Julia Gillard's Shoe

The student who allegedly threw a half of a Vegemite sandwich at...

backflashes — Thu, 09 May 2013 16:21:00 -0700

The student who allegedly threw a half of a Vegemite sandwich at PM Julia Gillard the other day has been suspended from school for 15 days.

As this interview with the student will reveal, however, not only could more than one student have been involved in the incident, more than one sandwich could have been airborne, too.

No word yet if said sandwiches were tossed from a grassy knoll…

But the student in question, one Kyle Thomson, insists he was protecting the PM, and reports her nose is not as big in person as it appears in photos.

Thanks again to Ashley for the tip!

A half of a Vegemite sandwich was thrown at PM Julia Gillard the...

backflashes — Wed, 08 May 2013 11:41:00 -0700

A half of a Vegemite sandwich was thrown at PM Julia Gillard the other day. It missed her shoes, and landed on the floor.

Read the whole scandalous account here.

Or in sum, PM Gillard was making an appearance at a Brisbane high school. According to one teacher, she was mobbed by students seeking autographs and photos with their mobile phones. The teacher likened the throngs around the PM to resemble more of a One Direction concert than the visit of a stuffy old politician (albeit one with good shoes).

Others claim the PM was booed and called a “loser” before nearly being pelted with one half of a Vegemite sando. No doubt those are the types who prefer to eat shit rather than spinach.

Thanks to my friend and loyal reader Ashley for this tip!

The Australian federal election is still months away, and among...

backflashes — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 09:30:00 -0700

The Australian federal election is still months away, and among other things, it is in danger of ~~getting as ugly as~~ going on as long as those ones they have over in America.

PM Julia Gillard sits about where President Barack Obama sat at this point in the US 2012 presidential election. There are just plain haters out there who have never liked Gillard and will vote for someone else in spite of their best interests simply because the other candidate is not her.

It was the same for Barack Obama, but in the end he prevailed, on the backs of Big Bird, binders and the US cavalry.

Maybe this tweet will be Gillard’s “Big Bird moment”? While thoughtful press is out there (“A Fair Go for Prime Minister Julia Gillard”), if social media savvy plays as big a role in Australian politics as it does in America, Gillard’s got a shoe up.

We learn today that Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s...

backflashes — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 11:06:20 -0800

We learn today that Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s taxpayer-subsidised private car has been caught eight times in six months for traffic offences, but whose foot (or shoe) has been on the accelerator?

“You can also do this with your shoelaces.” PM...

backflashes — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 09:12:57 -0800

“You can also do this with your shoelaces.”

PM Julia Gillard finger knitting with children at the Woodford Folk Festival.

Julia takes a tumble. Or, as the Aussies say, she fully...

backflashes — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 09:07:00 -0700

Julia takes a tumble. Or, as the Aussies say, she fully “stacked it.”

Australian PM Julia Gillard and her shoe made headlines yet again when she tripped and fell near the Gandhi Memorial in New Delhi the other day.

It appears she was wearing her favorite pair of dark blue size 36 Midas wedges, perhaps even the very shoe that was kidnapped earlier this year, when her heel got stuck in the grass and “then the rest of it is as you saw.”

Gillard is no stranger to embarrassing shoe incidents. In addition to the kidnapped shoe that was briefly held for ransom back in January, this “heel malfunction” is the second one she’s faced down this month. Just last week she took a misogynistic male opponent to task for his relentless abuse of her as a woman in charge. Heels, of any kind, may trip her up, but she’s quick to get back up on her feet.

I will not be lectured by this man about a …...

backflashes — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 06:44:00 -0700

I will not be lectured by this man about a … Slipper!

Ok, so according to online mag Jezebel, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard is “one badass motherfucker!”

But we knew that already. This is a woman who fought long and hard to recover a stolen shoe. Do you think she’s going to back down over some goddang Slipper!? (Pardon the Americanisms in the post so far by us and Jezebel, but we’re Yanks.)

For those not in the know, Australia has a lady Prime Minister who just kicked the butt of her notoriously sexist and misogynistic opposition leader Tony Abbott from here to kingdom come…and back again. Don’t believe us? Pour yourself a strong cup of Joe or a very dry double martini and watch this 15-minute video clip.

Andy Warhol almost got it right. In the future (or now) everyone will get their 15 minutes on YouTube. Madame Gillard (and yes, you will her address her as that and nothing less from now on) took Abbott to task for hypocrisy, too. You see, Abbott, a career misogynist, actually had the balls (temporarily) to demand that Gillard force her Speaker of the House, a man with the all-too-good last name of Slipper, to resign after he exchanged text messages with a gay male staffer comparing female genitalia to a shellfish best served with frites and a nice glass of white wine.

