Clothilde Edwina Louise Shorten (née Bryce; born 1971) is an Australian corporate affairs specialist and the spouse of former

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

Bill Shorten William Richard Shorten (born 12 May 1967) is an Australian politician currently serving as Minister for Government Services and Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme since 2022. He previously served as leader of the opposition a ...

Early life and education

Shorten was born in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

in 1971 as the fourth of five children. Her mother is

Dame Quentin Bryce Dame Quentin Alice Louise Bryce, (née Strachan; born 23 December 1942) is an Australian academic who served as the 25th governor-general of Australia from 2008 to 2014. She is the first woman to have held the position, and was previously the ...

who was the

Governor General of Australia The governor-general of Australia is the representative of the Monarchy of Australia, monarch, currently King Charles III, in Australia.Michael Bryce Michael John Strachan Bryce, (21 June 1938 – 15 January 2021) was an Australian architect and graphic and industrial designer. He was the husband of the 25th governor-general of Australia, Dame Quentin Bryce. Early life and career Micha ...

. She grew up in the suburb of

St Lucia Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Amerindia ...

, containing the

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = B ...

where her mother was a law lecturer and tutor. She attended Ironside State School,

Somerville House Somerville House is an Independent school, independent, Boarding school, boarding and day school for girls, located in South Brisbane, Queensland, South Brisbane, an inner-city suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Es ...

and

Indooroopilly State High School Indooroopilly State High School (ISHS), colloquially known as "Indro", is a state high school situated in the south-western suburb of Indooroopilly in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The school was founded in 1954, and offers the International ...

. At primary school, she was a friend of future senator

Kimberley Kitching Kimberley Jane Elizabeth Kitching (16 February 1970 – 10 March 2022) was an Australian politician, lawyer, and trade unionist. A member of the Australian Labor Party, Labor Party, she was a Australian Senate, Senator for Victoria (Australia), ...

. After high school, she joined the '' Sunday Mail'' in Brisbane as a copygirl, and started studying an online degree in communications, through

Deakin University Deakin University is a public university in Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1974, the university was named after Alfred Deakin, the second Prime Minister of Australia. Its main campuses are in Melbourne's Burwood suburb, Geelong Waurn Ponds, ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. She also started, but then never completed an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

at the

Career

Between 1993 and 1994 Shorten worked at Lexmark as a marketing assistant. Then in 2000, Shorten began working in communications at Mincom until 2002. From 2005 she then worked for Cement Australia. Recommencing her career in 2014, after a four year break due to rearing their first child together with Bill Shorten, she worked at engineering services company Calibre. She then resigned in 2016 to spend more time with her husband on the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

campaign trail. Shorten's first book ''Take Heart – A Story for Modern Stepfamilies'', was published by Melbourne University Press in 2017. Her second book, ''The Secret Ingredient; The Power of the Family Table'', about the importance of regular family meals at the kitchen table was published in April 2018. Shorten describes herself as passionate about equal opportunity and ending family violence. She has been an Ambassador for the Victorian Government's Victoria Against Violence campaign and is a Patron of Our Watch. She is a strategic advisor for the Burnet Institute in Papua New Guinea. In August 2017 Shorten was appointed to the Board of Industry Funds Services. In 2018, Shorten was appointed as an Ambassador for the Gidget Foundation, whose mission is to raise awareness of perinatal anxiety and depression.

Personal life

Shorten's first marriage was to Brisbane architect Roger Parkin. She sometimes used the surname "Bryce-Parkin" during that time. They were divorced in 2009. She and Parkin have two children who now primarily live with her and Bill Shorten in Melbourne. She met Bill Shorten in 2007, when she was working in corporate relations in the resource industry and he was the Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children's Services in the Kevin Rudd, Rudd Government. She moved to Melbourne and married Bill Shorten in November 2009, giving birth to their child in January 2010.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shorten, Chloe 1971 births Living people Australian people of Scottish descent People from Brisbane Anti-domestic violence activists