Overview
'What Simons has excavated from the background of this extraordinary Australian should be cause for great pride and celebration.' -Mandy Sayer, The Weekend Australian
Senator Penny Wong is an extraordinary Australian politician. Resolute, self-possessed and a penetrating thinker on subjects from climate change to foreign affairs, she is admired by members of parliament and the public from across the political divide.
In this first-ever biography of Wong, acclaimed journalist Margaret Simons traces her story- from her early life in Malaysia, to her student activism in Adelaide, her time in the turbulent Rudd and Gillard governments, her key role as a voice of reason in the campaign to legalise same-sex marriage - and a new chapter on her elevation to the post of foreign minister in the Albanese government. What emerges is a picture of a leader for modern Australia, a cool-headed and cautious yet charismatic figure of piercing intelligence, with a family history linking back to Australia's colonial settlers and to the Asia-Pacific.
Drawing on exclusive interviews with Penny Wong and her Labor colleagues, parliamentary opponents, and close friends and family, this is a scintillating insight into an Australian politician without precedence.
Shortlisted, 2021 National Biography Award
Longlisted, 2020 Walkley Book Awards
Longlisted, 2020 Australian Book Industry Awards, Biography Book of The Year
A Readings Best Australian Nonfiction Book of 2019
Senator Penny Wong is an extraordinary Australian politician. Resolute, self-possessed and a penetrating thinker on subjects from climate change to foreign affairs, she is admired by members of parliament and the public from across the political divide.
In this first-ever biography of Wong, acclaimed journalist Margaret Simons traces her story- from her early life in Malaysia, to her student activism in Adelaide, her time in the turbulent Rudd and Gillard governments, her key role as a voice of reason in the campaign to legalise same-sex marriage - and a new chapter on her elevation to the post of foreign minister in the Albanese government. What emerges is a picture of a leader for modern Australia, a cool-headed and cautious yet charismatic figure of piercing intelligence, with a family history linking back to Australia's colonial settlers and to the Asia-Pacific.
Drawing on exclusive interviews with Penny Wong and her Labor colleagues, parliamentary opponents, and close friends and family, this is a scintillating insight into an Australian politician without precedence.
Shortlisted, 2021 National Biography Award
Longlisted, 2020 Walkley Book Awards
Longlisted, 2020 Australian Book Industry Awards, Biography Book of The Year
A Readings Best Australian Nonfiction Book of 2019
Details
ISBN
9781760644185
Binding
Trade paper
Pages
384
Release Date
4/07/2023
2023-07-04T10:00:00+10:00
