Tanya Plibersek

Tanya Joan Plibersek (born 2 December 1969) is an Australian politician who has been Minister for Social Services in the Albanese government since 2025. She was previously the Minister for the Environment and Water from 2022 to 2025. She was deputy leader of the Labor Party (ALP) from 2013 to 2019 and has served as the member of Parliament (MP) for the division of Sydney since 1998. She previously held ministerial offices in the Rudd and Gillard governments.

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 worked in the NSW Government's Domestic Violence Unit before entering parliament. 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 then elected as deputy to new ALP leader Bill Shorten. Plibersek served as deputy opposition leader until Labor's defeat at the 2019 Australian federal election. She was subsequently made shadow minister for education under new opposition leader Anthony Albanese. Upon Labor's victory at the 2022 Australian federal election, she was appointed Minister for the Environment and Water. After the 2025 federal election she was made Minister for Social Services in the Second Albanese ministry. She is a senior figure in the Labor Left faction.