“Governments Should Respond to Important Matters Rather than Urgent Ones” - Julia Gillard

First Female Prime Minister of Australia Examines Future Relationship between Governments, People and Media

Sharjah-UAE: 24 February, 2015 – A leader has to have a high sense of self and transcend personal issues that might arise whenever he or she is criticised by his or her people or followers on social media. Digital communication platforms may have many disadvantages, but we have to rise above them and deal with them positively to benefit from them and achieve our greater goals, according to Julia Gillard, Australia’s 27th Prime Minister and the first woman to hold the position.

Gillard’s comments were made at the fourth International Government Communication Forum (IGCF 2015), in an interview that was conducted with her as part of a series of sessions that seek to highlight the individual experience and expertise of leaders around the globe.

In her interview moderated by Stephen Sackur, Presenter of the BBC’s award-winning HARDtalk programme, Gillard shared her experience in the successful management of Australia’s economy during the global financial crisis, highlighting the important role that government communication continues to play in shaping public opinion and in addressing key social and economic issues of a country.

Julia Gillard said: “Social media plays a major role in bridging the gap between the government and the public. At the same time, press conferences, interactive forums and talk shows can deepen the dialogue and take communication to the next level through debating crucial issues that affect the lives of the people in order to bring about the desired change.”

Gillard added: “A leader should trust his people and seek to conduct a responsible, serious dialogue with them on sensitive matters. He should be able to communicate with honesty, transparency and integrity. If he once made promises and could not fulfill them, he should have the courage to explain to his people the circumstances that made these promises impossible to achieve. Surely people will forgive him for his honest admissions.”

Gillard addedShe went on to say: “Governments should undoubtedly respond quickly to urgent matters. However, the speed at which we operate nowadays can adversely impact communication if we do notn’t commit to honesty and truth and if we keep focusing on urgent matters rather than the important ones. The speed at which news is communicated could sometimes make it challenging to distinguish real issues from fake ones.”

Julia Gillard served as Prime Minister of Australia from 2010 to 2013. During her tenure, Gillard developed Australia’s guiding policy paper ‘Australia in the Asian Century’. She is credited with cementing Australia’s alliance with the US, and securing stronger ties with China, India, Japan, Indonesia and South Korea. She represented Australia at the G20, and won the country’s right to host the 2014 meeting.

The second and final day of IGCF 2015 will commence with a speech by Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, President of Liberia and IGCF 2015 Guest of Honour, followed by an interview with Lakhdar Brahimi, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General of the United Nations (2004-2005). Raghida Dergham, New York Bureau Chief for Al Hayat newspaper, will lead the interview.

Titled ‘The future of digital government communication’, the second session on day two will feature Jared Cohen, Founder and Director of Google Ideas, Ben Hammersley, journalist and researcher on social networking tools, Hugh Pinney, Vice President News EMEA at Getty Images, and Muna Abu Sulayman, Presenter at MBC. Rima Maktabi, TV Journalist and Reporter at Al Arabiya News, will moderate the session.

Concluding the IGCF 2015 sessions, Turki Al Dakhil, General Manager of Al Arabiya News, will host a case study titled ‘The Spokesperson: Between the reality and the future’, bringing together Mustafa Al Khalfi, Minister of Communication and Spokesperson of the Moroccan Government; Robin  Gordon-Farleigh, News Planner at the UK Prime Ministry; James Rubin , Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs under President Clinton (1997 – 2000), and Khaled Hazem, Industry Solution Manager, Government Middle East & Africa Public Sector, Microsoft.