In 2006 Wong met her current partner, Sophie Allouache; together they have two daughters, Alexandra, born in 2011, and Hannah, in 2015. Penny Wong: Passion and principleby Margaret Simons, Black Inc., $34.99 pb, 368 pp, 9781760640859. Brad Orchard parents: Who are his father and mother? Weatherill subsequently publicly announced that he had conceded, saying, "I'm sorry I couldn't bring home another victory, but I do feel like one of those horses that has won four Melbourne Cups and I think the handicap has caught up with us on this occasion. Wong has been described by her biographer as "principled, intellectual, private, restrained and sane". [21], The 20122013 budget was Weatherill's first, with Jack Snelling as treasurer, and came with deep cuts aiming to achieve major savings. [38], During her legal career (19962002), Wong appeared as counsel in 11 published decisions of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, 15 published decisions of the South Australian Industrial Relations Court, 8 published decisions of the South Australian Industrial Relations Commission, 3 published decisions of the South Australian Workers Compensation Appeal Tribunal and 10 published decisions of the South Australian Workers Compensation Tribunal. ", "Brown "horrified" at Wong's anti-gay marriage stance", "Since March 2019 government trust & distrust have fluctuated but 2021 ended with soaring levels of distrust", "Passion and principle: Penny Wong is far from done", "Labor voice inspired by the fight for ideas", "lumen Australian experience builds global perspective", "First Day: Penny Wong's journey from shy student to Senator", "Freakish powers of a formidable operator", "Can Wong avert carbon-fuelled train wreck? [2], Labor was in government from 2002, with Weatherill leading the Labor government since a 2011 leadership change from Mike Rann. And we see, over and over, how racism was so pervasive in her life that inevitably it became the paramount issue for her. When Penny was eight, her parents separated. In this extract from her biography of Penny Wong, Margaret Simons considers the question everyone has been asking her. The two women in the Senate were to maintain balance in the leadership team, as Plibersek and Shorten had epitomised before the election. Updated: November 15, 2012 . During her time at Scotch College, Wong toured New Caledonia as part of her French language studies, performed in school productions of plays such as Six Characters in Search of an Author, and co-captained the hockey team. This is an important revelation, as it might be the first and last recorded example of squeamishness in Penny Wong. She is assumed to be more conventionally left wing than she really is, and somehow above or outside the dirty business of politics when one of the central points of this book is that she is decidedly in the room, inside and of politics. We would not have stayed in government without Albo. JAY Weatherill has called on Australia to take a good hard look at itself during an emotional episode of Q&A. In the Senate from 2002, Wong would find her feet as a politician and gradually rose within the ALP. Australians already struggling to find a doctor have been warned that things are about to get frighteningly worse. As leader of the party, he said his responsibilities were to lead and, when asked his opinion, to give his judgment. She is serious of demeanour and conservative of appearance, given neither to drinking nor excessive frivolity. Notably, the AAA credit rating achieved under the Rann government was lost, downgraded to AA+ in October,[22] a move foreshadowed by Snelling. Jay Weatherill and Rod Equid Photos Photos - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (C) talks at the ASC facilities as Australian Senator Penny Wong (L), South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill . Penny Wong delivers condolence speech for colleague Kimberley Kitching Staying in Adelaide was not an option, Simons explains. First was her seven-year-relationship with Dascia Bennett, in which she was stepmother to Dascia's two children, and which ended shortly after Wong's election to the Senate. Events; Contact Jay Weatherill. Theres another simple solution, retorted Mr Weatherill. Kevin Rudd AC @AmboRudd. "She learned to control her emotions and fiercely protect her thoughts, not to let those outside her family see what was going on inside." As the ALP digests its recent report on how it lost the 2019 election, some commentators are calling for a change of leadership. In a powerful maiden speech in August 2002, Wong paid special tribute to Toby, called for Australia to unite as a compassionate country, and condemned the racist division of Australian society exacerbated by Pauline Hanson and John Howard. It's deeply personal, and it has sustained me at difficult times of my life. The better answer is that she has never aspired to the job. In two