Australia’s Malaysian-born Finance Minister Senator Penny Wong and her partner Sophie Allouache have become parents to a baby girl.

Alexandra was born on Sunday in Adelaide’s Women and Children's Hospital nine days early and is reportedly recovering well.

Penny Wong australia finance minister “Like any family welcoming a new addition, we are looking forward to spending time at home together and ask for our privacy to be respected at this time,” Wong, 43 ( left ), said last night.

It was a natural delivery for first-time mother Allouache, a public servant.

Alexandra was conceived through IVF. The father will be known to the child.

“My partner, Sophie Allouache, and I are thrilled to welcome the arrival of our baby daughter, Alexandra,” Senator Wong said in a statement.

“Both mother and baby are happy and healthy.”

Prime Minister Julia Gillard led the congratulations. “I am thrilled for Penny and Sophie; this is wonderful news, and Alexandra is beautiful and a source of joy,” she said.

Despite the recent affirmation of gay marriage by Labor Party’s national conference - a debate in which Senator Wong played a high-profile advocacy role - the finance minister has said consistently she does not want her personal life to be a political statement.

- Bernama