Heather McTaggart (born 23 August 1962 in Bangor,

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

) is an Australian politician. A member of the Labor Party, she represented the electoral district of Evelyn in the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The presiding ...

from 2002 to 2006.re-member: McTaggart, Heather
Parliament of Victoria, December 2006. Heather McTaggart attended Whitehorse Technical College in Box Hill from 1973 to 1978 (the school was amalgamated into

Box Hill TAFE Box Hill Institute is a provider of vocational and higher education located in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, Victoria. The Box Hill Institute has three locations in Box Hill, Victoria, Box Hill ( ...

in 1981). Following high school she worked as a secretary in the stockbroking industry until 1981, when she began working at Esanda Finance Corporation Ltd in numerous roles until 1995. From 1997 to 1998 she worked as an integration aid at Fernhill Pre-School. McTaggart moved to

Mount Evelyn Mount Evelyn is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 37 km north-east of Melbourne's central business district, located within the Shire of Yarra Ranges local government area. Mount Evelyn recorded a population of 9,799 at the 20 ...

, at the northern base of the

Dandenong Ranges The Dandenong Ranges (commonly just The Dandenongs) are a set of low mountain ranges, rising to 633 metres at Mount Dandenong, approximately east of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The ranges consist mostly of rolling hills, steeply weathere ...

, around 1989 with her husband Greg. Greg died soon afterwards at the age of 33, and shortly after his funeral, Heather discovered that she was pregnant. Following the birth of her first child, Matthew, Heather left full-time employment to take on parenting duties. She joined the Lilydale branch of the Labor Party and developed an interest in

special education Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...

. To her second husband Ken, she had twin girls, Keely and Tamsin. She was elected to the

in the 2002 Victorian election as the member for

Evelyn Evelyn may refer to: Places * Evelyn, London *Evelyn Gardens, a garden square in London * Evelyn, Ontario, Canada * Evelyn, Michigan, United States * Evelyn, Texas, United States * Evelyn, Wirt County, West Virginia, United States * Evelyn ...

, winning the seat from the

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

Christine Fyffe Christine Ann Fyffe (born 10 December 1944) is an Australian politician. She was a Liberal member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 1999 to 2002 and again from 2006 to 2018, representing Evelyn. Personal life Fyffe was born in Staf ...

, however Fyffe regained the seat at the next election in 2006. After losing her seat, McTaggart went to work for Labor MP

Kirstie Marshall Kirstie Claire Marshall, OAM (born 21 April 1969) is an Australian aerial skier and Victorian state politician. Marshall was an ex-gymnast who became an aerial skier at Mount Buller, Victoria. During her skiing career Marshall won over 40 Wo ...

. For six months after the election, McTaggart continued to receive internal Liberal Party documents and correspondence from Fyffe's office via her fax machine, after an IT glitch saw her name remain on the electorate office's internal distribution list. The Liberal Party complained to the Victorian Ombudsman, who investigated the matter and cleared McTaggart of forwarding the documents onto others, although Ombudsman George Brouwer acknowledged that she could have passed on the contents of the documents to others without forwarding them directly. McTaggart said she had made an error of judgement by not reporting the misdirected faxes, but denied that she had used the documents for political gain.Gardiner, Ashley
Labor MP Heather McTaggart cleared of fax forwarding
''

Herald Sun The ''Herald Sun'' is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of the Murdoch owned News Corp. The ''Herald S ...

'', 2 November 2007.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McTaggart, Heather 1962 births Living people Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Victoria Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Northern Ireland emigrants to Australia People from Bangor, County Down 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian women politicians Women members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Politicians from Melbourne People from Mount Evelyn, Victoria