a fellow Labor politician.

When host Hamish Macdonald dismissed that answer as a “cop out”, Ms Gillard had a hilariously blunt response.

“If I’m forced to choose from the other side … Um, well, it’s not going to be Tony,” she said.

“It’s not going to be Tony. I would, um – look, I get on well personally with Malcolm Turnbull. I’m still in contact with Malcolm Turnbull. We speak on the phone from time to time. So, um, I’ve got a soft spot for Malcolm.

“I am working productively, though, with Scott Morrison. He’s been very decent to Beyond Blue and to the mental health sector. I think he is very genuine about wanting to make a difference on the suicide rates. And I respect someone who can come at an issue like that with bipartisanship.”

When Macdonald pointed out she had mentioned each leader “other than Tony Abbott”, Ms Gillard quipped: “I kind of left Tony out …”

Ms Gillard and Mr Abbott famously butted heads during their time in politics, with Ms Gillard directing her scathing “misogyny” speech at him back in 2012.

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Julia Gillard cracked a hilarious joke at Tony Abbott's expense. Picture: ABC

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However, it wasn’t the only dig of the night directed against a male leader, with Ms Gillard also taking subtle swipes against US President Donald Trump and UK leader Boris Johnson after audience member Tessa Fergusson asked for advice in handling the public focus on “women’s looks and perceived flaws” over their achievements.

Ms Gillard, who has recently released a new book, Women and Leadership, with Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said they had spoken to female leaders about that "relentless focus”.

She said Hillary Clinton estimated she had lost up to 24 days in hair and make up in the lead up to the 2016 election – but that rival Donald Trump, with his trademark messy quiff, did not have the same problem.

“Meanwhile, Donald Trump was emerging looking like Donald Trump without any expectation that that was going to have a coiffured result, if I can use that terminology,” Ms Gillard said.

“So, it’s frustrating that, you know, so much oxygen’s still taken by appearance. How are we going to get to the end of that? I do think it comes back to this – the more women who are there, the more normal, different faces – different ways of dressing, different appearances – the less and less interesting it is.

“And the history of countries that have had more than one female leader is that it gets less over time – you know, the, ‘Oh, my God, she’s a woman – look at that jacket!’ That’s kind of intriguing the first time around. The second time around – less intriguing. Third time around – not intriguing at all. So, while we still all have to stomach it for a while, I think it’s really important that women get in there and go for it.”

Host Hamish Macdonald also asked the former leader about the surprising and potentially “contradictory” advice in her book that women who were keen to enter politics should think about their appearance, which led to another, second swipe at UK leader Boris Johnson who is also known for his unkempt appearance.

“I wish, you know, I could say to women, ‘Just let yourself feel it, and don’t worry about the rest’. But that wouldn’t be intellectually honest. Because politics is a competitive business, you know?” she said.

“We end up saying in the book – look, make your own choices. And if you don’t want to play the appearance game in any way, if you don’t want to worry about what you look like, if you’re happy to get out the door looking like a female version of Boris Johnson, then that’s fine – that’s your choice. But be aware, people will judge you for it.”

During the episode, Ms Gillard was also hit with some curly questions about cutting payments to single parents and her lack of support for same-sex marriage during her time as leader.

Meanwhile, the attention briefly left Ms Gillard when Professor Raina MacIntyre, the head of biosecurity at the Kirby Institute, was asked about Australia’s COVID-19 “end game” and whether lockdowns were really the answer.

“The endgame is a vaccine. Without a vaccine, there’s really no certainty around where we’re going and how we’re going to get out of it,” she said.

“Because there is a pandemic that’s going on, it’s getting worse, and it’s really the worst pandemic of anyone’s lifetime, of most people living today.

“There isn’t a choice between disease control and the economy. If you don’t control the disease, the economy’s going to fare worse.”

Professor Raina MacIntyre, head of biosecurity at the Kirby Institute, has pushed Aussies to wear masks. Picture: ABC

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She also issued a very blunt response to the question of whether face masks work – and whether we should be wearing them.

“Yes, masks work … the thing about COVID-19 and what’s really diabolic about it is that people can have no symptoms at all but be infected and infectious,” she said.

“So if you’re wearing a mask and you are infected and don’t realise it, you are much, much less likely to spread it to other people. And also, wearing a mask will protect you if you’re well from inhaling contaminated droplets or being coughed or sneezed on – so it works both ways.

“There’s a lot of evidence now that masks work, both against other respiratory infections and also from a WHO commission study on COVID-19, SARS and MERS coronavirus.