Suicide prevention, obesity, gay marriage and the meaning of happiness were just a handful of issues the Prime Minister was quizzed on in a virtual chatroom this morning.
At 11am Julia Gillard took part in a Google+ hangout, an experiment in online democracy and a first for an Australian prime minister.
The Prime Minister responded to more than a dozen questions in the one hour digital interview, a collaboration between Fairfax Media, OurSay and Deakin University.
A Google spokeswoman said there were 21,000 live views of the this morning’s virtual interview.
One of the more challenging questions came from Shane Bazzi, a 25-year-old Sydneysider who topped the poll on the OurSay.org website with more than 12,700 votes.
He asked the Prime Minister to explain her opposition to gay marriage given she is as an atheist and leader of a “self-described socially progressive party”.
“I don’t think that heterosexual relationships are more valued than same-sex relationships,” the Prime Minister replied.
“I think people who are in loving, commited relationships, all of those relationships should be valued. I think my relationship should be valued and I’m not married.”
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