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Kristina Marie Kerscher Keneally (born 19 December 1968) is an American-born Australian politician who was a
Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...
Senator for New South Wales from February 2018 until April 2022, when she resigned to unsuccessfully contest the House of Representatives seat of Fowler. From 2019 to 2022 she served as Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Shadow Minister for Home Affairs, and Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship. She previously served as the first female Premier of New South Wales from 2009 to 2011. Keneally was born in the United States to an American father and an Australian mother. She grew up in Toledo, Ohio, and is a graduate of the University of Dayton. After marrying an Australian, Ben Keneally, she settled in Australia permanently and became a naturalised citizen in 2000. Keneally was elected to the
New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Hou ...
seat of Heffron at the 2003 state election, succeeding
Deirdre Grusovin Deirdre Mary Grusovin (born 1 September 1938) was a Labor member of the New South Wales Parliament for over twenty five years. Grusovin was born Deirdre Mary Brereton in Sydney, and is the sister of influential former politician Laurie Breret ...
after a controversial
preselection Preselection is the process by which a candidate is selected, usually by a political party, to contest an election for political office. It is also referred to as candidate selection. It is a fundamental function of political parties. The presele ...
process. After being re-elected to parliament at the 2007 state election, she became the Minister for Ageing and Disability Services and was subsequently appointed Minister for Planning by Premier
Nathan Rees Nathan Rees () (born 12 February 1968) is a former Australian politician who served as the 41st Premier of New South Wales and parliamentary leader of the New South Wales division of the Labor Party from September 2008 to December 2009. Rees w ...
in 2008. She was also the state government's spokeswoman for
World Youth Day 2008 World Youth Day 2008 was a Catholic youth festival that started on 15 July and continued until 20 July 2008 in Sydney, Australia. It was the first World Youth Day held in Australia and the first World Youth Day in Oceania. This meeting was deci ...
. By December 2009, Keneally had emerged as the preferred leadership candidate of the
Labor Right The Labor Right, also known as Modern Labor, is a political faction of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) at the national level that is characterised by being more economically conservative and, in some cases, more socially conservative. The Labor ...
faction, and defeated incumbent Premier Nathan Rees (who had been in office for just 15 months) in a party room ballot, winning by 47 votes to 21. The Keneally Government went on to suffer a 16.5-point swing statewide at the 2011 state election – the biggest swing in Australian political history. She was replaced as leader of the Labor Party by John Robertson, who was elected unopposed, on 31 March 2011. She resigned from Parliament in June 2012. In 2014, Keneally joined
Sky News Live Sky News Australia is an Australian news channel owned by News Corp Australia. Originally launched on 19 February 1996, it broadcasts rolling news coverage throughout the day, while its prime time lineup is dedicated to opinion-based programs f ...
as a political commentator, later becoming co-host of ''
To The Point ''To the Point'' was an hour-long public affairs radio program co-produced by KCRW in Santa Monica, California and Public Radio International. The program originated at KCRW at 1 pm Pacific Time each weekday. Award-winning journalist Warren Ol ...
''. She took leave in November 2017 to stand as the Labor candidate for the Bennelong by-election, which she lost to previous member John Alexander. In February 2018 she was instead appointed to the Senate to fill a casual vacancy caused by
Sam Dastyari Sam Dastyari ( fa, سام دستیاری; born Sahand Dastyari, ; born 28 July 1983) is a former Australian politician, who from 2013 to 2018 represented New South Wales in the Australian Senate as a member of the Australian Labor Party. Dastyar ...
's resignation. After the 2019 leadership election, Keneally was selected as deputy Senate leader in the shadow cabinet of new Labor leader
Anthony Albanese Anthony Norman Albanese ( or ; born 2 March 1963) is an Australian politician serving as the 31st and current prime minister of Australia since 2022. He has been leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) since 2019 and the member of parliam ...
. She was also given the portfolios of Home Affairs and Immigration and Citizenship. At the 2022 federal election, Keneally, whose main residency is in the
Northern Beaches The Northern Beaches is a region within Northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, near the Pacific coast. This area extends south to the entrance of Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour), west to Middle Harbour and north to the ...
, was parachuted into the safe
Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...
seat of Fowler, which has one of the highest concentrations of
Vietnamese Australians }) are Australians of Vietnamese ancestry. Vietnamese Australians are one of the largest groups within the global Vietnamese diaspora. At the 2021 census, 334,781 people stated that they had Vietnamese ancestry (whether alone or in combination w ...
in the country, despite previous member
Chris Hayes Christopher Loffredo Hayes (; born February 28, 1979) is an American political commentator, television news anchor, activist, and author. Hayes hosts ''All In with Chris Hayes'', a weekday news and opinion television show on MSNBC. Hayes also ...
having endorsed local Vietnamese-Australian lawyer Tu Le as his preferred successor. As a result of community backlash against her candidacy, Labor suffered a 15.6% swing against them, and she was defeated by independent challenger
Dai Le Dai Trang Le (Vietnamese: Lê Trang Đài) (born ) is an Australian politician currently serving as the federal member for Fowler, deputy mayor of Fairfield and councillor for Fairfield/Cabravale Ward. Le arrived in Australia in 1979 as a re ...
, a Vietnamese-Australian politician, journalist and former refugee.


