George was born in Trani, Italy, where her parents Oleg and Natasha were displaced persons from the Soviet Union.

Oleg died in 1960, aged 39, after years of heavy drinking and smoking, during which he was frequently violent towards his wife and sometimes his daughter.

In February 1968 she married Paddy George, a full-time activist for the Communist Party and NSW State Secretary of the Eureka Youth League, of which she was also a member.

She was Assistant National Director, Trade Union Training Authority 1989-91 and a board member of Delta Electricity from 2000 to 2001.

When Victorian Senator Olive Zakharov, also a member of the Left, was killed in a road accident in March 1995, it was assumed that George would be nominated to fill the casual vacancy.