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kasshall's review
4.0
4.5 stars.I learned a lot about Plibersek, things I didn’t know despite her public position. Very readable.
lewis_fishman's review
informative
medium-paced
4.0
I grew up around the corner from Tanya's parents, and despite that, never really made the connection or knew much about her. would have been interesting to see more focus on the years of plibersek in opposition, and large parts of the book seemed to be less on tanya and more on the people around her - which was an interesting direction
tasmanian_bibliophile's review
‘Plibersek turned out to be an absorbing subject. Despite her cooperation with this book, she was always cautious in self-revelation. She was a complex and layered subject, as I hope this book reveals.’
Tanya Plibersek is the Minister for the Environment and Water, and the Federal Member for Sydney. Between 2013 and 2019, Ms Plibersek was the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. She was the Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs between 2013 and 2016, and the Shadow Minister for Education and the Shadow Minister for Women from 2017 to 2022.
Ms Plibersek, who was first elected to the Australian Parliament in 1998 at the age of twenty-eight, served as a cabinet minister in the Gillard and Rudd Governments. She was Minister for Health, Minister for Medical Research, Minister for Housing, Minister for Human service, Minister for Social Inclusion and Minister for the Status of Women. She is the longest serving woman in Australia’s House of Representatives. Impressive.
While I admire Tanya Plibersek and would have liked to have seen her lead the Australian Labor Party, I realise that I know very little about her background and motivation. So, I picked up this book with interest.
‘It is hard to write about ambition in a woman. It is part of the background noise of patriarchy, the landscape of politics and achievement that ambition accepted and expected in a talented man will be seen as illegitimate and unappealing in a woman.’
Tanya Plibersek was born in Sydney, the third child of Slovenian immigrants who came to Australia as young adults after World War II. Ms Simons outlines her upbringing, education and influences including a pragmatic approach to achieving change.
Ms Plibersek’s rise began after the 2004 election, when she was given responsibility for youth, work and family, community, early childhood education, and the status of women. I particularly enjoyed reading about the life of the Labor governments between 2007 and 2013. These policy areas have become far more important: childcare and parental leave were once seen as welfare policy rather than economic policy. These policy areas are now recognised as being vital to increasing workforce participation and improving productivity. Ms Plibersek’s activism has been significant.
I was interested in reading about the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years. Rudd’s micromanagement was a blight on his government’s effectiveness.
Perhaps, as Ms Simons notes, Ms Plibersek’s single biggest contribution to public policy so far is the work she started to develop a long-term national plan in relation to violence against women. We still have a way to go.
I finished this book wondering what the future holds for Ms Plibersek.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
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