Early life

Keneally was born Kristina Marie Kerscher in Las Vegas to an American father and an Australian mother (born in
Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the Sou ...
). She lived briefly in
Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...
but grew up in Toledo, Ohio, where she attended high school at Notre Dame Academy. While at Notre Dame she was twice awarded
most valuable player In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...
(1985, 1986) in the Academy's soccer team. Upon graduating from Notre Dame, she undertook studies at the University of Dayton, also in Ohio. While there she became involved in student politics, and was involved in founding the National Association of Students at Catholic Colleges and Universities, serving as president of the group in 1990 and 1991. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in political science in 1991, was a registered Democrat and worked as an intern for the
Lieutenant Governor of Ohio The position of lieutenant governor of Ohio was established in 1852. The lieutenant governor becomes governor if the governor resigns, dies in office or is removed by impeachment. Before 1852, the president of the Ohio State Senate would serve as ...
, Paul Leonard. In 1995 she graduated with a Master of Arts in religious studies. She later studied at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. After graduating from the University of Dayton she worked for a year as a volunteer teacher in New Mexico. For most of her life, she has identified as a staunch
feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
. In 2009, she told '' The Daily Telegraph'' that when she heard her diocese's bishop was on a local talk show, she called to ask him why girls could not be altar servers. The bishop's "unsatisfactory answer," she said, awakened her to "how women are disadvantaged in the Church and society." Keneally met her future husband, a member of the Australian Labor Party, Ben Keneally, at World Youth Day 1991 in Poland. She moved to Australia in 1994 to be with him, but they returned to the US, so Ben could take up a position with the
Boston Consulting Group Boston Consulting Group, Inc. (BCG) is an American global management consulting firm founded in 1963 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the Big Three (or MBB, the world’s three largest management consulting firms by rev ...
. They married there in 1996. They returned to Australia two years later, after their elder son was born. She became a naturalised Australian in 2000, the same year she joined the Labor Party. She renounced U.S. citizenship in 2002, prior to standing for election. After arriving in Australia she worked for the New South Wales branch of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul as State Youth Coordinator before leaving full-time work to care for her children. She also briefly attended the
Australian Catholic University Australian Catholic University (ACU) is a public university in Australia. It has seven Australian campuses and also maintains a campus in Rome. History Australian Catholic University was opened on 1 January 1991 following the amalgamati ...
in
Strathfield, New South Wales Strathfield is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 12 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre of the Municipality of Strathfield. A sma ...
.


