Penelope Ying-Yen Wong (born 5 November 1968) is an Australian politician who has served as the minister for foreign affairs and the leader of the Government in the Senate in the Albanese government since 2022. A member of the Labor Party, she has been a senator for South Australia since 2002, and served as a minister in the Rudd, Gillard, and second Rudd governments.
Born in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, to a Chinese-Malaysian father from the town of Sandakan and an English-Australian mother from Adelaide, Wong was educated at Scotch College prior to attending the University of Adelaide, graduating with Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws degrees. She then worked as a lawyer and political advisor. Wong entered politics by winning a Senate seat in the 2001 election.
Following Labor's victory in the 2007 election, she was appointed Australia's first-ever Minister for Climate Change, going on to represent the country at the landmark 2009 UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. Following the 2010 election, Wong was moved to become Minister for Finance and Deregulation, and in June 2013, she was elected by her colleagues to become Leader of the Government in the Senate. 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. Upon Labor's victory at the 2022 election, Wong was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs, and resumed her role as Leader of the Government in the Senate.
In 2008, she became the first Asian-Australian in an Australian cabinet. She was also the first female openly LGBTI Australian federal parliamentarian, and was an instrumental figure in the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Australia in 2017, reversing her previous endorsement of Labor Party policy that had opposed it. On 6 March 2024, Wong became the longest-serving female cabinet minister in the history of the Australian Parliament.
Early life and education Penelope Ying-Yen Wong was born on 5 November 1968 in Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Sabah, which had become part of the Federation of Malaysia in 1963.Simons 2019, p. 7. Her parents were Jane (née Chapman) (died 2024), an English Australian whose forebears first reached South Australia on Cygnet in 1836,Simons 2019, p. 9. and Francis Wong (1941–2023), a Chinese-Malaysian architect-cum-town-planner who hailed from Sandakan, the former capital and second-largest city or town located in the state's east coast.Simons 2019, p. 18. Penny Wong's parents had met in the early 1960s, when Francis Wong was studying architecture at the University of Adelaide under the Colombo Plan.Simons 2019, p. 21. Wong grew up speaking Bahasa Malaysia (particularly the Sabahan dialect) and Chinese (her native vernacular dialects of Cantonese and Hakka), in addition to English which was her first language and the primary language spoken at home by her mixed-race parents.Simons 2019, p. 26. At five years old, she began attending the Kinabalu International School.Simons 2019, p. 28. After her parents separated, she moved to Adelaide, South Australia, at the age of eight with her mother and younger brother.
After starting at Coromandel Valley Primary School, Wong gained a scholarship to Scotch College, Adelaide, where she studied chemistry, physics and mathematics. 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.Simons 2019, p. 40.
She was accepted into the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery at the University of Adelaide, but after spending a year on exchange in Brazil, found she had an aversion to blood. She then studied and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Jurisprudence and a Bachelor of Laws with Honours at the University of Adelaide in 1993, followed by a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice at the University of South Australia.
Student politics and activism Through her friendship with David Penberthy, who had also been on exchange in Latin America,Simons 2019, p. 45. Wong joined the Socialist Workers Party-sponsored Committee in Solidarity with Central America and the Caribbean (CISCAC) while at university in 1987, but was not an active member.Simons 2019, p. 51. Wong's connections with CISCAC brought her in contact with a broader group of left-wing activists who opposed the Hawke Labor government's planned changes to university fees. 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.Simons 2019, pp. 54–55. 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." Wong joined the Labor Party that day; she credits her decision to her conversation with Boswell, and the Liberal-National Coalition's new "One Australia" policy opposing multiculturalism and Asian immigration.Simons 2019, pp. 58–60.
Wong became involved with the leadership of the Adelaide University Labor Club, and has been a delegate to the South Australian Labor Party State Convention every year since 1989 (with the exception of 1995).
She also worked part-time for the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), and won a position on the National Executive of the National Union of Students. A number of her contemporaries at university went on to become Australian politicians, including former senator for South Australia, Natasha Stott Despoja; former Premier of South Australia, Jay Weatherill; and health minister Mark Butler.
Professional career After graduation, Wong continued her association with the CFMEU as an industrial officer. She was admitted to the South Australian Bar in 1993. During 1995 and 1996, Wong acted as an advisor to the CFMEU and to the newly elected New South Wales state government, specializing in the area of forest policy in the middle of the fierce 1990s environmental battles over logging in NSW.
