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

Premier of Tasmania The premier of Tasmania is the head of the executive government in the Australian state of Tasmania. By convention, the leader of the party or political grouping which has majority support in the House of Assembly is invited by the governor of Ta ...

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 Legislative Council or Upper House. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Hobart. The Assembly has 25 m ...

seat of

Franklin Franklin may refer to: People * Franklin (given name) * Franklin (surname) * Franklin (class), a member of a historical English social class Places Australia * Franklin, Tasmania, a township * Division of Franklin, federal electoral d ...

from 2002 to 2018, and was the party's leader during her period as premier, replaced by

Bryan Green Bryan Alexander Green (born 30 June 1957) is a former Australian politician. He was the leader of the parliamentary Labor Party in Tasmania from 2014 to 2017, and a member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly in the electorate of Braddon from 1 ...

after her government's defeat at the 2014 state election. Giddings came from the

Labor Left The Labor Left, also known as the Progressive Left or Socialist Left, is political faction of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). It competes with the more economically liberal Labor Right faction. The Labor Left operates autonomously in each s ...

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 Goroka is the capital of the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. It is a town of approximately 19,000 people (2000), above sea level. It has an airport (in the centre of town) and is on the " Highlands Highway", about 285 km from ...

, 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 Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

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, one of the university's residential colleges, first pro ...

Parliamentary career

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

Lyons Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of th ...

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 House of Representatives (Australia), House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Chapter ...

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 Helen Stirling Eadie (7 March 1947 – 9 November 2013) was a Scottish Labour Co-operative politician who served as Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Cowdenbeath, previously Dunfermline East, from 1999 until her death in 2013. Early ...

, in the

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyro ...

. Lara returned to Tasmania at the end of 2000 to work for the Tasmanian Premier (

Jim Bacon James or Jim Bacon may refer to: *Jim Bacon (politician) (James Alexander Bacon, 1950–2004), Premier of Tasmania, 1998–2004 *Jim Bacon (rugby) James Arthur Bacon (fourth ¼ 1896 – fourth ¼ 1968) was a Welsh rugby union, and professional ...

) 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 Australian electoral division in Tasmania. The division is located in southern Tasmania around the state capital, Hobart. It is the only non-contiguous federal electoral division in Australia, with the two part ...

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 Paul Anthony Lennon (born 8 October 1955) is a Labor Party politician. He was Premier of Tasmania from 21 March 2004 until his resignation on 26 May 2008. He was member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly for the seat of Franklin from 1990 unt ...

. 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 The Royal Hobart Hospital is a public hospital in the Hobart CBD, Tasmania, Australia. The hospital also functions as a teaching hospital in co-operation with the University of Tasmania. The hospital's research facilities are known as the Roya ...

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 David John Bartlett (born 19 January 1968) is an Australian former politician in the state of Tasmania, serving as the 43rd Premier of Tasmania from May 2008 until January 2011. He was a Labor Party member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly s ...

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 Harold Norman Holgate AO (5 December 1933 – 16 March 1997) was a Labor Party politician and Premier of Tasmania from 11 November 1981 to 26 May 1982. Born in Maitland, New South Wales in 1933, Holgate was a television producer and journalist ...

in 1982. Her deputy,

, 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 The next Tasmanian state election is scheduled to be held on or before Saturday 28 June 2025 to elect all 25 members plus an extra 10 new seats to the House of Assembly. The Liberal government, currently led by Premier of Tasmania Jeremy Rocklif ...

After politics

In March 2019, Giddings became chief executive of the Tasmanian branch of the

Australian Medical Association The Australian Medical Association (AMA) is an Australian public company by guarantee formed as a professional association for Australian doctors and medical students. The association is not run by the Australian Government and does not regul ...

(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'' (British English) or ''The Honorable'' (American English; see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific style that is used as a prefix before the names or titles of certain ...

" for life.

References

External links

Lara Giddings – Parliamentary library profileLara Giddings official websiteLara 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 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