years the agency had created over 9,000 jobs for South Australians. Labor MP for Adelaide . These included laws to ensure equal access to IVF and surrogacy services for same sex couples, equal access to adoption, the establishment of a relationships register, the removal of discriminatory language throughout legislation, formal protections for intersex people, and changes to make amending a gender on a birth certificate easier. book's third surprise is Wong's matter-of-fact segue from a five-year relationship with the then young Labor activist Jay Weatherill - later . I deliver factual information from all over the world and ensure that my readers get only the best of the best. Type above and press Enter to search. There are several surprises in Margaret Simons' biography of Penny Wong. Anna Bligh. [21] At five years old, she began attending Kinabalu International School. [58] The Federal Government refused, however in 2017 British consortium GFG Alliance settled on terms of a purchase of the steelworks with administrators Korda Menthe. [53], In 2015, Weatherill invited the South Australian Law Reform Institute to review all legislation for discrimination against the LGBTIQ community resulting in a number of bills eventually being passed in the South Australian Parliament. My concern now is even if the Parliament railroaded it through it would be such a controversial issue we wouldnt stop talking about the issue, because we built up this expectation that Australians get to have their say on it. [66][67], During a 2023 Senate estimates hearing, Wong was asked about the presence of nuclear weapons aboard nuclear-capable B-52s and B2 Sprits U.S. bombers, which operate regularly out of northern Australia. [55] In March 2019, Wong was named the 2018 McKinnon Political Leader of the Year.[56]. [23], After starting at Coromandel Valley Primary School, Wong gained a scholarship to Scotch College, Adelaide, where she studied chemistry, physics and mathematics. Simons notes that Wongs Liberal opponents have only good things to say about her (as does the cleaner in charge of ministerial offices at Parliament House), and that she is commonly regarded with a mixture of fear and respect. "[77][78][79][80], Peter Malinauskas became Leader of the Opposition and succeeded Weatherill who had resigned as Labor leader, with Susan Close as deputy, following a Labor caucus meeting on 9 April 2018. Press Esc to cancel. Wong called people "comrade"; she was intensely organised; her attention to detail was rigorous. In this role, she helped negotiate Australia's interests in the Trans-Pacific Partnership which was ratified in late 2018. In a reshuffle of the South Australian Cabinet that week, Weatherill also announced the expanded the portfolio to become 'Defence and Space Industries'. Senator Natasha Stott Despoja was a contemporary, as well as Wong's then boyfriend, Jay Weatherill, now a senior minister in Mike Rann's South Australian Government. Wong first visited Adelaide as a two-year-old on a visit with her mother. Here is the book's first surprise: Penny Wong is a churchgoer. Penny Wong is an Australian politician who has been public about her sexual orientation. Penelope Ying-Yen Wong (Chinese: , born 5 November 1968) is an Australian politician who is currently serving as the minister for Foreign Affairs and leader of the Government in the Senate in the Albanese Government since 2022. Labor's Senate leader, Penny Wong, has basically backed what she calls a "searingly honest" (she said this a few times) and "extremely well-done" report. In 1988 John Howard, leader of the opposition, announced the Coalitions new immigration policy of One Australia to reduce Asian immigration. Related Authors. Its a pretty fundamental question of respect. Asked why no other countries were vying for the privilege if this was such a good idea, he answered: If you regard yourself as an international citizen, if this is the best place in the world to store waste, which has to exist somewhere in the world, it isnt going away., Host Tony Jones joked with him: Do you have a vision here? Racism, misogyny and homophobia aside, the aspects of her character that constitute her chief weakness the sometimes ill- judged aggression would likely be more apparent. I have mine. Wong, who was at the University of Adelaide with nascent Australian Democrat MP Natasha Stott Despoja and journalists David Penberthy, Samantha Maiden and Annabel Crabb, also has in her past a five-year relationship with the former South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill. Penny Wong. Weatherill nonetheless kept Brock and Hamilton-Smith in cabinet, giving the government a 26 to 21 parliamentary majority. Senator Natasha Stott Despoja was a contemporary, as well as Wong's then boyfriend, Jay Weatherill, now a senior minister in Mike Rann's South Australian Government. Whether as prime minister or foreign minister, there