“Hillary Clinton understood in her heart how important it was for girls to get an opportunity.”

Since her retirement from Australian politics ex-Prime Minister Julia Gillard has established herself as one of the world’s foremost education experts.

And, unsurprisingly, she is making friends in high places.

Recently, she attended The Power of an Educated Girl, an event in New York, where she shared the stage with actress Charlize Theron and the US First Lady Michelle Obama to talk about their shared commitment to women’s education.

She has now thrown her support behind Hillary Clinton in her bid to become America’s first female president, appearing in her latest campaign video.

Gillard, who has been a long-time supporter the Democrat, praised the former secretary of state for her efforts to assist women in the developing world.

“Hillary Clinton understood in her heart how important it was for girls to get an opportunity, but she also understood in her head that if we want to build peaceful, economically prosperous nations then we have to educate girls,” she said.

“She was determined to see that women take their places as economic partners in their community and take their places as political leaders in their community.”

Watch the video here (post continues after):

She also praised the calibre of Clinton’s intellect and her impressive diplomatic chops.

In June, after the pair appeared on  a panel of influential women together, Gillard offered some advice to the presidential hopeful.

“If anything happens that’s sexist you’ve got to call it out early rather than thinking it will all normalise itself,” she advised.

She said that the kind of gendered criticism and misogyny she faced as Prime Minister was not isolated to Australian politics and (accurately) foreshadowed that Clinton would face similar attacks.

“We’ll see some of it in real time I think during Hillary Clinton’s campaign,” she said.

“This is the moment for us to be having these deep conversations about how to change it so that for the daughters in the future there’s none of that baggage.”

The video also featured another former US secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, and defence secretary Leon Panetta.