Sabah-born Penny Wong promoted Australia's Finance Minister

Penny Wong

MELBOURNE, Sept 11 – Malaysian-born Senator Penny Wong is the new finance minister in the newly-elected Gillard Labor Government.

Wong had been keen to move from the climate change portfolio, following her failure to have parliament’s upper house (Senate) approve the government carbon pollution reduction scheme.

A hardworking minister, Wong’s promotion nonetheless, came as a surprise when Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced her ministry today.

Born on November 11, 1968 in Kota Kinabalu, Wong takes over the finance portfolio left vacant by the high-profile Lindsay Tanner when he retired from federal politics in the August 31 election.

A former lawyer in Adelaide, Wong was elected to represent South Australiain the Senate in 2001 and was named minister in charge of climate change, energy efficiency and water when Kevin Rudd won office in 2007. – Bernama