is a good chance that she will yet be one of our top leaders, which is a compelling reason for us to know more about the making of Penny Wong. And, around Albanese, Penny Wongs allies and collaborators are grouping. But Weatherill said he did see the senator as a threat to him, which was the "very last impression" the Labor party wanted to give electorate. In a July 1988 election, Wong won a position on the board of the Adelaide University Union as part of the newly-formed Progressive Education Team. It's true that in student politics, where practitioners subsist on a rich diet of reality-free political theory and too many standing orders, things can often get out of hand. Hillary Clinton, Penny Wong, Jay Weatherill, Rod Equid - Jay Weatherill Wong worked part-time as an organiser for the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union through the concluding stages of her law degree, but still managed to graduate with honours. Technically, Wong was never really "in". Largely, this was about gender balance, with Albanese and Richard Marles as leader and deputy leader in the lower house. Over the first two Simplify Days (2016 and 2017), the government amended 101 acts and regulations and removed 22 acts altogether. [47] Weatherill used the release of the report as an opportunity to undertake "one of the largest" deliberative democracy processes in Australia's history. All rights reserved. What happens if Labor doesnt win the next election, expected in 2022? In her second year, she became active in student politics and was elected to the students association and the board of the university union. She says the navel-gazing should come to an end and recommendations should be implemented ASAP. Wong brought her mother, Jane Chapman, and her partner, Sophie Allouache - a former University of Adelaide Students' Association president - to Monday's swearing-in ceremony at Yarralumla. Media Statements Opinion Pieces Transcripts Speeches. Jay Weatherill announces Royal Commission into Murray-Darling Plan [48] Weatherill stated early that a nuclear waste facility would need both public and bipartisan support, with the former withdrawn by Liberal leader Steven Marshall. [73] Later in 2018, after the change of state government, the Federal Government barred Murray Darling Basin Authority officials from appearing at the Royal Commission to give evidence. During the discussion of taking refugees from Central America, Mr Birmingham said it was important to take the most needy, the most worthy. SOUTH Australia Premier and Penny Wongs ex Jay Weatherill drew cheers as he called on Australia to take a good hard look at itself. [25] However, the bill was frustrated by Labor's conservative Catholic right, as well as a lack of support by then Prime Minister Julia Gillard, and faced constitutional issues as expressed by the SA Liberal Party. Check out the latest pictures, photos and images of Jay Weatherill and Penny Wong. The Wongs were part of a Christian minority in a largely Muslim nation. [87], He was reported to have contracted COVID-19 at a school reunion event in Norwood, South Australia on 27 November 2021. Wong experienced her early childhood as a comfortable cultural melange. Penny Wong. The audience roared with laughter as he added: Would you put it on your numberplates? It gave Wong a strong sense of a divine force to which there were many paths. She is an introvert, in this media-saturated age an insuperable liability in pursuit of the top job. | Tim Hollo, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. She started to the left of the Labor Party, but in 1988 in the heat of debate and student protest over the introduction of the HECS scheme, she became convinced that it was more important to be in the room to influence policy. [32] Despite this, the government included funding for the Gawler railway line up to Dry Creek, a number of measures supporting small businesses and entrepreneurs, and promised a return to surplus by 20152016. Jay Weatherill was a great Premier and a fine Labor leader. Jay Wilson Weatherill AO (born 3 April 1964)[1] is a former Australian politician who was the 45th Premier of South Australia, serving from 21 October 2011 until 19 March 2018. She also said the government wanted a greater U.S. military presence in the Indo-Pacific region. Wong led final negotiations as Chair of the United Nations Working Group in the closing days of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in December 2007, shortly after her appointment as minister. The hospital has been described as "the most advanced in the nation". There is a hint of it in her smile, which is shy and engaging; she is striking to look at, and photogenic, but hates having her picture taken. Weatherill. When I am not immersed in writing, I spend most of my time reading, learning languages, and catching up on my favorite shows. In June 2005, Wong was appointed Shadow