Therese Rein graduated from the Australian National University with honours in psychology. She had met Kevin Rudd in their first year in Canberra when both were residents of Burgmann College and members of the Student Christian Movement. They married immediately after completing work for their degrees.
For the first years of their marriage they lived overseas, first in Sweden, where Kevin Rudd was a cadet diplomat at the Australian Embassy in Stockholm and later in Beijing, when he was posted to the Embassy in China. They returned to Australia, with their 2-year-old daughter Jessica, to live in Canberra. Their first son, Nicholas, was born that year, and Therese Rein worked part-time as a rehabilitation counsellor, under a program of the Hawke Labor government to help people find re-employment.
When the family moved to Brisbane, Therese Rein continued to work part-time, assisting people who needed retraining after workplace injury. With a colleague she set up a private company to provide these services. It grew rapidly, extending into New South Wales.
Two years after their election, the Coalition government under John Howard privatised employment services and replaced the Commonwealth Employment Service with a Job Network agency. Therese Rein served on the board of the National Employment Services Association and as president of the Queensland Association of Rehabilitation Counsellors.
Therese Rein's company has grown to a transnational operation with 66 offices in Australia, Britain, France and Germany and was the third-largest provider of services to the Howard government's Job Network agency. The company board included the former head of the Australian Public Service, Mike Codd. Before the 2007 election campaign, Therese Rein sold the Australian operations of her company.
When Kevin Rudd became Prime Minister, the couple moved into the prime ministerial residence, The Lodge in Canberra, with their youngest son.
Therese Rein was the first businesswoman to be prime ministerial wife. She was also the first to retain her own name.
While overseeing overseas operations in the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Sweden, Therese Rein developed a prominent public role as prime ministerial wife. When her own schedule allowed, she accompanied the Prime Minister on overseas visits and hosted official events at The Lodge in Canberra and at Australia's official Sydney residence for visiting dignitaries, Kirribilli House.
Therese Rein's distinctive contribution to public life was her commitment to reducing the impact of inequity and injustice with practical strategies. She gave active support to disability organisations, homelessness and child abuse initiatives, teenage mental health, the national Indigenous literacy project, and OzHarvest. She employed both her position and the prime ministerial residence in making an effective contribution, including hosting numerous lunches and teas where corporate leaders and social activists could exchange views and find common cause.
Summarising the public role of prime ministerial consort she inherited, Therese Rein observed that 'you bring your passions, interests, and strengths, your family and who you are. Everyone will do this job differently'.
An admired and stoutly loyal prime ministerial wife, Therese Rein was again at her husband's side when he stood down as Labor Party leader and ceased to be prime minister. The following month the family moved out of The Lodge and back into their home in the Brisbane riverside suburb of Bulimba.
The Australian Human Rights Commission awarded Therese Rein the Human Rights Medal, a major accolade in the field, for her long-term dedication to human rights, especially the rights of people with disability.
