This was published 13 years ago
Postcard from the PM - having a festive time, peeling spuds and carrots
By Mark Metherell
THE Prime Minister's revelation that she always peels the potatoes and carrots for Christmas dinner has underlined her domesticated festive season.
Julia Gillard has spent Christmas with her parents, John and Moira, at their retirement village home in suburban Adelaide watching movies and catching up with her friends and family, her spokesman says.
Julia Gillard yesterday.Credit: Morne de Klerk
In between she has got through some paperwork.
The nearest Ms Gillard - not known to be keen on the surf - got to a beach was yesterday when she appeared briefly in public to attend South Australia's Proclamation Day event at North Glenelg.
The Rudds at Cradle Mountain last summer.Credit: Grant Wells
It is a far cry from the former acting prime minister Doug Anthony, who ran the government from a north coast beachside caravan, or even the previous prime minister Kevin Rudd, who spent one Christmas at Kirribilli writing his essay on the global financial crisis.
The former prime minister John Howard spent several holidays with his family at a rented apartment in Hawks Nest. The Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, is spending his holidays with family on the south coast.
Ms Gillard's Adelaide interlude ends today when she returns to Kirribilli House and may, according to her spokesman, take in a bit of the fifth Test in Sydney next week. He would not say what movies she watched or even what books she might be reading on her break.
The only detail he would divulge was that ''she definitely would have peeled the spuds and carrots''.
Memories ... John Howard on Norfolk Island in 1999 while Doug Anthony runs Australia from his caravan in 1982.Credit: Julian Andrews/Fairfax Archives
At Proclamation Day, which commemorates South Australia's creation as a British colony in 1836, Ms Gillard recalled her arrival aged four with her parents from Wales. ''I am proud that my family's story, my own story, is rooted in this place.''
The event is held each year at the Old Gum Tree site and Ms Gillard said that while the old tree may have withered, ''our state and our country is still young, still looking forward to the best days to come''.