24 hours in politics is a long time in search

The last 24 hours has seen a swift but bloody political battle; an ousted leader; and Australia’s first woman Prime Minister. Australians were following online at every step of the way.

We’ve been flocking in our millions to online media reports, watching press conferences streamed live online, tweeting ferociously (replay the tweet history) - and searching for everything we can find out about this long and remarkable day in Australian politics.

As at 2pm today (Thursday, June 24), the fastest rising search term on google.com.au was no surprise:

australian labour party (1st fastest rising - and yep, that's how Aussies are spelling it when we search)

It was followed by:

rudd speech (2)
tim matheison (4)
alister jordan (6)
kirribilli house (8)
quentin bryce (11)
craig emerson (15)
kevin rudd speech (18)

Rudd and Gillard are the names on everyone’s lips ... but who are the other personalities involved that we want to know more about:

tim matheison (Julia Gillard’s partner) (4)
alister jordan (Kevin Rudd’s chief of staff) (6)
quentin bryce (Governor General) (11)
craig emerson (Small Business Minister) (15)
mark arbib (Minister for Employment Participation) (56)

We’re searching to get to know our new Prime Minister. Among the most popular queries today:

wikipedia julia gillard
julia gillard partner
tim mathieson hairdresser
is julia gillard married
julia gillard atheist
julia gillard boyfriend
how old is julia gillard
julia gillard biography
where was julia gillard born
julia gillard photos
julia gillard religion

Of the top 100 fastest rising terms in Australia as of 2pm, 90 of them were related to the political situation or to news sites covering the remarkable events.

Posted by Lucinda Barlow, Head of Communications and Public Affairs, Google Australia