Meet Anthony Albanese’s former wife Carmel Tebbutt
Anthony Albanese is a name people all over Australia have only just become well acquainted with over the last few days and weeks.
The 56-year-old MP for Grayndler in Sydney’s west might just be our next Labor leader and perhaps eventually our next Prime Minister.
Just this week, the minister announced his intention to run for the Labor leadership following what some would consider a shocking turn of events at the last federal election.
However, the public are not well aware of his personal life – including his marriage to Carmel Tebbutt.
In January 2019, Albanese released a short statement announcing the separation between him and his former wife.
“I am deeply saddened that my relationship of over 30 years with Carmel Tebbutt has ended in separation,” he wrote.
“We will continue to share parenting responsibilities of our 18-year-old son Nathan, who has successfully completed his HSC and has developed into an outstanding young man who we are both proud of.
“There are no third parties involved.”
Anthony and Carmel both met in the late 1980s and were once hailed a power couple as they rose through the ranks of federal and state politics by each other’s side.
“My special thanks go to my partner and best friend, Carmel Tebbutt, for her constant support, advice and outstanding political judgement,” Mr Albanese said in his maiden speech as the Federal Member for Grayndler.
Ms Tebbutt started working for the NSW Government in 1999 as the Minister for Juvenile Justice and then as the Minister for Health, Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Community Services and Minister for Climate Change and the Environment.
She was also the Deputy Premier of NSW from 2008 to 2011.
“My wife, to declare an interest, was the Deputy Premier at the time – Carmel Tebbutt – and they campaigned right up to election day knowing full well that there was no prospect of success at the end of that after 16 years in office,” Mr Albanese said in an on-air radio interview with FIVEaa.
Tebbutt was the first-ever female deputy premier of NSW, serving under Nathan Rees and Kristina Keneally before resigning from state politics at the 2015 NSW election.
Currently, she is the chief executive of the NSW Mental Health Coordinating Council.