Kate Ellis
Encyclopedia
Katherine Margaret "Kate" Ellis, MP (born 22 September 1977) is an Australian politician, representing the federal division of Adelaide
since 2004 and is currently the Minister for Employment Participation and Childcare and the Minister for the Status of Women
in the Gillard Government.
and grew up in rural South Australia in the Murray River
town of Mannum
where her family owned the local bakery and her mother worked as a teacher in the local primary school. Ellis moved to Adelaide
for her secondary school education, attending Daws Road High School
. She began studying international relations at Flinders University
where she was General Secretary
of the Students Association
and an editor of Empire Times, although she did not finish a degree. A member of the Australian Labor Party
, she worked as a research officer for state and federal parliamentarians. She was a ministerial adviser to South Australian state minister Rory McEwen
and then for the former Deputy Premier of South Australia, Kevin Foley
.
for the Division of Adelaide
, South Australia
at the 2004 federal election. She defeated Liberal Party
incumbent Trish Worth
. At the 2007 federal election, Ellis retained her seat with a 48.6% primary vote, and a 58.4% two-party preferred vote.
After the election Kevin Rudd
appointed Ellis Minister for Youth and Minister for Sport
. This made her the youngest person ever to become an Australian government minister, a record until then held by former Prime Minister Paul Keating
. On 6 June 2009, in a ministerial reshuffle due to the resignation of Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon
and the retirement of Home Affairs Minister Bob Debus
, Ellis became Minister for Early Childhood Education, Childcare and Youth. She remained as Minister for Sport.
In April 2010, John O'Neill
, the CEO of the Australian Rugby Union
, claimed that shortly after the election the government had privately promised funding for a number of rugby projects, but two years later the union was still waiting for financial help while millions had been spent on a bid to host the FIFA World Cup
. Ellis responded by saying that "since coming to office we have delivered about $2.04m to the ARU, including $507,000 for the Pacific Nations Cup". Other rugby officials claimed that the grant mentioned was actually compensation for the $650,000 spent on a project backed by Ellis' predecessor, George Brandis
, that was cancelled by the new government.
Ellis was re-elected to the seat of Adelaide at the 2010 federal election. Ellis became the Minister for Employment Participation and Child Care and the Minister for the Status of Women in the Gillard Government on 14 September 2010.
editor, David Penberthy
who had recently separated from his wife. In January 2011, local newspaper The Advertiser confirmed the existence of a romantic relationship between the two.
Ellis supports the Adelaide Football Club and was named as a club ambassador in 2009.
Ellis' 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. In 2009 she declined an offer of $30,000 from Zoo Weekly
magazine for her to pose nude. In April 2010, she modelled a Karen Millen
dress and Gucci
high-heels for Grazia
magazine. She agreed to do the shoot to raise awareness of poor body image
and in order to encourage fashion magazines to promote healthy attitudes toward weight and eating.
Division of Adelaide
The Division of Adelaide is an Australian Electoral Division in South Australia. The division was created in 1903 and is named for the city of Adelaide, South Australia's capital. The seat has always been based in the inner suburbs of Adelaide...
since 2004 and is currently the Minister for Employment Participation and Childcare and the Minister for the Status of Women
Minister for the Status of Women (Australia)
The Australian Minister for Status of Women is Kate Ellis, who was appointed on 14 September 2010. The ministry is administered through the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs....
in the Gillard Government.
Early life and career
Ellis was born in MelbourneMelbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
and grew up in rural South Australia in the Murray River
Murray River
The Murray River is Australia's longest river. At in length, the Murray rises in the Australian Alps, draining the western side of Australia's highest mountains and, for most of its length, meanders across Australia's inland plains, forming the border between New South Wales and Victoria as it...
town of Mannum
Mannum, South Australia
Mannum is an historic town on the west bank of the Murray River in South Australia, east of Adelaide. At the 2006 census, Mannum had a population of 2,042. Mannum headquarters the Mid Murray Council, and is situated in both the State Electoral District of Schubert and the federal Division of...
where her family owned the local bakery and her mother worked as a teacher in the local primary school. Ellis moved to Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
for her secondary school education, attending Daws Road High School
Pasadena High School, South Australia
Pasadena High School is a secondary school located in the southern Adelaide suburb of Pasadena, on the corner of Goodwood and Daws Roads. It was opened in 1964 as Daws Road High School and operated under this name until 2001....