State politics

Keneally was elected to the seat of Heffron in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in 2003, following a bitter pre-election battle with
Deirdre Grusovin Deirdre Mary Grusovin (born 1 September 1938) was a Labor member of the New South Wales Parliament for over twenty five years. Grusovin was born Deirdre Mary Brereton in Sydney, and is the sister of influential former politician Laurie Breret ...
, the sister of senior Labor politician
Laurie Brereton Laurence John "Laurie" Brereton (born 29 May 1946) is a former Australian politician who was a state minister, a federal member of cabinet, and kingmaker in the election of several Australian Labor Party leaders, including Paul Keating and Mark ...
. It was in fact her husband Ben who was more interested in a political career, relying on his friendship with
Joe Tripodi Joseph Guerino Tripodi (born 25 November 1967), a former Australian politician, was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing the electorate of Fairfield for the Labor Party between 1995 and 2011. He was Minister for F ...
. However, the party's affirmative action rules required a female candidate, so Keneally ran instead. Before the election, Labor insiders were concerned that her strong
American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the most widely spoken language in the United States and in most circumstances ...
accent would not play well with voters. Although she reportedly took elocution lessons to sound more Australian, to this day she speaks with a marked American accent. In her maiden speech, she talked about her commitment to social justice, equal opportunity for women and her Roman Catholic faith. She also made light of an incident that happened during the 1999 state election. She was working in John Watkins' campaign office when she took a call from Premier
Bob Carr Robert John Carr (born 28 September 1947) is an Australian retired politician and journalist who served as the 39th Premier of New South Wales from 1995 to 2005, as the leader of the NSW Branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He later en ...
's communications director,
Walt Secord Walter Secord (born 25 December 1964) is a Canadian-born Australian politician. He has been a Labor Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Council since May 2011, when he was elected to fill the vacancy left by the retirement of Eddie ...
. Keneally later learned that Secord had demanded that Watkins' campaign team "get that woman with an American accent off the telephones." She replied, "Well, I got off the phones that day, but today I have the floor." As NSW Minister for Disability Services, Keneally undertook measures to rebuild outdated institutional residential facilities for people with disability, going back on promises made by her (non-immediate) predecessor
Faye Lo Po' Faye Lo Po' (born 1 February 1936) is a former Australian politician, serving as member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for the electorate of Penrith between 1991 and 2003. Political career A longtime member of the Labor Party, L ...
. As NSW Planning Minister from August 2008, Keneally's department oversaw the local traffic diversions, and strict environmental management during construction, around the desalination pipeline works between Erskineville and Kurnell, approved by the department under the desalination pipeline project approval, granted by
Frank Sartor Francesco Ernest "Frank" Sartor AO (born 9 November 1951) is a former Australian politician who served as New South Wales Minister for Climate Change and the Environment and Minister Assisting the Minister for Health (Cancer) between 2009 and ...
, in November 2007. In August 2009, Keneally was alleged to be one of the names being put forward in a challenge to wrest the leadership from NSW Premier
Nathan Rees Nathan Rees () (born 12 February 1968) is a former Australian politician who served as the 41st Premier of New South Wales and parliamentary leader of the New South Wales division of the Labor Party from September 2008 to December 2009. Rees w ...
. Keneally responded to the accusations by stating: "He (Nathan Rees) has my support (as Premier)" and it was reported that she insisted she would never be Premier of New South Wales, something that was continuously disputed in the media. On 17 November 2009, Keneally was appointed Minister for Infrastructure after her friend and supporter
Joe Tripodi Joseph Guerino Tripodi (born 25 November 1967), a former Australian politician, was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing the electorate of Fairfield for the Labor Party between 1995 and 2011. He was Minister for F ...
was sacked by Rees from the frontbench. It was rumoured that she was angered at the sacking, which she denied. She also said she had "always supported the Premier, Bob Carr, Morris Iemma and now Nathan Rees" and it was "time to put this ridiculous leadership speculation behind us".


Premier


Challenges for leadership

Less than a month later, however, the dominant Right faction withdrew support from Rees. On 3 December, Keneally narrowly defeated Sartor by two votes to become the Right's candidate in a leadership spill against Rees. Later that day, she defeated Rees in a party room ballot with a majority of 45–21. Prior to the vote, Rees declared "''Should I not be Premier at the end of this day, let there be no doubt in the community's mind that any challenger would be a puppet of
Eddie Obeid Edward Moses Obeid (born 25 October 1943) is a retired Australian politician, and convicted criminal, who served as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council between 1991 and 2011, representing the Labor Party. He was the Minister fo ...
and
Joe Tripodi Joseph Guerino Tripodi (born 25 November 1967), a former Australian politician, was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing the electorate of Fairfield for the Labor Party between 1995 and 2011. He was Minister for F ...
''", a claim later rejected by Keneally, who stated "''I am nobody's puppet, I am nobody's protege, I am nobody's girl.''" On 4 December 2009 Keneally was sworn in as the 42nd (and first female) premier of New South Wales by the
State Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...
,
Marie Bashir Dame Marie Roslyn Bashir (born 1 December 1930) is the former and second longest-serving Governor of New South Wales. Born in Narrandera, New South Wales, Bashir graduated from the University of Sydney in 1956 and held various medical position ...
. For the first time in Australian history, both the Premier and Deputy Premier (
Carmel Tebbutt Carmel Mary Tebbutt (born 22 January 1964) is an Australian former politician. She was the Labor Party Member for the former seat of Marrickville in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly until the 2015 election and was Deputy Premier of New ...
) of a state were women. During her time as Premier Keneally was a supporter of the development of the headlands. To ensure the project was completed without delay, Keneally transferred various local government planning powers to the state government, created a new portfolio relating to the major development Barangaroo for which she took responsibility, and oversaw the project while Premier. Despite her dedication to the project she was criticised for a perceived conflict of interest in the development of Barangaroo worth over one million dollars and linked to installation of electric car infrastructure associated with the development and additionally for giving exemption to Barangaroo from environmental planning laws. In the eve of her time as premier, during investigations into corrupt dealings by former minister Ian Macdonald, Keneally refused to release a report made about him relating to misuse of taxpayer funds, though she was compelled to release the report to the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).


