Penny Wong: podcast appearances and interviews

Penelope Ying-Yen Wong, born on 5 November 1968 in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, is an Australian politician and member of the Labor Party. She has been serving as a senator for South Australia since 2002 and is currently the leader of the opposition in the Senate and the shadow foreign minister. Wong has held multiple ministerial roles, including Minister for Climate Change, Minister for Finance and Deregulation, and Minister for Foreign Affairs. She was the first Asian-Australian in an Australian cabinet and the first female openly LGBTI Australian federal parliamentarian. Wong played a significant role in the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Australia in 2017, having shifted her stance from previous party policy opposition. Educated at Scotch College and the University of Adelaide, she earned degrees in arts and laws. Prior to her political career, she worked as a lawyer and political advisor. Wong entered parliament after winning a Senate seat in the 2001 election and served in governments led by Rudd and Gillard, among others. Following Labor's victory at the 2022 election, she was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs and resumed her role as the leader of the government in the Senate. Throughout her career, she has been a trailblazer; in 2008, she became the first Asian-Australian in a cabinet, and in 2024, she became the longest-serving female cabinet minister in the history of the Australian Parliament.