Minister for Employment and Workforce Participation,[43] and Shadow Minister for Corporate Governance and Responsibility. She was trying to take the club over and I was trying to defend it. Emma Reynolds Will she quit politics if Labor fails next time around? Following Labor's defeat in the 2013 election, Wong held several roles in the Shadow Cabinets of both Bill Shorten and Anthony Albanese, serving as Leader of the Opposition in the Senate throughout. She is charming, but also cutting. Prior to beginning her political career, she worked as a lawyer and political advisor. "The rest of us would be running around, putting up posters, but she would be talking about serious number-crunching deals, preference flows, stuff that made you think - this is really serious business," she says. On 18 March, the day after the election, Weatherill announced his decision to step down as Labor leader, but intended to remain in Parliament on the back-bench. Don Farrell. Wong was born in 1968 in the northern Borneo city of Kota Kinabalu, the capital of the Malaysian state of Sabah. She is a practising Christian. Authors; . This was in response to AEMO ordering power be cut to tens of thousands of homes rather than instructing generators to switch on[69] The plan also further incentivised gas exploration by increasing royalties to farmers, and ensuring that gas went to South Australians first[70], On 16 March 2017, Weatherill eviscerated then federal energy minister Josh Frydenberg at a press conference in Adelaide. Keneally, on the other hand, is an ambitious contemporary of Wongs, just a few weeks younger, a former premier of New South Wales and a good media performer. Campbell Newman. During 2013 it became the longest-serving state Labor government in South Australian history, and in addition went on to win a fourth four-year term at the 2014 election. Colleagues now describe her as "relentless", and this word sums up her progress through the federal parliamentary Labor Party, of which she has been a member for just five years. The relationship thawed and Simons was able to conduct six interviews. [28] However, the mine remains operational, employing 2500 people. Despite the outcome, there was actually a statewide two-party-preferred swing away from the Liberals toward Labor of over 1%. She was sworn in on 23 May 2022, only two days after the election and before final results were known, in order to attend a pre-scheduled meeting of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue with newly elected Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Penny Wong did not always intend to be a politician, even if it looks that way in retrospect. Wong does not discuss the circumstances of this dreadful blow, beside an enigmatic promise to him in her maiden speech: "Your life and death ensure that I shall never forget what it is like for those who are truly marginalised. Early Life and Education ADVERTISEMENT [67] The most notable was the statewide 2016 South Australian blackout. South Australian premier says senator is threat to him the 'very last impression' the Labor party wants to give electorate. [35] She was admitted to the South Australian Bar in 1993. The reporter is also a University of Adelaide alumnus. Her grandmother was Buddhist, her father identified as Catholic and her mother was raised a Methodist. Following Stephen Conroy's resignation and the beginning of the second Rudd government, she also became the Leader of the Government in the Senate. This important new degree will help build a pipeline of talent across & will play a critical role in the development of . [53], Following Labor's defeat at the 2013 Australian federal election, Wong was elected Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, becoming the first woman to hold the position. The Congress in Adelaide hosted 3500 delegates from around the world, including Elon Musk of SpaceX and NASA. Life improved greatly when Penny won a scholarship to the lite Scotch College. Malcolm Turnbull exploits divisions between Jay Weatherill and Bill Turnbulls policies were worse than Abbotts was post the party room meeting. In July, Jay Weatherill (seen next to SA irrigator Sam Dodd) and Ian Hunter were joined by South Australian senators Labor's Penny Wong, the Greens' Sarah Hanson-Young, Australian . She and fellow campaigners Anthony Albanese and Tanya Plibersek positively contrast with the cynical and self-interested calculus of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard on the issue. BiographyPenny WongMargaret SimonsBlack Inc., $34.99. 