Party renewal

Keneally pushed to renew the Labor Party, with 23 members of the 50 caucus members retiring. Her push also included the resignation of the NSW Labor President, Bernie Riordan and retirements of Labor powerbrokers, Joe Tripodi and Eddie Obeid.


Electricity privatisation

On 14 December 2010 her government sold the first tranche of the partial privatisation of the state's electricity assets for $5.3 billion. Eight of the directors quit in protest over the sale of trading rights to the output of generators. After criticism of the privatisation, her Government abandoned the second stage of its electricity privatisation plan, as no companies bid. On 22 December 2010 NSW Governor Marie Bashir prorogued Parliament on Keneally's request. This act normally takes place later than December prior to elections. There were accusations that Keneally tried to halt the electricity inquiry, which later proceeded. In October 2011, the inquiry which the O'Farrell government set up reported to the NSW Liberal/National Government that the partial sale was "reasonable and appropriate".


Popularity

When she became Premier, she was highly popular and was the most popular political leader at one stage, as the Galaxy poll showed in March 2010, her personal satisfaction was 53 per cent. However, her own personal popularity did not transfer to her party, which had been well behind the Coalition in opinion polling since 2008. Her popularity began to decline in August 2010, with her approval rating falling to 39 per cent. In October 2010, Newspoll reported that the Keneally government only had 23 per cent of the primary vote—the worst showing on record for a Labor government at the state level in Australia. The only lower result Newspoll had recorded at the time was in 1989, when the Queensland Nationals polled at 22 percent. This was a dramatic turnabout from the 2007 election; Labor would have been decimated had this figure been repeated at an election. In May 2010, junior minister Karyn Paluzzano was forced out of politics for using public money for her 2007 reelection campaign and lying about it. Keneally moved to have Paluzzano suspended from the Labor Party, and Paluzzano resigned soon afterward. It was not enough to prevent Paluzzano's once-safe seat of Penrith from being resoundingly lost to the Liberals at the ensuing
by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...
. Labor suffered a swing of over 26 points—the largest swing against a sitting government in New South Wales history.


Election defeat

Keneally led Labor into the 2011 state election. She was hoping to lead Labor to a fifth term in government, and also to become the second woman elected as a state premier in her own right, after
Anna Bligh Anna Maria Bligh (born 14 July 1960) is a lobbyist and former Australian politician who served as the 37th Premier of Queensland, in office from 2007 to 2012 as leader of the Labor Party. She was the first woman to hold either position. In 2 ...
in Queensland. However, Keneally was a heavy underdog for most of the campaign. At one point, Labor trailed the
Barry O'Farrell Barry Robert O'Farrell (born 24 May 1959) is a former Australian politician who has been Australia's High Commissioner to India and non-resident Ambassador to Bhutan since May 2020. O'Farrell was the 43rd Premier of New South Wales and Minis ...
-led Coalition by 26 points on the two-party vote and Keneally trailed O'Farrell by 16 points as preferred premier. Despite Keneally's efforts to rehabilitate Labor's image, opinion polls and commentators had almost universally written Labor off by the time the writs were dropped. An election-eve poll showed Labor's support at a record low of 23 percent. The ABC's
Antony Green Antony John Green (born 2 March 1960) is an Australian psephologist and commentator. He is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's chief election analyst. Early years and background Born in Warrington, Lancashire, in northern England, Gree ...
estimated that Labor faced being cut down to as few as 13 seats. As a measure of how far Labor's fortunes had fallen, the party was in danger of losing seats it had held for over a century, and there were fears Labor would not be able to hold onto enough seats to form a credible shadow cabinet. In the 26 March election, the Labor government was heavily defeated, suffering a swing of over 16 points—the largest in a general election at any level in Australia since World War II. In the process, Labor lost many seats in its former western Sydney heartland, two of which fell to the Liberals on swings of 20 points. Ultimately, Labor was cut down to 20 seats (down from 48 at dissolution), its worst showing in over a century and one of the worst defeats a sitting state government in Australia has ever suffered. Many of the survivors saw their majorities more than halved. Keneally, for instance, went into the election sitting on a comfortably safe majority of 23.7 points in her own seat of Heffron. However, she suffered a swing of over 16 points, reducing her majority to 7.1 points. She was the first Labor candidate since Heffron's creation to not garner enough primary votes to win without the need for preferences. With Labor's defeat beyond doubt, Keneally resigned as premier and state Labor leader on election night and announced she would return to the backbench. Accepting responsibility for the worst defeat of a sitting government in NSW's history, Keneally said, "The truth is the people of NSW, who entrusted us with government for 16 years, did not leave us. We left them." On 11 June 2011, Keneally was granted by the Governor retention of the title " The Honourable". On 23 June 2012, Keneally announced her resignation from the New South Wales Parliament.


