Larissa Tahireh "Lara" Giddings (born 14 November 1972) is an Australian former politician who was the 44th

Premier of Tasmania The premier of Tasmania is the head of the Government of Tasmania, executive government in the Australian state of Tasmania. By convention, the leader of the party or political grouping which has majority support in the Tasmanian House of Assem ...

from 24 January 2011 until 31 March 2014, the first woman to hold the position. Born in Goroka, Papua New Guinea, she was a Labor Party member of the

Tasmanian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or Lower House, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the Tasmanian Legislative Council, Legislative Council or Upper House. It sits in Parliament House, Hobart, Parliament Hou ...

seat of Franklin from 2002 to 2018, and was the party's leader during her period as premier, replaced by Bryan Green after her government's defeat at the 2014 state election. Giddings came from the

Labor Left The Labor Left (LL), also known as the Progressive Left, Socialist Left or simply the Left, is one of the two major political factions within the Australian Labor Party (ALP). It is nationally characterised by social progressivism and democra ...

faction. As of , she remains the most recent premier of Tasmania from the Labor Party.

Early years

Giddings was born on 14 November 1972 in Goroka, Papua New Guinea. As an adolescent, Giddings was educated at Methodist Ladies' College (MLC) in Melbourne as a boarder. At age 18, she joined the Australian Labor Party. Giddings obtained Bachelor of Arts and

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

degrees from the

University of Tasmania The University of Tasmania (UTAS) is a public research university, primarily located in Tasmania, Australia. Founded in 1890, it is Australia's fourth oldest university. Christ College (University of Tasmania), Christ College, one of the unive ...

Parliamentary career

Giddings was first elected to parliament in the 1996 election in the electorate of

Lyons Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

but was defeated at the 1998 election. Elected at the age of 23 years she was the youngest woman elected to an Australian Parliament. After losing her seat in 1998, she went on to work in the

Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives. The powers, role and composition of the Senate are set out in Chap ...

as Whip's Clerk for Senator Kerry O'Brien, before travelling to Britain for a year at the end of 1999, where she did some temporary administrative work in London, and later worked as a Parliamentary research officer for the Member for Dunfermline East, Helen Eadie, in the

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...

. Lara returned to Tasmania at the end of 2000 to work for the Tasmanian Premier ( Jim Bacon) as a speech writer and media assistantand then as an electorate officer for the Hon. Fran Bladel, Member for Franklin in the State Parliament. Giddings was elected one of the five members for the

Division of Franklin The Division of Franklin is an Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian electoral division in Tasmania. The division is the southernmost in Australia, located in southern Tasmania around the state capital, Hobart. It i ...

in the 2002 Tasmanian election for the Labor Party. From 2004 to 2006, she was Minister for Economic Development and Minister for the Arts in the Labor government under Paul Lennon. Following the 2006 election, she became Minister for Health and Human Services. Shortly after the election, the State Government decided to proceed with building a replacement for the Royal Hobart Hospital and the significant task of planning the replacement came under Giddings' portfolio. In April 2007, she came under criticism for the poor conditions in the Emergency Department and blamed the federal government for under-funding. On 26 May 2008, Lennon resigned from the premiership, and Deputy Premier, David Bartlett was elected party leader and became Premier, while Giddings was elected Deputy Leader and became Deputy Premier, becoming the second woman in Tasmanian history to hold the position. On 23 January 2011, Bartlett stepped down as Premier of Tasmania, and stated that "Lara Giddings will be an outstanding Premier and will have my full support". The following day, the State Parliamentary Labor Party unanimously elected Giddings party leader, also becoming Premier. She was the first female Premier of Tasmania until her government's defeat on 15 March 2014. Following her government's defeat, Giddings opted to return to the backbench, the first defeated Premier to do so since Harry Holgate in 1982. Her deputy, Bryan Green, succeeded her as Tasmanian Labor leader. On 14 May 2017, Giddings announced that she would be retiring from politics at the next Tasmanian state election.

After politics

In March 2019, Giddings became chief executive of the Tasmanian branch of the Australian Medical Association (AMA).

Private life

In 2011, Giddings stated that pursuit of her political career meant that she may never have children. In September 2017, Giddings announced she was pregnant at the age of 44 with the help of an egg donor. In January 2018, she gave birth to a baby girl with partner Ian Magill. This partnership consequently made her a step-mother of another four children from previous relationships.

Honours

Giddings' official portrait was unveiled at Parliament House in Hobart in 2016. On 16 August 2017, she was granted the use of the title "

The Honourable ''The Honourable'' (Commonwealth English) or ''The Honorable'' (American English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific Style ...

" for life. Giddings was appointed an

Officer of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

in the 2024 Australia Day Honours for "distinguished service to the people and Parliament of Tasmania, and to the community".

References

External links

Lara Giddings – Parliamentary library profileLara Giddings – Labor party profile
, - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Giddings, Lara Premiers of Tasmania Deputy premiers of Tasmania Members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly Living people 1972 births Officers of the Order of Australia People from the Eastern Highlands Province Attorneys-general of Tasmania Treasurers of Tasmania Australian republicans People educated at Methodist Ladies' College, Melbourne University of Tasmania alumni Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Tasmania 20th-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian politicians 20th-century Australian women politicians 21st-century Australian women politicians Women heads of government of Australian states and territories Women members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly