2007 Australian federal electionThe 2007 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 24 November 2007. All 150 seats in the House of Representatives and 40 of the seats in the 76-member Senate were up for election. The election featured a 39-day campaign, with 13.6 million Australians enrolled to vote. The centre-left Australian Labor Party opposition, led by Kevin Rudd and deputy leader Julia Gillard, defeated the incumbent centre-right Coalition government, led by Liberal Party leader and Prime Minister, John Howard, and Nationals leader and Deputy Prime Minister, Mark Vaile, by a landslide.
Indigenous AustraliansIndigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in areas within the Australian continent before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples of the Australian mainland and Tasmania, and the Torres Strait Islander peoples from the seas between Queensland and Papua New Guinea.
Tony AbbottAnthony John Abbott (ˈæbət; born 4 November 1957) is an Australian former politician who served as the 28th prime minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Abbott was born in London, England, to an Australian mother and a British father, and moved to Sydney at the age of two. He studied economics and law at the University of Sydney, and then attended The Queen's College, Oxford, as a Rhodes Scholar, studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics.
Majority governmentA majority government is a government by one or more governing parties that hold an absolute majority of seats in a legislature. This is as opposed to a minority government, where the largest party in a legislature only has a plurality of seats. A government majority determines the balance of power. A majority government is usually assured of having its legislation passed and rarely if ever, has to fear being defeated in parliament. A state is also known as a working majority.
Kevin RuddKevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian diplomat and former politician who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia, from 2007 to 2010 and June 2013 to September 2013, holding office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). Rudd is the 23rd and current ambassador of Australia to the United States since 2023. Born in Nambour, Queensland, Rudd graduated from the Australian National University with honours in Chinese studies, and is fluent in Mandarin.
Bob HawkeRobert James Lee Hawke (9 December 1929 – 16 May 2019) was an Australian politician who served as the 23rd prime minister of Australia, from 1983 to 1991, holding office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). Previously he was the president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions from 1969 to 1980 and president of the Labor Party national executive from 1973 to 1978. Hawke was born in Border Town, South Australia. He attended the University of Western Australia and went on to study at University College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar.
Paul KeatingPaul John Keating (born 18 January 1944) is an Australian former politician who served as the 24th prime minister of Australia, from 1991 to 1996, holding office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He previously served as the treasurer of Australia in the Hawke government from 1983 to 1991 and as the 7th deputy prime minister of Australia from 1990 to 1991. Keating was born in Sydney and left school at the age of 14. He joined the Labor Party at the same age, serving a term as State President of Young Labor and working as a research assistant for a trade union.
National Party of AustraliaThe National Party of Australia, also known as The Nationals or The Nats, is a centre-right Australian political party. Traditionally representing graziers, farmers, and regional voters generally, it began as the Australian Country Party in 1920 at a federal level. In 1975 it adopted the name National Country Party, before taking its current name in 1982. A conservative and agrarian party, the Nationals combine social conservatism with agrarian socialist economic policies.
Rupert MurdochKeith Rupert Murdoch (ˈmɜːrdɒk ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate, media proprietor, and investor. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including in the UK (The Sun and The Times), in Australia (The Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun, and The Australian), in the US (The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post), book publisher HarperCollins, and the television broadcasting channels Sky News Australia and Fox News (through the Fox Corporation).
Gough WhitlamEdward Gough Whitlam (11 July 1916 - 21 October 2014) was the 21st prime minister of Australia, serving from 1972 to 1975. He was the longest-serving federal leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He was notable for being the head of a reformist and socially progressive administration that extraordinarily ended with his removal as prime minister after controversially being dismissed by the governor-general of Australia, Sir John Kerr, at the climax of the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis.
