Migrants' daughter popular deputy pick

MP Tanya Plibersek (left) is sworn-in by Governor General Quentin Bryce. Photo / Getty Images

Two decades ago, on her first day as a Senate staffer, a young Tanya Plibersek stood at the doors of Parliament House in Canberra, awed that the daughter of Slovenian migrants should have risen so far.

"I remember on that day walking up to the front of the building and being so very proud that someone with my background could participate in our democracy," she said this week.

"I don't think there are many countries in the world where someone whose parents came here with nothing but a suitcase each could aspire to being a member of Parliament, let alone taking on this responsibility that my colleagues have entrusted me with."

Plibersek, 43, was speaking after her appointment as deputy leader of the Labor Party, continuing a stellar rise through party ranks and greeted with acclaim by Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten, former Prime Minister Julia Gillard, and fellow MPs.

"She is a remarkable Australian," Shorten said.

Gillard who held Plibersek's job before ousting Kevin Rudd to become Australia's first female Prime Minister, tweeted: "Congratulations to Tanya Plibersek on becoming Labor's deputy leader. A woman of achievement & vision, wit & warmth."

Plibersek heads 11 women in Shorten's new shadow ministry, more than any previous frontbench in either major party. Her colleagues include Penny Wong, the former Finance Minister, who will be Leader of the Opposition in the Senate.

But Plibersek's elevation was mired in the factional scrapping Shorten had pledged to eliminate.

Female casualties included former Speaker of the House Anna Burke, who lost her bid to be Chief Whip, former Multicultural Affairs Minister Kate Lundy and former Aged Care Minister Jacinta Collins.

Burke said Shorten had failed to deliver progress for women in the party despite their numbers in the shadow ministry.

Plibersek denied that the line-up had been decided by "blokes looking after themselves".

"It's a bit glass half-full, glass half-empty," she said. "I think Anna's very focused on the half-empty at the moment."

Plibersek's own glass is pretty near full. She is a popular choice for the deputy leadership, backed by solid credentials that could eventually propel her to the top job.

She has a solid history of success in her portfolios and parliamentary performances, and her intelligence and personality have won her wide respect. Plibersek was born in Sydney to farming parents who migrated in the 1950s. Her father Joseph worked on the Snowy River power scheme.

She grew up in the southern Sydney suburb of Oyster Bay, was dux of Jannali Girls High and graduated with a degree in communications from the Sydney University of Technology (UTS) and then a masters in public policy and politics from Macquarie University.

She joined the Labor Party at age 15, worked as women's officer at UTS and in the NSW Office for the Status of Women before joining the staff of Labor Senator Bruce Childs.

Plibersek won the seat of Sydney in 1998 and rocketed through the ranks to the shadow ministry. After Labor won power she was variously minister for housing, status of women, human services and social inclusion before becoming health minister until Labor's defeat last month.

Plibersek has never held back. She was instrumental in ending discrimination against gays and lesbians in de facto relationships and has campaigned hard for social justice.

During US President George W. Bush's parliamentary welcome she cornered former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and handed her a book of speeches by Labor MPs condemning the invasion of Iraq.

Plibersek is married to Michael Coutts-Trotter, a former New South Wales Labor staffer who heads the state's Family and Community Services Department. They have three children.