Chloe Shorten

Clothilde Edwina Louise Shorten (née Bryce; born 1971) is an Australian company director, corporate affairs specialist, author, and public advocate. She is the spouse of Professor Bill Shorten, former Leader of the Opposition and subsequent Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme in the Albanese Government. The daughter of Dame Quentin Bryce, Australia's 25th Governor-General, Shorten has built an independent career spanning journalism, more than two decades of corporate communications leadership in the resources and technology sectors, and a growing portfolio of health, finance, digital rights, and social service board directorships.

Early life and education

Shorten was born in Brisbane in 1971 as the fourth of five children. Her mother is Dame Quentin Bryce, who was the Governor-General of Australia, and her father is Michael Bryce. She grew up in the suburb of St Lucia, which contains the University of Queensland, where her mother was a law lecturer and tutor. She attended Ironside State School, Somerville House, and Indooroopilly State High School. At primary school, she was a friend of future senator Kimberley Kitching.

After high school, she joined the Sunday Mail in Brisbane as a copygirl and started studying an online degree in communications through Deakin University in Victoria. She also started, but did not complete, an MBA at the University of Queensland. Writing is Shorten's third career, having started working life as a journalist before becoming a public affairs specialist in large corporate organisations in the resources and technology sectors.

Corporate communications

Shorten built an executive career spanning more than 25 years in the engineering, resources, and technology sectors, advising boards on media, investor, government, and community relations. She then resigned in 2016 to spend more time with her husband on the election campaign trail.

She holds qualifications in communications, marketing, management, and corporate social responsibility. Her professional affiliations include membership of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (MAICD), the Governance Institute of Australia (GIA(Aff)), and the Global AI Sustainability Taskforce (GAIST). She chairs the Alfred Health Community Advisory Committee and is a member of the Quality and Safety Committee. She served as Chair of the IFS Group Remuneration Committee from September 2024 until August 2025, and has been a member of the Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee since December 2019.

Centre for Digital Wellbeing

Shorten was appointed Chair of the Centre for Digital Wellbeing Advisory Board in 2023. She has been a member of the Australian Child Rights Taskforce within the Network for Quality Digital Education. She has been an Ambassador for the Victorian Government's Victoria Against Violence campaign and is a Patron of Our Watch. She has written that she credits her mother, Dame Quentin Bryce, with instilling a lifelong commitment to ending family violence; Bryce chaired the Queensland Government's Not Now, Not Ever Taskforce on domestic and family violence.

Burnet Institute

Shorten is a strategic advisor for the Burnet Institute in Papua New Guinea. She has hosted the Foyer Foundation's Blown Away: Conversations in Youth Foyers podcast series. She is also an Ambassador for Youth Mental Health at Victoria University.

Children's online safety

Shorten has been an active public commentator on the regulation of social media platforms, algorithmic harm to children, and the obligations of technology companies toward minors. She has written and spoken on the concept of "dark patterns" in digital design and their particular risk to minors.

Other roles

Shorten has served as Ambassador for the Furlong Park School for Deaf Children and as a Patron of the Questacon Foundation. They were divorced in 2009. She and Parkin have two children who now primarily live with her and her second husband, Bill Shorten, in Melbourne. She moved to Melbourne and married Shorten in November 2009, giving birth to their child in January 2010. These experiences directly informed her first book.

Publications

Shorten's first book Take Heart – A Story for Modern Stepfamilies was published by Melbourne University Press in 2017. Her second book, The Secret Ingredient: The Power of the Family Table, about the importance of regular family meals at the kitchen table, was published in April 2018.

She writes and speaks regularly on social issues including digital governance, children's rights, gender equity, and family violence.