Katy Gallagher

Her father was born in Stoke-on-Trent, England in 1939 and her mother in Guayaquil, Ecuador in 1943.

Both were British citizens who later became Australian citizens after their arrival from England via New Zealand in 1969.

She has an elder sister, Clare, along with two younger brothers who were adopted, Richard and Matthew.

Katherine Ruth Gallagher (/gæləgər/ GAL-ə-ger; born 18 March 1970) is an Australian politician who has been serving as the Minister for Finance, Minister for Women, Minister for the Public Service and Vice-President of the Executive Council in the Albanese Government since 2022, and formerly served as the 6th Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory from 2011 to 2014.

Educated at Duffy Primary School, Melrose High School and Canberra College (previously known as Stirling College), Gallagher completed her studies by obtaining 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.

Her father died in 1995 of lung cancer and her mother in 2005 with peritoneal cancer.

On 30 January 1997 Gallagher's fiancé, Brett Seaman, 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.

Gallagher left her previous employment and was offered an administrative job at the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) where Seaman had worked by Margaret Gillespie who later went on to become her chief of staff during her time as a politician.

It was during this time she became involved in the labour movement, going on to become a national organiser with the union after her pregnancy.

She was elected to the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly in 2001, representing the electorate of Molonglo.

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.

She was made a minister under Jon Stanhope in 2002, and appointed Deputy Chief Minister in 2006.

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.

Gallagher became Chief Minister in 2011 after Stanhope's retirement, and led her party to a fourth consecutive term at the 2012 general election.

She resigned in 2014 to seek preselection to the Senate.

She previously served in the Senate from 2015 to 2018.

Gallagher grew up in Canberra and was a social worker and union organiser with the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) before entering politics.

In March 2015, Gallagher was appointed to fill the casual vacancy caused by the retirement of Senator Kate Lundy.

She was appointed to Bill Shorten's shadow ministry later in the year, and elected to the Senate in her own right at the 2016 federal election.

She was subsequently elected Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate.

In December 2017, during the parliamentary eligibility crisis, Gallagher was referred to the High Court.

The court ruled in May 2018 that she was disqualified from sitting in the Senate for failing to renounce her British citizenship before nomination for election in 2016.

She has been a Senator for the Australian Capital Territory since the 2019 federal election, as a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP).

She returned to her previous Senate seat at the 2019 federal election.

Gallagher was born and raised in Waramanga, a suburb in the Weston Creek district of Canberra to Betsy and Charles Gallagher.