Labor government and ICAC

After the defeat of the Labor government, a series of investigations at the Independent Commission Against Corruption, found that Keneally ministers Obeid, Tripodi, and McDonald had acted in a corrupt manner. Counsel assisting the inquiry, Geoffrey Watson , said in 2012 of investigations into the actions taken by the men in 2010 that these inquiries were ''the most important investigation ever undertaken'' by the ICAC and that there was ''corruption on a scale probably unexceeded since the days of the Rum Corps.'' Keneally appeared as a witness at the ICAC in March 2014 concerning investigations of her former colleagues. She said that she had had concerns about Obeid, Tripodi and Tony Kelly's lobbying and that their efforts had not influenced her. Asked if Obeid had "put her in her job" as premier, Keneally replied: "No, caucus did".


Basketball Australia

Keneally resigned from Parliament on 29 June 2012, to commence work as the Chief Executive of
Basketball Australia Basketball Australia is the governing and controlling body of basketball in Australia, responsible for the development and promotion of the sport at all levels. Basketball Australia sanctions Australia's two professional leagues, the Nation ...
. She was previously the Chair of the Basketball Australia board. Keneally left Basketball Australia in April 2014 to spend more time with her family. Keneally is also a director of
Souths Cares The Souths Cares program is an initiative of the South Sydney Rabbitohs which was started with the aim of to give children and young people from Redfern and the surrounding areas the opportunity to take part in a series of health and education work ...
, the nominated charity of the South Sydney Rabbitohs.


Political commentator and television host

In July 2014, Keneally joined Sky News Australia and began co-hosting panel program ''
The Contrarians ''The Contrarians'' is an Australian television news and commentary program broadcast weekly on Sky News Australia throughout the week. The series focuses on mainly political topics, with the program's host being joined by a panel of usually thre ...
'' every Friday afternoon with
Ross Cameron Ross Alexander Cameron (born 14 May 1965) is an Australian politician who was a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives from March 1996 to October 2004, representing the Division of Parramatta, New South Wales. Between 2013 ...
, before the pair were given their own self-titled program ''
Keneally and Cameron ''Keneally and Cameron'' was an Australian television news and commentary program broadcast weekly on Sky News Australia from 2014 to 2015, co-hosted by former NSW Premier Kristina Keneally and former Federal Liberal Minister Ross Cameron. The s ...
''. This program was axed in April 2015. Keneally joined Peter van Onselen as co-host of Sky News daytime program ''
To The Point ''To the Point'' was an hour-long public affairs radio program co-produced by KCRW in Santa Monica, California and Public Radio International. The program originated at KCRW at 1 pm Pacific Time each weekday. Award-winning journalist Warren Ol ...
'' on 1 June 2015 which airs during ''
PVO NewsDay ''PVO NewsDay'' (formerly titled ''PVO NewsHour'') is an Australian television news and commentary program which was broadcast 4 times weekly on Sky News Australia. The program is hosted by Peter van Onselen, whose initials in part represent the ...
''. Keneally was also a regular presenter of primetime programs '' The Cabinet'' and '' Credlin & Keneally''. Upon announcing her intention to stand for Federal parliament, she took leave from Sky News on the same day as her announcement on 14 November 2017. Keneally has contributed to '' The Guardian Australia'' since December 2014 on a range of politico-social issues such as religion in politics, same sex marriage and asylum seeking.