2023 Ghanafuo.com & DM Network. She is a forensic Senate operative in the John Faulkner mould. Ten days after the 2001 election, which first took Penny into the Senate, Toby killed himself. [19][20] Wong grew up speaking dialects of Malay (Bahasa Melayu), Chinese, and English. It is a health and medical research institute housing more than 700 researchers, and was the first stage of a new health and bio-medical precinct on North Terrace in Adelaide. He is currently retired and announced his intention to retire from Parliament on December 6, 2018. I remember always thinking that he had five-year plans and seven-year plans, and I just did the next thing, and then the next. Her new book Don Dunstan: The visionary politician who changed Australia (Allen & Unwin, 2019) was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery grant. Some people are born with an innate ability to sing; some to paint, or dribble a basketball. [54], During this time, Weatherill also issued a formal apology to the LGBTIQ community for historical discrimination, and signed South Australia up to the trial of the HIV prevention drug PrEP. Butler, who remains factionally close, describes her as a cool political operator ideally suited to the task set for her by Rudd. Penny Wong was born to Jane Chapman and Francis Wong. She thrived and excelled academically, as well as shining in drama and sport. The Labor leadership team: (L-R) Senate leader Penny Wong, deputy Senate leader Kristina Keneally, opposition leader Anthony Albanese and deputy opposition leader Richard Marles. HE WAS always one to have a girlfriend, according to Joy. ", "Penny Wong, as South Australian senator, sets firsts as Asian-born federal minister; openly gay parliamentarian", "AustLII: 159 documents found for ("P Wong")", "The 12 Labor figures who will do the heavy lifting in government", "Garrett pays price for insulation debacle", "Garrett Stripped of Climate Change Role", Ministerial Representation & Senate Office Holders in the Senate 43rd Parliament 25 March 2013 The Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, "Gillard unveils major frontbench shake-up", "Tanya Plibersek elected deputy Labor leader, Penny Wong re-elected to lead Labor in Senate", "Labor drops opposition to Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal", "Penny Wong and Jordon Steele-John celebrated for political leadership", "Labor leader Anthony Albanese announces frontbench in wake of federal election 2019", "Anthony Albanese sworn in as prime minister, and makes Quad timing a virtue", "Proud to be Asian and gay! [24] She was accepted into the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery at the University of Adelaide,[25] but after spending a year on exchange in Brazil,[26] found she had an aversion to blood. It portrays the kind of person both sides of politics need more of: intelligent, focused, hard-working, with a consistent set of values and, crucially, aware of and able to work within the realities of politics, including the ability to play a long game. It came after audience member David Hunter posed a question to Penny Wong about whether Labor might be smarter to agree to a plebiscite so a decision would be guaranteed early next year. Comments John Faulkner, phlegmatically, How long are you going to condemn her to sit in parliament?. One told me that repair work had to be done after a Wong display of temper against her own. Other contemporaries include the South Australian Transport Minister, Pat Conlon, the federal Liberals Christopher Pyne and Andrew Southcott, the Labor senator Anne McEwen, the new member for Port Adelaide, Mark Butler, and the South Australian Speaker, Jack Snelling. But what are the odds that Penelope Ying-Yen Wong, born in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, on November 5, 1968, would enter this world with a God-given knack for politics? So Penny Wong will almost certainly never be prime minister. Conlon, whose relations with Wong are chillier since the split, nevertheless describes her as "intelligent, and focused on her goals", and says he has "no doubt at all that she will be a success in the role". He matriculated in 1981 as dux of the school. The opposition is now dominated by her allies. Intellectually, Penny Wong is clearly head and shoulders above most of her colleagues. One of the Indonesian ministers said to me, if you take the sugar off the table the ants will stop coming.. [31] One month later, while protesting outside a state Labor Party convention at the Adelaide Trades Hall, Wong had a conversation with Young Labor member Lois Boswell, who told her that "if you wanted to really make a difference, you had to be inside the room having that battle." [80] Allouache gave birth to their second daughter in 2015, at the Adelaide Women's and Children's Hospital.[81]. Wong's mother Jane astutely observed of Gillard to her daughter during Gillard's prime ministership, "People would not understand how an atheist and a single woman in a de facto relationship could hold these views", adding to the "idea that she was somehow not authentic". Labor Senator for South Australia. A periodic flirtation with cigarettes is about as close as she gets to formal vice.
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