| Andrew Barr MLA |
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|---|---|
| 11th Deputy Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 16 May 2011 |
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| Preceded by | Katy Gallagher |
| Member of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly for Molonglo |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 5 April 2006 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | 1973 Lismore, New South Wales, Australia |
| Political party | Australian Labor Party |
| Domestic partner | Anthony Toms |
| Alma mater | Australian National University |
Andrew Barr (born 1973) is an Australian politician and Deputy Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory. He has been an Australian Labor Party member for the seat of Molonglo in the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly since 5 April 2006, after being elected on a countback to replace former Treasurer Ted Quinlan, who resigned mid-term. Barr was immediately promoted to Cabinet upon his election. As one of only four Ministers in the Territory government, he holds a number of portfolios: Economic Development, Education and Training, and Tourism, Sport and Recreation.[1] Chief Minister Katy Gallagher currently holds the Treasury portfolio, but has indicated she will appoint Barr as Treasurer after the Assembly passes the 2011–12 Territory budget.[2]
He is the first openly gay[3] Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) and Minister in the Australian Capital Territory and the first openly gay Cabinet member anywhere in Australia . He has also been a vocal supporter of the territory's affordable housing action plan and same-sex civil union/partnerships bill.
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Barr was born in Lismore, New South Wales, and was raised in Canberra, attending Holt Pre-School, the AME School, Turner Primary School, Lyneham High School and Lake Ginninderra College. He studied political science, economics and economic history at the Australian National University, where he became involved in student politics, serving as Treasurer of the Australian National University Students' Association and as a director on the board of the Australian National University Union. After graduating in 1995, he worked for the Federal parliamentarian Annette Ellis and later the then ACT Opposition Leader Jon Stanhope, before embarking on a career change to the private sector in 1999 as a media analyst and account manager.
During the 1990s Barr became a leading influence within the right faction of ACT Labor (Centre Coalition) and was involved in the successful election of the first non-left faction ACT party secretary, Michael Kerrisk.
Political opponents within ACT Labor sought to use Barr's homosexuality to discredit him during a territory ALP conference in the late 1990s by outing him with a whispering campaign. In 2006, Barr said, "When I came out in the late '90s I had already been in the party for some eight years, so people were already used to me.... But it was at this time though that I decided to step back from front-line politics. It was a big change in my life and it was at this time that I met my partner Anthony, so I just needed time to adjust."[4]
He returned to political life in 2002 as Senior Adviser to the Government Whip John Hargreaves. Following Hargreaves' election to the Ministry in November 2004, Barr was appointed Chief of Staff—a position he held until his election to the Assembly in April 2006.
In early 2004, Barr successfully won pre-selection for the Labor ticket in the seven-member Molonglo electorate, which includes Barr's suburb of Dickson and that of his previous residence in Braddon. He campaigned largely on financial management, housing affordability and urban infrastructure issues, such as balanced territory budgets, tax concessions for first home buyers, inner city parking permits and footpath and street lighting upgrades, while also expressing support for gay law reform, the reproductive rights of women, multiculturalism and refugees. Barr polled strongly in inner city booths and ultimately found himself in contention for the seventh and final Molonglo seat, along with Liberals Jacqui Burke, Zed Seselja and fellow Labor candidate Mike Hettinger, but narrowly missed out, coming in tenth.
Barr continued working for Hargreaves after the election, but received a second chance at entering the Assembly when the Treasurer, Ted Quinlan, a close political ally, resigned in March 2006. The resulting countback saw the redistribution of Quinlan's first preference votes and, as the two had campaigned together, Barr was the favourite to take the seat from the beginning. He ultimately finished with 5,318 votes, a majority of 1,089 over his nearest rival, Kim Sattler, who in a surprise result outpolled Hettinger.
Quinlan's resignation from the Assembly sparked a ministerial reshuffle, and Barr was heavily tipped to take Quinlan's place in the ministry. He duly nominated for the position, easily outpolling fellow MLAs Karin MacDonald and Mary Porter. As a result, he immediately entered the ministry upon taking his seat, and was assigned the Education, Training, Industrial Relations, Sport and Tourism portfolios. Barr dedicated most of his maiden speech to economic management, housing affordability and progressive social reform[5]
Barr contested the seat of Molonglo for the 2008 ACT poll and received 5,495 primary votes or 0.51 of a quota. He was elected in fourth position in the seven member Molonglo electorate behind Liberal Leader Zed Seselja, then-Deputy Chief Minister Katy Gallagher and the Greens lead candidate Shane Rattenbury.
Following the resignation of Jon Stanhope in May 2011, Barr was appointed Deputy Chief Minister in the cabinet of new Chief Minister Katy Gallagher.[1]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Katy Gallagher |
Deputy Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory 2011–present |
Incumbent |
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