Federal politics


Bennelong by-election, 2017

In November 2017, Keneally was preselected by federal Labor as their candidate for the Bennelong by-election on 16 December. Keneally's candidacy, combined with her high profile status as a former premier, attracted accusations of being a
parachute candidate A parachute candidate, or carpetbagger in the United States, is a pejorative term for an election candidate who does not live in, and has little connection to, the area they are running to represent. The allegation is thus that the candidate is b ...
as she lived 800m outside of the electorate at the time. Despite picking up a five percent
two-party A two-party system is a political party system in which two major political parties consistently dominate the political landscape. At any point in time, one of the two parties typically holds a majority in the legislature and is usually referre ...
swing Swing or swinging may refer to: Apparatus * Swing (seat), a hanging seat that swings back and forth * Pendulum, an object that swings * Russian swing, a swing-like circus apparatus * Sex swing, a type of harness for sexual intercourse * Swing ri ...
, she lost to the previous incumbent and Liberal candidate John Alexander.


Senator and opposition frontbencher, 2018–2022

On 30 January 2018, the Labor Party announced that Keneally would fill the
casual vacancy In politics, a casual vacancy (''casual'' in the sense of "by chance") is a situation in which a seat in a deliberative assembly becomes vacant during that assembly's term. Casual vacancies may arise through the death, resignation or disqualifi ...
caused by the resignation of New South Wales senator
Sam Dastyari Sam Dastyari ( fa, سام دستیاری; born Sahand Dastyari, ; born 28 July 1983) is a former Australian politician, who from 2013 to 2018 represented New South Wales in the Australian Senate as a member of the Australian Labor Party. Dastyar ...
, who resigned earlier that month. Keneally was formally appointed to the vacancy on 14 February 2018 and was sworn in as a senator the following day. In June 2018, Keneally stated her opposition to mandatory reporting for Catholic priests who are informed of child sexual abuse in
confession A confession is a statement – made by a person or by a group of persons – acknowledging some personal fact that the person (or the group) would ostensibly prefer to keep hidden. The term presumes that the speaker is providing information th ...
; she believes it is not the most effective way to prevent abuse. Keneally also attended the Rambam Israel Fellowship Program in Israel, sponsored by the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council. The lobby group funded "transport, accommodation, meals and other associated costs". After the 2019 federal election, new leader
Anthony Albanese Anthony Norman Albanese ( or ; born 2 March 1963) is an Australian politician serving as the 31st and current prime minister of Australia since 2022. He has been leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) since 2019 and the member of parliam ...
expressed his intention to bring Keneally onto the frontbench despite opposition from the NSW Right faction. On 29 May,
Ed Husic Edham Nurredin Husic (born 3 February 1970), commonly known as Ed Husic, is an Australian politician serving as Minister for Industry and Science since 2022. Husic is a member of the Australian House of Representatives, elected to represent th ...
announced his resignation from the frontbench and endorsed Keneally as his replacement. On 30 May, Labor's deputy leader in the Senate
Don Farrell Donald Edward Farrell (born 6 June 1954) is an Australian politician and former trade unionist. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and has been Minister for Trade and Tourism and Special Minister of State in the Albanese gover ...
announced his resignation from the position to make way for a gender-balanced leadership team (since 2013, two of the four leadership positions were held by women). Keneally was subsequently announced as the new Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Shadow Minister for Home Affairs, and Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship in the Albanese shadow cabinet. She resigned from the senate on 13 April 2022.


