Kate Ellis (politician)

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The Honourable
Kate Ellis
Member of the Australian Parliament
for Adelaide
In office
9 October 2004 – 11 April 2019
Preceded byTrish Worth
Succeeded bySteve Georganas
Minister for Early Childhood Education, Childcare and Youth
In office
1 July 2013 – 18 September 2013
Prime MinisterKevin Rudd
Preceded byPeter Garrett
Succeeded bySussan Ley
In office
3 December 2007 – 28 June 2010
Prime MinisterKevin Rudd
Julia Gillard
Preceded byPosition Recreated
Succeeded byPeter Garrett
Minister for Employment Participation
In office
14 December 2011 – 18 September 2013
Prime MinisterJulia Gillard
Kevin Rudd
Preceded byMark Arbib
Succeeded byLuke Hartsuyker
Minister for the Status of Women
In office
15 September 2010 – 14 December 2011
Prime MinisterJulia Gillard
Preceded byTanya Plibersek
Succeeded byJulie Collins
Minister for Sport
In office
3 December 2007 – 24 June 2010
Prime MinisterKevin Rudd
Julia Gillard
Preceded byGeorge Brandis
Succeeded byMark Arbib
Personal details
Born
Katherine Margaret Ellis

(1977-09-22) 22 September 1977 (age 46)
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Political partyAustralian Labor Party
Spouse
​
(m. 2013)​
Children2

Katherine Margaret Ellis (born 22 September 1977) is an Australian former politician, who represented the Division of Adelaide in the Australian House of Representatives for the Australian Labor Party from 2004 until 2019. She served in multiple portfolios in the outer ministry of the 2007–2013 federal Labor government and was in the shadow cabinet after that. In March 2017 Ellis announced that she would step down from shadow cabinet as of the next reshuffle and leave parliament at the 2019 federal election.[1][2]

Early life and career[edit]

Ellis was born in Melbourne and grew up in rural South Australia in the Murray River town of Mannum where her mother worked as a teacher at the local primary school. Ellis moved to Adelaide for her secondary education, attending Daws Road High School. She enrolled but left without completing a Bachelor of International Studies at Flinders University.[3] While enrolled at Flinders she was General Secretary of the Students Association and an editor of Empire Times. A member of the Australian Labor Party, she worked as a research officer for state and federal parliamentarians. Ellis is linked with the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA). She was a ministerial adviser to South Australian state minister Rory McEwen and then for the former Deputy Premier of South Australia, Kevin Foley.[4][5][6][7]

Political career[edit]

Ellis was elected to the House of Representatives for the Division of Adelaide, South Australia at the 2004 federal election, defeating Liberal Party incumbent Trish Worth on a 2 percent two-party swing to a margin of 1.3 points, increasing to 8.5 points in 2007. The margin was reduced to 7.7 points in 2010 and to 4.0 percent in 2013.

After the 2007 election Ellis became Minister for Youth and Minister for Sport. This made her the youngest person to become an Australian government minister, a record until then held by former Prime Minister Paul Keating.[8] In 2009 Ellis took on the portfolio of Early Childhood Education, Childcare and Youth. After the 2010 election, Ellis became the Minister for Employment Participation and Early Childhood and Childcare and the Minister for the Status of Women.[9] For a few months prior to the 2013 Labor government defeat, Ellis was the Minister for Early Childhood, Childcare and Youth. Ellis was then elevated to shadow cabinet with the portfolios of Education and Early Childhood.[4]

In 2012 Ellis voted in support of a same-sex marriage bill.[10] She supported the Safe School Coalition Australia program in 2016.[11]

Personal life[edit]

On 23 February 2013, Ellis married News Limited journalist David Penberthy, then the editor-in-chief of news.com.au and a columnist for several News Limited publications and previously the editor of Sydney's Daily Telegraph.[12][13] Ellis gave birth to her first child in April 2015 and a second in July 2017.[14][15] Ellis supports the Adelaide Football Club and was named as a club ambassador in 2009.[16][17] In 2011, she joined tennis star Lleyton Hewitt as the club's number-one ticket holder, becoming the first woman so honoured.[18] She is also a Club Ambassador for the SANFL team the Glenelg Tigers.[19]

