Tanya Plibersek

Tanya Joan Plibersek (born 2 December 1969) is an Australian politician who served as Deputy Leader of the Labor Party and Deputy Leader of the Opposition from 2013 to 2019.

Her elder brother Ray is a lawyer, and her eldest brother Phillip (d. 1997) was a geologist.

Her parents were born in small Slovenian villages, arriving in Australia unknown to each other as part of the post-war immigration scheme.

Her mother (née Rosalija Repič) was born in Podvinci, and came to Australia via Italy.

Her father (né Jože Pliberšek) was born in Kočno pri Polskavi, and came to Australia via Austria.

He found work as a labourer on the Snowy Mountains Scheme, and later spent 20 years working for Qantas as a plumber and gas fitter.

Plibersek grew up in the suburb of Oyster Bay in Sydney's Sutherland Shire.

She attended Oyster Bay Public School and Jannali Girls High School, where she was the dux.

She joined the Labor Party at the age of 15.

Plibersek studied journalism at the University of Technology Sydney, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications.

She then took a Masters in Public Policy and Politics at Macquarie University.

After a failed attempt to secure a cadetship with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), she found work with the Domestic Violence Unit at the New South Wales Government's Office for the Status and Advancement of Women.

She found working with the state women's minister Kerry Chikarovski "demoralising" and later criticised her for focusing on the glass ceiling rather than other women's issues.

Plibersek subsequently joined the office of Senator Bruce Childs, before switching to work for Senator George Campbell as a research officer.

She has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sydney since 1998.

A member of the Labor Party, Plibersek served as a Cabinet Minister in the Rudd, Gillard and Albanese governments.

She is currently the Minister for the Environment and Water in the Albanese ministry since 2022, having previously served as the Shadow Minister for Education and Shadow Minister for Women between 2019 and 2022.

Plibersek was born in Sydney to Slovenian immigrant parents and grew up in Sutherland Shire.

She has degrees from the University of Technology Sydney and Macquarie University, and worked in the NSW Government's Domestic Violence Unit before entering parliament.

Plibersek was elected to the Division of Sydney at the 1998 federal election, aged 28.

Plibersek was elected to the House of Representatives at the 1998 federal election, aged 28, retaining the Division of Sydney for the ALP following the retirement of Peter Baldwin.

With the support of George Campbell's "hard left" faction, she won preselection for the seat against twelve other candidates, including ten other women.

In the lead-up to the ballot she "wrote to each branch member three or four times, attended branch meetings virtually every night, gave talks to community groups, and contributed to three candidates' debates".

Plibersek supported Kim Beazley's unsuccessful candidacies in the 2003 ALP leadership votes, where he initially lost to Simon Crean and then later to Mark Latham.

In July 2003 she and Anthony Albanese publicly criticised Crean for his rejection of the party's policy on a Second Sydney Airport.

She joined the Shadow Cabinet in 2004, and when Labor won the 2007 election was made Minister for Housing and Minister for the Status of Women.

After the 2004 election, Plibersek was elected to Latham's shadow ministry and allocated three portfolios – youth; the status of women; and work and family, community and early childhood education.

In June 2005, after Latham was succeeded as opposition leader by Beazley, she retained the youth and status of women portfolios and was given responsibility for childcare.

Upon the release of The Latham Diaries she described him as "a negative and critical person".

Plibersek publicly supported Beazley against Kevin Rudd in the 2006 leadership spill, though was retained in Rudd's shadow ministry after his defeat of Beazley, with the portfolios of youth; the status of women; and human services and housing.

Following the 2007 federal election, Plibersek was appointed Minister for Housing and Minister for the Status of Women in the First Rudd Ministry.

In a cabinet reshuffle in 2010, Plibersek was made Minister for Human Services and Minister for Social Inclusion.

Following the 2010 federal election, Plibersek was appointed Minister for Human Services and Minister for Social Inclusion.

Her appointment took effect following the birth of Plibersek's youngest son Louis, and soon afterwards Plibersek directed the Human Services response to the 2010–11 Queensland floods.

As Minister for Human Services, Plibersek established emergency and recovery centres to provide urgent support to flood-affected communities.

As Minister for Housing, Plibersek established the National Rental Affordability Scheme to build 50,000 affordable rental homes, invested $6 billion in social housing to build 21,600 new homes and repair 80,000 homes, and provided $550 million for homelessness services.

The new housing was built ahead of time and under budget.

She was promoted to Minister for Health the following year, and held that position until Labor's defeat at the 2013 election.

Plibersek was elected Deputy Leader of the Australian Labor Party in the election's aftermath.

Plibersek was born in Sydney, the youngest of three children born to Joseph and Rose Plibersek.