Fowler candidacy, 2022

In September 2021, it was reported that Keneally would seek preselection for the
Division of Fowler The Division of Fowler is an Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian electoral division in the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales. Fowler is based in Sydney's outer southwestern suburbs of Li ...
in the House of Representatives to succeed retiring MP
Chris Hayes Christopher Loffredo Hayes (; born February 28, 1979) is an American political commentator, television news anchor, activist, and author. Hayes hosts ''All In with Chris Hayes'', a weekday news and opinion television show on MSNBC. Hayes also ...
at the 2022 federal election. This occurred after Tu Le, a Vietnamese-Australian lawyer was endorsed by Hayes. Le was his preferred candidate due to her ability to reflect the multiculturalism of the area and her strong links to the community. The electorate of Fowler includes Sydney suburbs such as
Cabramatta Cabramatta ('Cabra') is a suburb in south-western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Cabramatta is located south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Fairfield. Cabramatta ...
and Liverpool which has a population of over 50,000 Asian-Australians. Keneally does not currently live within the electorate and resides in
Scotland Island Scotland Island is an island and suburb on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Church Point, Scotland Island's major mainland service locality, is located 32 kilometres north of the Sydney central busi ...
in the
Northern Beaches The Northern Beaches is a region within Northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, near the Pacific coast. This area extends south to the entrance of Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour), west to Middle Harbour and north to the ...
area of Sydney. The push for a white American-born woman who has no connections to a safe Labor seat primarily made up of people of Asian or Middle Eastern background, including a large proportion of recent migrants and refugees, has been criticised by Labor MPs such as Anne Aly and Peter Khalil. Others, including former prime minister Paul Keating, supported Keneally, who was installed by party leadership without a pre-selection ballot. Independent
Dai Le Dai Trang Le (Vietnamese: Lê Trang Đài) (born ) is an Australian politician currently serving as the federal member for Fowler, deputy mayor of Fairfield and councillor for Fairfield/Cabravale Ward. Le arrived in Australia in 1979 as a re ...
, a Vietnamese refugee and former
Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...
councilor, nominated in response to the controversy, and defeated Keneally in one of only two Labor losses at the 2022 federal election.


Personal life

Keneally is married to former Mayor of
Botany Bay Botany Bay (Dharawal: ''Kamay''), an open oceanic embayment, is located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point and the Cooks Ri ...
, Ben Keneally; together they have two sons. A daughter died at birth. Her husband is the nephew of Australian writer
Thomas Keneally Thomas Michael Keneally, AO (born 7 October 1935) is an Australian novelist, playwright, essayist, and actor. He is best known for his non-fiction novel '' Schindler's Ark'', the story of Oskar Schindler's rescue of Jews during the Holocaust, ...
. Keneally is the patron of the
Stillbirth Foundation Australia Stillbirth Foundation Australia is an organization which aims to improve care and conditions for people who have experienced the stillbirth of a child as well as preventing stillbirth. Their main work is funding research on why stillbirth happens. ...
. Keneally and her family previously lived in Pagewood, within the electorate of Heffron which she represented in state parliament. In 2016, Keneally and her husband sold their home and moved across Sydney to a rented home in
Hunters Hill Hunters Hill is a suburb of the lower north shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Hunters Hill is located north-west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area ...
. Together they own a $1.8 million home on the isolated
Scotland Island Scotland Island is an island and suburb on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Church Point, Scotland Island's major mainland service locality, is located 32 kilometres north of the Sydney central busi ...
on the
Northern Beaches The Northern Beaches is a region within Northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, near the Pacific coast. This area extends south to the entrance of Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour), west to Middle Harbour and north to the ...
of Sydney and a townhouse in
Wollstonecraft Mary Wollstonecraft (, ; 27 April 1759 – 10 September 1797) was a British writer, philosopher, and advocate of women's rights. Until the late 20th century, Wollstonecraft's life, which encompassed several unconventional personal relations ...
purchased for $1.3 million in 2016. Keneally and her family have moved to Liverpool prior to contesting the local seat of Fowler at the 2022 federal election. In late 2022, Keneally was appointed as chief executive officer of the Sydney Children's Hospitals Foundation, which raises funds to help provide all children with access to the best possible healthcare. Keneally is ketogenic.


Publications

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See also

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Keneally ministry The Keneally ministry is the 92nd ministry of the Government of New South Wales, and was led by the 42nd Premier Kristina Keneally. The ministry was formed following a caucus motion to elect a new Leader of the Australian Labor Party in New So ...
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2011 New South Wales state election Elections to the 55th Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday, 26 March 2011. The 16-year-incumbent Labor Party government led by Premier Kristina Keneally was defeated in a landslide by the Liberal–National Coalition oppositio ...
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List of female heads of government in Australia A total of twelve women have served, or are serving, as the head of an Australian government. Of these, one has served as the prime minister of Australia, seven as the premier of a state and five as the chief minister of a territory. Seventeen ...


References


External links


Australian Senate – Senator the Hon Kristina Keneally
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Personal website – kristinakeneally.com.au
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