Ellis's public image has been the subject of media attention since her entry into public life. In October 2008, she was voted Parliament's "sexiest" MP in a poll of federal MPs conducted by The Courier-Mail newspaper.[20] In April 2010, she modelled a Karen Millen dress and Gucci high-heels for Grazia magazine.[21] She agreed to do the shoot to raise awareness of the pressures on women related to body image, and to encourage fashion magazines to promote healthy attitudes toward weight and eating.[22]

On 9 March 2017, Ellis announced that she would step down from shadow cabinet as of the next reshuffle, and leave parliament at the 2019 federal election in order to spend more time with her young family.[1][2] A week later, it was announced that she was in the early stages of her second pregnancy,[23] and her second son was born in July 2017.[24]

In April 2021, her book, Sex, Lies and Question Time, was published by Hardie Grant.[25]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Kate Ellis, Labor frontbencher, to quit politics at next federal election". ABC News. Australia. 9 March 2017.
  2. ^ a b corporateName=Commonwealth Parliament; address=Parliament House, Canberra. "Current Shadow Ministry List". www.aph.gov.au.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ "Panelist: Kate Ellis". ABC. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
  4. ^ a b "Hon Kate Ellis MP". Senators and Members of the Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  5. ^ "Kate Ellis". www.alp.org.au.
  6. ^ "Kate Ellis: Hawker Britton" (PDF).
  7. ^ Schneiders, Royce Millar, Ben (1 May 2015). "Why is the union that represents supermarket workers stopping gay marriage?". The Sydney Morning Herald.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ Nicholson, Brendan (30 November 2007). "Rudd and the Sisters Ministry". The Age. Melbourne. Retrieved 5 January 2008.
  9. ^ "The Gillard ministry". Melbourne: The Age. 11 September 2010. Retrieved 20 September 2010.
  10. ^ "Lower House votes down same-sex marriage bill". ABC News. Australia. 19 September 2012. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  11. ^ "Kate Ellis: We need to send LGBTI students a message of unwavering support". Daily Life. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  12. ^ "Federal Childcare Minister Kate Ellis and News Limited editor David Penberthy engaged to marry". Adelaide Now. 12 November 2012.
  13. ^ Sobolewski, Helene (24 February 2013). "Federal Child Care Minister Kate Ellis marries Sunday Mail editor David Penberthy". The Advertiser. Adelaide. Retrieved 25 February 2013.
  14. ^ "Adelaide MP Kate Ellis and Advertiser columnist David Penberthy welcome baby boy". The Advertiser. 10 April 2015.
  15. ^ Langenberg, Adam (22 July 2017). "MP Kate Ellis and columnist David Penberthy welcome second son". The Advertiser. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  16. ^ "2009 Season Guide out now". Adelaide Football Club. 29 March 2009. Archived from the original on 21 March 2011. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
  17. ^ "About Kate". Kate Ellis. Archived from the original on 2 September 2010. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
  18. ^ "Kate Ellis joins Crows". Adelaide Football Club (Press release). 28 March 2011. Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
  19. ^ "Club Ambassadors". Glenelg Football Club. n.d. Archived from the original on 2 May 2013. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
  20. ^ Lewis, Steve (31 October 2008). "Kate Ellis voted Australia's sexiest politician". The Courier-Mail. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 1 November 2008.
  21. ^ "Kate Ellis: 'I'm horrified by how we see ourselves'". Grazia. No. 85 (Australian ed.). 19 April 2010. pp. 20–21. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 15 April 2010.
  22. ^ Harvey, Claire (4 April 2010). "Ellis digs her high heels in". The Sunday Telegraph. p. 28. Archived from the original on 10 September 2012. Retrieved 15 April 2010.
  23. ^ Peatling, Stephanie (15 March 2017). "Kate Ellis pregnant with her second child". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  24. ^ Langenberg, Adam (22 July 2017). "MP Kate Ellis and columnist David Penberthy welcome second son". The Advertiser. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  25. ^ Ellis, Kate (29 March 2021), Sex lies and question time, Hardie Grant Books (published 2021), ISBN 978-1-74379-639-9

External links[edit]

 

Parliament of Australia
Preceded by Member for Adelaide
2004–2019 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Minister for Youth and Sport
2007–2009 		Succeeded by
Kate Ellis
Preceded by
Kate Ellis
 Early Childhood Education, Childcare and Youth
2009–2010 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Kate Ellis
 Minister for Sport
2009–2010 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister for the Status of Women
2010–2011 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister for Employment Participation and Childcare
2010–2013 		Succeeded by
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