Tanya Plibersek, Australian journalist and politician, 45th Australian Minister of Health
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. 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 and Gillard Governments. She is currently the Shadow Minister for Education and Shadow Minister for Women.
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 before entering parliament worked in the NSW Government’s Domestic Violence Unit. Plibersek was elected to the Division of Sydney at the 1998 federal election, aged 28. 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.
In a cabinet reshuffle in 2010, Plibersek was made Minister for Human Services and Minister for Social Inclusion. 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. She is a member of the Labor Party's left faction.