Keneally met her future husband, an Australian, Ben Keneally, at World Youth Day 1991. She emigrated to Australia in 1994 and they married in 1996.[23] She became a naturalised Australian in 2000, the same year she joined the ALP.
She and her husband have two sons, Daniel and Brendan. A daughter, Caroline, died at birth.[24] Her husband is the nephew of Australian writer Thomas Keneally.[23]