Katy Gallagher

Katherine Ruth "Katy" Gallagher (born 17 March 1970) is an Australian politician, a current member of the Australian Senate, and the former Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory and member of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly from 2001 to 2014, representing the electorate of Molonglo for the Australian Labor Party. She was also Minister for Health, Minister for Higher Education and Minister for Regional Development.

On 5 December 2014 Gallagher announced she would resign from the territory parliament, and run to replace Kate Lundy in the Australian Senate. On 11 December 2014 she resigned as Chief Minister and Andrew Barr was elected as her replacement. She was appointed to the Senate by the ACT Legislative Assembly on 25 March 2015, a day after Lundy's formal resignation, and was formally sworn in on the 26th.

Early years and background

Gallagher was born and raised in the Weston Creek district of Canberra. She was educated in Duffy, and at Melrose High School and Canberra College (previously known as Stirling College), before completing a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Sociology at the Australian National University in 1990.