The life and times of Carmel Tebbutt

Linda Silmalis looks back over the life and times of Labor's star frontbencher Carmel Tebbutt after confirmation she is retiring from politics.

Carmel Mary Tebbutt, 49

NSW Labor MP for Marrickville, wife of Federal Labor MP Anthony Albanese and mother of Nathan.

Grew up in Forbes and moved to Caringbah when she was 10, and was one of seven children.

Graduated from Sydney University in 1986 with an Economics degree and joined the Labor Party in 1985.

Joined the Labor movement while at university, aligning herself to the Left, before being elected to Marrickville Council, becoming deputy mayor in 1995.

Entered State parliament in 1998, filling a vacancy in the Upper House, before given the role of Juvenile Justice Minister in the Carr government.

In 2000, Ms Tebbutt married Mr Albanese, also from the Left, with the pair dubbed Labor's "power couple". Both Ms Tebbutt and Mr Albanese have survived repeated efforts by the Greens to claim the inner-city seats.

In 2002, Ms Tebbutt was promoted to the Community Services portfolio, where she succeeded in taking on her Cabinet colleagues to agree to reform and attract $1 billion in funding for the then troubled department.

Carmel Tebbutt with her son Nathan and husband Anthony Albanese.

Three years later, Ms Tebbutt was promoted to become the Education and Training Minister.

Ms Tebbutt resigned from parliament in 2005, in a successful bid to become the member for Marrickville at a by-election.

She has managed to avoid the controversy that has plagued many of her Labor colleagues, with a Nova 96.9 radio interview she gave where she stated Australia Day was "the day we became a nation" her only major stumble.

After holding on to the seat of Marrickville in 2007, Ms Tebbutt stunned her colleagues by announcing she would not be putting her hand up for a portfolio, stating she wanted to return to the backbench to be able to spend more time with her family.

In the lead-up to the resignation of then premier Morris Iemma in 2008, ALP party officials courted Ms Tebbutt to take on the top job. She refused, but agreed to become Deputy Premier, making her the first woman in NSW to hold the role.

Ms Tebbutt also returned to the frontbench, taking on the Climate Change and Environment and Commerce portfolios.

Carmel Tebbutt with her son and partner in Marrickville.

ALP officials again courted Ms Tebbutt to take on the top job in 2009, when moves were underway to depose then premier Nathan Rees. Ms Tebbutt again declined, citing her loyalty to her Left colleague.

She was again sworn in as deputy to premier Kristina Keneally, with whom she initially had her difference with, but whom she later respected and liked. Ms Tebbutt was also given the challenging job of Health Minister

Ms Tebbutt survived the strongest challenge yet from the Greens at the March 20ll state election, a contest that saw many of her old Labor colleagues wiped out in the Coalition whitewash. Ms Tebbutt scraped over the line by a few hundred votes.

The 2015 State election will see the seat of Marrickville split into two, with the redrawn boundaries creating the new seat of Newtown and Summer Hill. Ms Tebbutt, who plans to remain a member of the ALP, will continue to serve as MP until polling day.

In a letter to constituents sent this weekend, Ms Tebbutt cites her greatest achievements as adding 2,200 extra nurses into the health system, simplifying the primary school curriculum with a greater focus on literacy and numeracy, cutting class sizes from kindergarten until Year 2, avoiding industrial action while securing a teachers' wages agreement and extending the light rail to Dulwich Hill.

Ms Tebbutt plans to seek out a role in the non-government sector in the area of child welfare or health services after the State election.