1. Tanya Joan Plibersek was born on 2 December 1969 and is an Australian politician who has been Minister for the Environment and Water in the Albanese government since 2022.
56 Facts About Tanya Plibersek
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Tanya Plibersek was deputy leader of the Australian Labor Party from 2013 to 2019 and has served as the Member of Parliament for Sydney since 1998.
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Tanya Plibersek previously held ministerial office in the Rudd and Gillard governments.
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Tanya Plibersek has degrees from the University of Technology Sydney and Macquarie University, and worked in the NSW Government's Domestic Violence Unit before entering parliament.
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Tanya Plibersek was elected to the Division of Sydney at the 1998 federal election, aged 28.
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Tanya Plibersek 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.
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Tanya Plibersek was promoted to Minister for Health the following year, and held that position until Labor's defeat at the 2013 election.
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Tanya Plibersek was then elected as deputy to new ALP leader Bill Shorten.
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Tanya Plibersek served as deputy opposition leader until Labor's defeat at the 2019 Australian federal election.
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Tanya Plibersek was made shadow minister for education under new opposition leader Anthony Albanese.
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Tanya Plibersek is a senior figure in the Labor Left faction.
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Tanya Plibersek was born in Sydney, the youngest of three children born to Joseph and Rose Tanya Plibersek.
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Tanya Plibersek's parents were born in small Slovenian villages, arriving in Australia unknown to each other as part of the post-war immigration scheme.
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Tanya Plibersek's mother was born in Podvinci, and came to Australia via Italy.
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Tanya Plibersek's father was born in Kocno pri Polskavi, and came to Australia via Austria.
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Tanya Plibersek found work as a labourer on the Snowy Mountains Scheme, and later spent 20 years working for Qantas as a plumber and gas fitter.
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Tanya Plibersek grew up in the suburb of Oyster Bay in Sydney's Sutherland Shire.
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Tanya Plibersek attended Oyster Bay Public School and Jannali Girls High School, where she was the dux.
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Tanya Plibersek joined the Labor Party at the age of 15.
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Tanya Plibersek studied journalism at the University of Technology Sydney, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in communications.
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Tanya Plibersek then took a Masters in Public Policy and Politics at Macquarie University.
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Tanya Plibersek 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.
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Tanya Plibersek subsequently joined the office of Senator Bruce Childs, before switching to work for Senator George Campbell as a research officer.
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Tanya 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.
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Tanya 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.
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Tanya 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.
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Tanya Plibersek established the Housing Affordability Fund and First Home Saver Accounts.
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In December 2008, along with Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister at that time, Tanya Plibersek released the Government's White Paper on Homelessness, The Road Home, which expressed a goal of halving homelessness by 2020.
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Tanya Plibersek addressed the 2009 United Nations International Women's Day event, attended by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and announced Australia's formal accession to the United Nations Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
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When Tanya Plibersek was Minister for Health, Australia achieved the best 5-year cancer survival rates in the world.
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Tanya Plibersek delivered 1,300 more hospital beds and 60,000 additional doctors, nurses and allied health professionals.
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Tanya Plibersek was unanimously elected deputy leader of the Labor Party on 14 October 2013, following the leadership election that had seen Bill Shorten succeed Kevin Rudd as leader.
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Tanya Plibersek was Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Development until July 2016.
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Tanya Plibersek was re-elected at the 2019 election with a swing of 5.7 points to the Labor Party.
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Tanya Plibersek was appointed Minister for the Environment and Water in the Albanese government.
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Tanya Plibersek's apology was welcomed by newly elected Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in an interview with ABC News.
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Tanya Plibersek is a member of the Labor Party's left faction.
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Tanya Plibersek has argued that government should actively invest in the economy to promote growth and equality, calling for a federal commitment to a policy of full employment where "Australians who can work, can get a job".
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In higher education Tanya Plibersek promised to reintroduce the demand driven system of university funding, creating an extra 200,000 places for students.
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Tanya Plibersek is a strong supporter of renewable energy and transitioning towards clean energy production.
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Tanya Plibersek has argued that the renewables industry is key to promoting new jobs, assisting local manufacturing, lowering carbon emissions and reducing power prices.
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In 2018, Tanya Plibersek argued against providing federal subsidies for new coal fired power plants.
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Tanya Plibersek released the Homelessness White Paper, which set out a comprehensive national plan to tackle homelessness in Australia with significant funding attached.
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Tanya Plibersek has argued that significant new investment in social and public housing should be part of Australia's response to the coronavirus economic downturn.
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Tanya Plibersek described the provision of the medicine as "a good thing in the situation where women are faced with one of the most difficult decisions that they will ever make".
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Tanya Plibersek supports instituting an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, based on the recommendations made in the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
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Tanya Plibersek opposed the 2017 postal plebiscite, arguing it was unnecessary and divisive, but campaigned strongly for the 'yes' vote during the plebiscite campaign.
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In January 2020 Tanya Plibersek aroused controversy in an Australia Day speech, calling for children to learn the Australian citizenship pledge at school.
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In 2003, when then-US President George W Bush visited Australia, Tanya presented national security adviser Condoleezza Rice with a letter, signed by 43 Labor MPs, explaining why Labor parliamentarians opposed Australia invading Iraq without United Nations approval.
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The Australian noted that Tanya Plibersek's appointment was likely to be criticised by the Jewish community in Australia.
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Tanya Plibersek visited Israel and the State of Palestine in February 2014, meeting with the Prime Minister of Palestine, Rami Hamdallah.
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Tanya Plibersek has held the following portfolios and parliamentary party positions since her election in 1998 :.
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Tanya Plibersek lives in Sydney with her husband Michael Coutts-Trotter, who is a senior NSW public servant, and three children.
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Tanya Plibersek's daughter Anna Coutts-Trotter was a victim of an abusive relationship as a teenager.
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Tanya Plibersek gave birth to her son later that year.
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In September 2016, her older brother Ray Tanya Plibersek was elected to Sutherland Shire council representing C Ward for the Australian Labor Party.