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Jennifer Louise "Jenny" Macklin (born 29 December 1953), Australian politician, is Deputy Leader of the Australian Labor Party. She has been a member of the Australian House of Representatives since March 1996, representing the Division of Jagajaga, Victoria.
Born in Brisbane, Queensland, Macklin grew up in country Victoria. She spent time in Japan as a student before graduating from the University of Melbourne with an honours degree in economics. A Marxist in her youth, she is a member of the Socialist Left faction of the Labor Party.
Macklin was a researcher at the Australian National University in 1976-78, an economics research specialist with the Parliamentary Library in Canberra 1978-81, Research Coordinator at the Labour Resource Centre in Melbourne 1981-85, an adviser to the Victorian Minister for Health 1985-88, director of the federal government's National Health Strategy 1990-93 and director of the Australian Urban and Regional Development Review 1993-95. She is one of the federal Parliament's most highly qualified members on matters of social policy.
On her election to Parliament Macklin was immediately elected a member of the Opposition Shadow Cabinet, where she served in a number of roles, including Shadow Minister for Aged Care, Social Security and the Status of Women. After the 1998 election, Macklin became Shadow Minister for Health. The Health Minister at the time, Dr Michael Wooldridge, complained of her "stupid, whining carping voice." Macklin began to gain a reputation as a solid parliamentary performer.
After the ALP's defeat at the 2001 election, Macklin was elected Deputy Leader to Simon Crean. She was the first woman to hold a leadership position in either Australian major party. She took on the position of Shadow Minister for Education. Following Crean's replacement as leader by Mark Latham in December 2003, Macklin retained her position.
Following Mark Latham's resignation from politics she became the acting ALP leader until such a time as a new leader is elected. She has publicly stated that she wants to retain her position as deputy leader rather than run as a candidate for new leader, but some in the media have speculated that she may be challenged for this position by Socialist Left colleagues seeking to put the more ambitious Julia Gillard in a high-profile position. Such a challenge remains unlikely.
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