Sally McManus

McManus grew up in Carlingford, New South Wales, Australia, a suburb of Sydney, the daughter of a railway worker and a clerical staffer at a Parramatta pharmaceuticals factory. At the age of 17, McManus was first drawn to left-wing movements during a protest against mass teacher lay-offs by the Greiner Liberal state government in 1988.[3]

McManus went to Carlingford High School in Sydney and studied for a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy at Macquarie University.[4] McManus was president of the Macquarie University student union, and was also briefly involved in the student council.[5] Deputy Leader of Labor, Tanya Plibersek knew McManus during their time at University.[6]

McManus was NSW Secretary of the Australian Services Union before becoming ACTU Secretary.[4] She moved to the ACTU during 2015. During the 2016 federal election, McManus led the ACTU's "Building a Better Future" campaign.[7] McManus has stated that the ACTU will not be distancing itself from the CFMEU over industrial action.[8] In February 2019 McManus's On Fairness was published by Melbourne University Publishing.[9] During the 2019 federal election, McManus, along with Bill Shorten was the target of fake tweets on Facebook.[10] During the COVID-19 pandemic Sally McManus directly negotiated new amendments to the Fair Work Act with the Attorney-General Christian Porter. Mr Porter hailed the negotiations as a success, with McManus stating that; "We had been concerned that several employer groups had been advocating for a widespread removal of workers' rights akin to WorkChoices".[11]

In 2012, McManus was active in the Destroy The Joint campaign formed in response to radio broadcaster Alan Jones's criticism of then Prime Minister Julia Gillard and other prominent women.[12] Her activism was recognised in 2015 when she received an Edna Ryan Award in the Grand Stirrer category.[13] In 1988 she joined protests against newly-elected NSW Premier Nick Greiner's sacking of public sector workers.[14]

McManus is an enthusiastic player of computer games, and describes herself as “the definition of a total gamer”, who has been playing since the DOS era. She particularly enjoys Metal Gear Solid, on PlayStation, and says her favourite of all is Civilization.[15] McManus holds a black belt in both kung fu and taekwondo.[16] In a 2020 interview with Benjamin Law, she says she has also recently started kickboxing.[14] McManus played soccer for many years as a goalkeeper, and is a long-term supporter of the Parramatta Eels rugby league team.[16] On weekends, she pursues her hobbies of bird watching and photography.[16]

• Sally McManus on Twitter