Being a Malaysian-born, openly gay woman hardly seemed like the ticket to longevity or popularity when Wong entered parliament. Yet she has achieved both.
Two thousand, seven hundred and sixty-nine days. That’s how long Penny Wong has served in cabinet, a record that on Wednesday saw her overtake Amanda Vanstone as the longest-serving female cabinet minister in Australian history.
While not a fan of identity politics, Vanstone says it is undoubtedly harder for women to gain, and maintain, senior political roles. Male cabinet colleagues, she recalls, would often blithely neglect to invite her to group dinners – casual encounters where crucial political insights could be gleaned amid discussion of that weekend’s footy results.
Although both studied arts/law at the University of Adelaide and share a love of laksa, Vanstone says she doesn’t know Wong especially well.What strikes her from afar is Wong’s focus on her job and lack of self-aggrandisement. “It doesn’t take much to encourage Penny Wong, sporting her ‘deeply concerned’ frown, to rattle the China can – a can she gave a good shake to yesterday,”With a flash of the toughness that lies beneath her cool demeanour, she added that “it was a new position to be lectured about … whether or not I understood the country of my birth in Malaysia”.
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