Julia Gillard is the most put-upon prime minister in question time in recent times, according to a new academic study reported by Australian Associated Press.
More than 21,000 question time questions from the opposition were tracked from 1981 to 2025, taking in the tenures of 10 prime ministers.
The study found prime ministers were asked just 26% of questions back in the early 1980s, but have fielded roughly half of all opposition queries in the past decade.
“It’s part of an overall pattern over time of politics becoming more personalised or centralised around party leaders,” the study’s lead author, Australian Catholic University political scientist Daniel Casey, told AAP.
“Question time is increasingly becoming a heavyweight title fight ... while ministers are being let off the hook.”
Top of the pops - receiving 62% of all questions from the then Tony-Abbott-led opposition - was Julia Gillard.
Casey said a wealth of research showed female leaders were subjected to higher levels of attack than their male counterparts.
“It was the period with the lowest (level of the) leader of the opposition asking questions, and instead they used their deputy leader, Julie Bishop ... the opposition really went out of their way to get their women to ask questions.”
