The Age
June 26, 2010
It is Gillard’s ability to connect with, surprise and delight a wide range of people that is her ace card, writes Anne Summers.
THERE’S a story in Sydney, perhaps apocryphal but certainly instructive, of how some time last year the hard men of the NSW Labor Party (the “Sussex Street assassins” as Tony Abbott would have it) reacted nervously to the news that Julia Gillard was planning to attend a big function in the western suburbs.
How would the traditional women of the west react to the deputy prime minister, the backroom boys fretted? After all, she is single, has no kids and lives with a hairdresser. They made some inquiries. The feedback shocked them. These supposedly traditional women had no problem with Julia’s marital status, envied her freedom from the responsibility of children and, most of all, were in awe of her for choosing a hairdresser for a partner!
Read the full article: The ability to connect
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