On returning to Adelaide, Wong began practising law, working as a solicitor at the firm Duncan and Hannon (1996–1999). From 1999 to 2002, she worked as a legal officer with the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union. During this time she also won a position on the ALP's state executive.
During her legal career (1996–2002), Wong appeared as counsel in eleven published decisions of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, 15 published decisions of the South Australian Industrial Relations Court, eight published decisions of the South Australian Industrial Relations Commission, three published decisions of the South Australian Workers Compensation Appeal Tribunal and ten published decisions of the South Australian Workers Compensation Tribunal.
Political career
Election to the Senate
Wong ran for pre-selection for the Senate in 2001, and was selected for the top position on the Labor Party's South Australian ticket. She was elected at the 2001 election, her term commencing on 1 July 2002. Wong is a member of Labor Left, and is a member of EMILY's List Australia, the support network for Labor women, and sat on a number of Senate committees, primarily those related to economics.
In June 2005, Wong was appointed Shadow Minister for Employment and Workforce Participation, and Shadow Minister for Corporate Governance and Responsibility. Following the reshuffle in December 2006, she became responsible for the portfolios of Public Administration and Accountability, Corporate Governance and Responsibility, and Workforce Participation.
First Rudd government (2007–2013) In December 2007, in the wake of the Labor Party victory in the 2007 election, Wong was appointed to the Cabinet of Australia in the first Rudd government as the Minister for Climate Change, the first person to hold this role in an Australian cabinet. She accompanied then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to Bali for the international climate change talks. 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.
Gillard and Second Rudd governments (2010–2013) Shortly after the commencement of the Gillard government in June 2010, Julia Gillard promoted Wong to succeed Lindsay Tanner as Minister for Finance and Deregulation. At this time, Wong said she agreed with the Labor Party policy on marriage because there was a, "cultural, religious and historical view of marriage being between a man and a woman".
In February 2013, Wong was elected as the ALP's deputy Senate leader following the resignation of Chris Evans, thus becoming Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate.Ministerial Representation & Senate Office Holders in the Senate 43rd Parliament • 25 March 2013 • The Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia , accessed 8 September 2013 Wong retained the position of Minister for Finance after Kevin Rudd's successful leadership spill in June 2013. Following Stephen Conroy's resignation and the beginning of the second Rudd government, she also became the Leader of the Government in the Senate. She was the first woman to be elected as ALP Senate leader, and the first woman to serve as Leader of the Government in the Senate.Senator The Hon Penny Wong , directory.gov.au, accessed 8 September 2013 Wong held these roles until Labor's defeat at the 2013 federal election.
Opposition (2013–2022) 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. She was also appointed Labor's trade and investment spokesperson, before later taking over responsibility for the foreign affairs portfolio from Tanya Plibersek. In these roles, she helped negotiate Australia's interests in the Trans-Pacific Partnership which was ratified in late 2018. In March 2019, Wong was named the 2018 McKinnon Political Leader of the Year.
Following the 2019 Labor leadership contest, Wong retained her positions as Leader of the Opposition in the Senate and Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs in the new cabinet of Anthony Albanese. At this point she was named part of Albanese's four-person ALP leadership team, along with Richard Marles and Kristina Keneally.
Albanese Government (2022–present)
With Labor winning government in the 2022 Australian federal election, Wong became Minister for Foreign Affairs. 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. Wong is the first Asian Australian and the first openly LGBTI person to hold the office of Australian Foreign Minister.
On 6 March 2024, Wong became longest-serving female cabinet minister in the history of the Australian Parliament, setting a new record as she served her 2,769th day in cabinet and exceeding the number of days served by former Liberal senator Amanda Vanstone.
China Wong sought to improve the relationship between Australia and China, which deteriorated after the previous Australian government under Scott Morrison wanted to investigate the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and condemned China's mistreatment of ethnic Uyghurs. In December 2022, Wong met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, becoming the first Australian cabinet minister to visit China since 2019.
In response to Chinese naval exercises in the Tasman Sea in February 2025, Wong met Wang Yi at the G20 summit in South Africa to raise Australian concerns about Chinese naval activities near Australia.
Iran