If you thought American politics are dull, well…you were right.

Sure the Shoe trumped the Slipper (he resigned), but the bigger story was Gillard dressing down Abbott who claimed to be outraged by Slipper’s sexist and misogynistic texts. Said faux outrage was coming from a man who has stood with protestors calling Gillard a “man’s bitch”, claimed women who seek an abortion are looking for “the easy way out” and believes the average Australian woman is a housewife who stays at home ironing. And, there are 14 more minutes of this. Including,

If he [Abbott] wants to know what misogyny looks like in modern Australia he doesn’t need a motion in the house of Representatives, he needs a mirror.

You. Go. Girl.

Madame Gillard, as we Yanks who read Jezebel like to say, went on to “rip him a new asshole”. For 15 minutes. A painfully long time.

Barack Obama, take a leaf.

“She told me, just do what I do. When a reporter asks...

backflashes — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 08:25:00 -0700

“She told me, just do what I do. When a reporter asks about my clothes, just say ‘Would you ever ask a man that question?’ and be done with it. But I begged to differ. Because for me it’s not just about the clothes, it’s about that bloody shoe!”

— Reportedly overheard at the United Nations, September 25, 2012, following Prime Minister Gillard’s conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The conversation went like this: HRH Princess Bajrakitiyabha...

backflashes — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 11:43:00 -0700

The conversation went like this:

HRH Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol of Thailand: I heard about your shoe.

PM Julia Gillard: Oh yeah, that.

HRH Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol of Thailand: I tried to order a pair on Zappos.

PM Julia Gillard: I think you might have better luck on eBay.

“I’m loving this photo op, but I wish these kids...

backflashes — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 07:25:53 -0700

“I’m loving this photo op, but I wish these kids would get their dirty feet off my new shoes.”

Hey Hillary, I thought I’d contact you through my Tumblr...

backflashes — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 16:02:45 -0700

Hey Hillary, I thought I’d contact you through my Tumblr since I know you get a lot of texts. This is Julia Gillard, another really powerful lady who runs that country Down Under. No not New Zealand, the other one - Australia. I’ve always wanted to follow in your footsteps on the world stage. I hope you won’t hold that little incident when I lost my shoe a couple of months ago against me. xo Julia (Gillard) (PM of Australia) (country near New Zealand) (the one with all the kangaroos)

Australian Political Dustup Leaves PM Gillard Firmly Planted with Both Shoes on Her Feet

backflashes — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 09:20:00 -0800

Some 18 months ago Julia Gillard defeated unpopular sitting Prime Minister and Labor Party leader Kevin Rudd and became Prime Minister of Australia, the all-in-one country and continent, home to about 21 million people.

Last week, Rudd quit his day job as Minister of Foreign Affairs to return to Parliament to try and unseat Gillard, an intra-party move in Oz that would be kind of like Hillary Clinton deciding she wanted to overthrow President Obama.

It didn’t work. As reported in The Spectator Australia, Gillard beat back the challenge “by a record 71 to 31 votes.” And the so-called “most unpopular Prime Minister in the history of Australia” lives to govern another day. Having recently made world headlines when an Australia Day near-riot by a group calling themselves the Aboriginal Tent Embassy forced Gillard’s security team to hustle her out of a restaurant, losing her shoe in the process, this Iron Lady lands with both shoes firmly planted on her feet - at least for now.

Australia’s Labor Party is similar to the American Democratic Party, opposed by the oddly named Liberals (read: Republicans). But, the Labor Party shenanigans set off by the return of Rudd (or “K Rudd” as the even more “most unpopular Prime Minister in Australia” calls himself) causes the Labor Party to resemble the current US GOP clown car of candidates for President.

Yikes. What has the Land Down Under gotten itself into?

Source: The Spectator Australia and KazzaDrask Media.

It’s Official - Julia Gillard Really Got Her Shoe BackAnd,...

backflashes — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 11:23:15 -0800

It’s Official - Julia Gillard Really Got Her Shoe Back

And, wow, was she happy! Really happy. So happy that she made former Aussie tennis champ Margaret Court (sitting behind her at the Australian Open the other day) look especially unhappy.

Ah well, nothing can come between a girl and her shoes…even when that girl is the Prime Minister of Australia.

