Key Points
- Penny Wong is now Australia's longest-serving female cabinet minister.
- Wong overtook the previous record holder, former Liberal senator Amanda Vanstone, on Wednesday.
- Australia's first female cabinet minister wasn't appointed until 1949.
Now, the Labor senator can add being the longest-serving female cabinet minister in Australian history to her extensive list of achievements.
The 55-year-old gained the title on Wednesday when she marked her 2,769th cumulative day in cabinet — overtaking former Liberal senator Amanda Vanstone's previous record.
When was the first woman appointed to federal cabinet?
In 1902, Australia became the first country in the world to give most women the right to vote and run for federal parliament.
But it wasn't until 1943 that a woman was elected — Tasmania's Enid Lyons in the House of Representatives, and Western Australia's Dorothy Tangney in the Senate.
In 1949, Lyons became the first woman appointed to the federal cabinet — although, at that time, it consisted of all members of the government ministry, rather than the separate, elevated component of the ministry it is today.
Her position as vice-president of the Executive Council was also largely honorary, with Lyons famously remarking: "They only wanted me to pour the tea."
Just 34 (8.3 per cent) of the 410 members of cabinet since Federation have been women.
It wasn't until 1949 that a woman was appointed to cabinet. Source: SBS News
How many women are in federal parliament?
There have been just 269 women elected to federal parliament in Australia's history, according to the Parliamentary Library.
Following the 2022 federal election, 58 seats in the House of Representatives were occupied by women, with another 43 in the Senate.
Source: SBS News
Comparatively, appointed to Tony Abbott's 19-member cabinet in 2013.
Abbott also abolished the Minster for Women portfolio, moving its decision-making powers into the Office of Prime Minister and Cabinet, and making Michaelia Cash the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women.
