Katy Gallagher

The Honourable Katy Gallagher MLA
6th Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory
Incumbent
Assumed office 16 May 2011
Deputy	Andrew Barr
Preceded by	Jon Stanhope
10th Deputy Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory
In office 20 April 2006 – 16 May 2011
Preceded by	Ted Quinlan
Succeeded by	Andrew Barr
7th Treasurer of the Australian Capital Territory
Incumbent
Assumed office 11 November 2008
Preceded by	Jon Stanhope
9th Minister for Health
Incumbent
Assumed office 20 April 2006
Preceded by	Simon Corbell
Member of the ACT Legislative Assembly
Incumbent
Assumed office 20 October 2001
Constituency	Molonglo
Personal details
Born	17 March 1970 (1970-03-17) Weston Creek, Canberra
Nationality	Australian
Political party	Australian Labor Party
Spouse(s)	Dave Skinner
Children	2 (f), 1 (m)
Alma mater	Australian National University
Profession	Social worker, union organiser
Website	ACT Labor - People: Katy Gallagher

Katy Gallagher (born 17 March 1970), an Australian politician, is the sixth and current Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory and a member of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly since 2001, representing the electorate of Molonglo for the Australian Labor Party. She is also Treasurer, Minister for Health, and Minister for Industrial Relations.

Early years and background

Gallagher was born and raised in the Weston Creek district of Canberra, and attended schooling in Duffy, at Melrose High School and at Stirling College, before completing a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Sociology at the Australian National University in 1990.

She was initially employed as a social worker, assisting with a community life skills project and working with children with disabilities. From 1994 to 1997, she worked as an advocate for People First ACT, a support and advocacy organisation for the intellectually disabled. Around this time, Gallagher became involved in the labour movement, and took on a position with the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU), first working as a case manager and then a national organiser. In 1997, Gallagher's fiance, Brett Seaman (also a CPSU organiser), was killed in a cycling accident in Merimbula. At the time, Gallagher was 13 weeks pregnant with her first daughter. An 86-year old female pensioner narrowly escaped a jail term for dangerous and irresponsible driving for the crash. The union movement assisted Gallagher with the funeral and court case that followed the accident.

Political career

The support provided to Gallagher by the Labor Party and union movement inspired her to run for pre-selection as one of the Labor candidates for the electorate of Molonglo for the 2001 ACT general election. At the time, Labor had two incumbent members in the Assembly representing Molonglo. Long-serving independent Michael Moore retired at the election. The election saw Labor come to power, led by Jon Stanhope. Despite Gallagher winning just 4.38% of the first preference vote, following distribution of preferences, Gallagher was elected as the fifth member to the seven member seat, behind Humphries, Tucker, Corbell, and Quinlan.

Gallagher was appointed to the second arrangement of the first Stanhope ministry on 23 December 2002, when she was given the portfolios of education, youth and family services; women; and industrial relations. A minor change on 26 May 2004 saw Gallagher's ministry for education, youth and family services divided into separate responsibilities.

At the 2004 ACT general election, Gallagher polled strongly, generating 11.59% of the first preference vote and was the first candidate elected to represent Molonglo in the Assembly, ahead of both Labor colleagues, Quinlan and Corbell. Gallager's ministerial responsibilities were unchanged in the first arrangement of the second Stanhope ministry and, on 20 April 2006, following the retirement of Ted Quinlan, she was promoted to Deputy Chief Minister with ministerial responsibilities including health, disability and community services, and women. The ministry for children and young people was restored to Gallagher's responsibilities on 17 April 2007.

At the 2008 ACT general election, Gallagher again polled strongly, generating 15.78% of the first preference vote and was the second candidate elected to represent Molonglo in the Assembly, behind Liberal leader, Seselja. In the third Stanhope ministry, Gallagher took on ministerial responsibility for treasury, in addition to retaining both health and women; whilst a subsequent reshuffle on 9 November 2009 saw her resume ministerial responsibility for industrial relations and lose the portfolio of women.

Minister for Health

Amid allegations of bullying, it was reported in early 2010 that nine obstetricians had resigned from Canberra Hospital in the preceding 13 months. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists called on Gallagher to conduct an external, transparent review of the hospital; and, although initially denying the claims, Gallagher agreed to two external reviews, one to look at workplace issues and the other to investigate patient outcomes. The patient outcome review, when handed down in August 2010, sharply criticised hospital management with regards to workload, but stated that patient care was adequate. A number of months earlier, Gallagher faced pressure from the Catholic Church, following an agreement that the ACT Government would purchase Calvary Hospital (in Bruce) from the Little Company of Mary Health Care (LCMHC) - an independent arm of the Church - for $77m. Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell claimed that the Government's motives were ideological and driven by anti-Christian elements. Gallagher denied the claims. A dispute subsequently arose between LCMHC and the Government over an accounting concession and the government withdrew from the purchase. The culmination of these matters led the Liberal leader, Zed Seselja, on 17 August 2010, to move a no confidence vote in the Assembly against Gallagher as Minister for Health as follows:

"That this Assembly no longer has confidence in the Minister for Health, Katy Gallagher, for her continued neglect of the Health portfolio, most particularly...... management failure, staff bullying, over working, and poor processes;....complete failure in the Calvary Hospital purchase;....and many instances of attacking those who made complaints, ignoring those who gave advice, and dealing with the problems through denial and neglect;....and the ongoing poor performance of the ACT health system...."

The motion was defeated (five in favour, nine against), with the ACT Greens supporting the Government.

Chief Minister

On 12 May 2011, while Gallagher was Deputy Chief Minister, the then Chief Minister Jon Stanhope resigned. On 16 May 2011, Gallagher was elected by the Assembly as the ACT's 6th Chief Minister and 3rd female Chief Minister.

Personal life

Gallagher was previously engaged to Brett Seaman, who died in a road accident in 1997. She is married to Dave Skinner. She has three children: Abigail, Charlie and Evie.

See also

• First Gallagher Ministry

External links

• ACT Labor - People: Katy Gallagher

References

Political offices
Preceded by Ted Quinlan	Deputy Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory 2006–2011	Succeeded by Andrew Barr
Preceded by Simon Corbell	Minister for Health 2006–present	Incumbent
Preceded by Jon Stanhope	Treasurer of the Australian Capital Territory 2008–present	Incumbent
	Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory 2011–present	Incumbent