Julia Gillard's Shoe Returns Amid Furor

backflashes — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:38:00 -0800

Julia Gillard's Shoe Returns Amid Furor :

The dark blue wedge—a size 36 Midas—was picked up by Aboriginal political activist Pat Eatock, 75 years old, but was returned to the prime minister’s office late Friday. Activist leaders had earlier threatened to keep the footwear as a symbol of poor race relations in Australia, or sell it on eBay to raise money for the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, a 40-year-old collection of tents and temporary shelters in the capital that is a focal point for indigenous people.

“The decision was taken to given the property back to the original owner,” said Ms. Eatock, who was the first Aboriginal woman in 1972 to seek election for federal government in Australia. “It was a demonstration of our good will.”

The model retails on the designer’s website at about $100. On Friday, an ad on eBay that claimed to be Ms. Gillard’s lost shoe was taken down after receiving bids of up to $2,000.

Apart from marking a lapse in the prime minister’s personal security, the demonstration and subsequent threat to Ms. Gillard has raised again the vexed but often ignored issue of Australia’s indigenous people and their battle for rights.

Source: Wall Street Journal

Gingerella, Come and Get Your Shoe!A UK site is reporting that...

backflashes — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:31:43 -0800

Gingerella, Come and Get Your Shoe!

A UK site is reporting that the Aboriginal Tent Embassy is returning PM Julia Gillard’s shoe. But this latest photo shows that the shoe is taking its time finding the right fit.

Australian Women Hot-Foot It to Buy Julia Gillard’s...

backflashes — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:16:13 -0800

Australian Women Hot-Foot It to Buy Julia Gillard’s Shoe

THE makers of Julia Gillard’s famous “missing” shoe are cashing in on her Cinderella moment, with plans to release a new version dubbed the “Julia”.

The retailer’s website went into meltdown yesterday and its 17 stores around the country were stampeded by fashionistas trying to snap up a pair after seeing them in newspapers and on TV news bulletins, the Herald Sun reported.

They were so popular, Melbourne company Midas is considering releasing a line of the same shoe, but with one very special modification - a strap to keep it firmly fixed on the foot.

By lunchtime yesterday, there was just one pair of the “Glorify” shoes available in Melbourne.

Marilyn Fox (pictured above), a Herald Sun employee, was the last Victorian to pay $148 to own a pair of the shoes.

PM Gillard Can Have Her Shoe Back…in about 20 Years AFTER...

backflashes — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:55:00 -0800

PM Gillard Can Have Her Shoe Back…in about 20 Years

AFTER originally saying that the PM’s shoe would be auctioned, indigenous protesters now say she can make a title claim to it … which should take about 20 years.

The Aboriginal tent embassy’s Facebook page originally posted the stolen shoe would be returned in exchange for the stolen land.

“Julia will be eligible to make a shoe title claim which will take approximately 20 years,” it said.

“This will be dependant on Julia being able to show continuous connection with the shoe.” (Read more)

The Midas Touch: What Julia Gillard’s Shoes Say about Her...

backflashes — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:31:38 -0800

The Midas Touch: What Julia Gillard’s Shoes Say about Her

Cinderella’s prince found the glass slipper, but Aboriginal activist Pat Eatock snared the PM’s blue suede shoe.

Eatock nabbed the size 36 Midas pump after Prime Minister Julia Gillard lost it during the Australia Day protest in Canberra yesterday.

Protesters have abandoned initial plans to sell it on eBay in favour of returning it to Gillard as a gesture of goodwill, but in the meantime the shoe offers an insight into the PMs leadership style.

Midas is an Australian brand, so the shoe demonstrates Gillard’s commitment to our country and its local industry, which she also reinforces in a fashion sense through her her support of designers such as Carla Zampatti in Sydney and Aurelio Costarella in Perth, who both helped dress her last year for the Royal Wedding in London. (Read more)

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard lost her shoe...

backflashes — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:57:00 -0800

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard lost her shoe (reportedly a Size 36, Midas Glorify) in an Australia Day protest in Canberra yesterday. Inanity has ensued. The shoe is allegedly being held hostage and/or being sold to the highest bidder on eBay at press time. We’ll keep you updated on this most fascinating international question: Will the Prime Minister of Australia get her shoe back?

Buy a Pair of Julia's Shoes Now

backflashes — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:55:10 -0800

Buy a Pair of Julia's Shoes Now:

Julia Gillard’s blue size 36 Midas glorify shoe was going to be auctioned on eBay to raise funds for the Aboriginal tent embassy after it slipped off the Prime Minister’s foot during yesterday’s dramatic restaurant escape in Canberra. You can buy a pair for yourself, just like Julia’s, when you click on the link!