'It's shifted': Penny Wong hopeful on more women in politics

Australia’s longest serving female cabinet minister says while there has been progress on the number of women in senior positions, there is still a long way to go.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong passed the milestone on Wednesday, overtaking former Liberal minister Amanda Vanstone as the longest serving woman to hold a cabinet position.

As Australia marked International Women’s Day, Senator Wong said there had been significant change to how women have been treated in politics since she first entered the Senate in 2002.

“It’s shifted remarkably, actually ... it does make a difference when you have this many women in a cabinet,” she told Adelaide radio station 5AA on Friday.

“There are many more women on both sides of politics, there are many more women in senior positions and I think that has changed things. We’ve still got some way to go, but it’s certainly better than it was.”

Senator Wong first served in cabinet as climate change minister and finance minister in the Rudd and Gillard governments.

She was appointed foreign minister in 2022 following Labor’s election victory.

Senator Wong said she remained optimistic about the next generation of women wanting to enter politics.

“Girls these days and younger women these days have a sense of their right to aspire to whatever they wish to be and to do, and they are not willing to accept some of the barriers and prejudices,” she said.

“Young women are that empowered, and it’s wonderful to see. I mean they are fearless.

“Does the world enable that? Not as fully as we want, but I think we’re well down the path, and I’m very hopeful about the next generation of feminists and young women.”