. She began studying international relations at Flinders University
Flinders University
Flinders University, , is a public university in Adelaide, South Australia. Founded in 1966, it was named in honour of navigator Matthew Flinders, who explored and surveyed the South Australian coastline in the early 19th century.The university has established a reputation as a leading research...
where she was General Secretary
General Secretary
The office of general secretary is staffed by the chief officer of:*The General Secretariat for Macedonia and Thrace, a government agency for the Greek regions of Macedonia and Thrace...
of the Students Association
Students' union
A students' union, student government, student senate, students' association, guild of students or government of student body is a student organization present in many colleges and universities, and has started appearing in some high schools...
and an editor of Empire Times, although she did not finish a degree. A member of the Australian Labor Party
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
, she worked as a research officer for state and federal parliamentarians. She was a ministerial adviser to South Australian state minister Rory McEwen
Rory McEwen
Rory McEwen , Australian politician, was the independent member for the seats of Gordon and Mount Gambier in the South Australian House of Assembly....
and then for the former Deputy Premier of South Australia, Kevin Foley
Kevin Foley
Kevin Owen Foley , Australian politician, is the current Minister for Industry and Trade and Minister for Federal/State Relations in the Rann Labor government. He previously served as Treasurer of South Australia and Deputy Premier of South Australia from 2002 until his resignation in 2011...
.
Political career
Ellis was elected to the House of RepresentativesAustralian House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....
for the Division of Adelaide
Division of Adelaide
The Division of Adelaide is an Australian Electoral Division in South Australia. The division was created in 1903 and is named for the city of Adelaide, South Australia's capital. The seat has always been based in the inner suburbs of Adelaide...
, South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
at the 2004 federal election. She defeated Liberal Party
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
incumbent Trish Worth
Trish Worth
Patricia Mary "Trish" Worth , Australian politician, was a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives from March 1993 to October 2004, representing the Division of Adelaide, South Australia...
. At the 2007 federal election, Ellis retained her seat with a 48.6% primary vote, and a 58.4% two-party preferred vote.
After the election Kevin Rudd
Kevin Rudd
Kevin Michael Rudd is an Australian politician who was the 26th Prime Minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010. He has been Minister for Foreign Affairs since 2010...
appointed Ellis Minister for Youth and Minister for Sport
Minister for Sport (Australia)
The Australian Minister for Sport is Mark Arbib, who was appointed on 14 September 2010, following the Labor Party's win at the 2010 election. The ministry is located within the Prime Minister and Cabinet portfolio.-List of Ministers for Sport:...
. This made her the youngest person ever to become an Australian government minister, a record until then held by former Prime Minister Paul Keating
Paul Keating
Paul John Keating was the 24th Prime Minister of Australia, serving from 1991 to 1996. Keating was elected as the federal Labor member for Blaxland in 1969 and came to prominence as the reformist treasurer of the Hawke Labor government, which came to power at the 1983 election...
. On 6 June 2009, in a ministerial reshuffle due to the resignation of Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon
Joel Fitzgibbon
Joel Andrew Fitzgibbon is an Australian politician and Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives since March 1996, representing the Division of Hunter in New South Wales. From December 2007 to June 2009 he was the Minister for Defence in the Rudd Ministry...
and the retirement of Home Affairs Minister Bob Debus
Bob Debus
Robert John "Bob" Debus AM , a former Australian politician, has been a member of the Australian House of Representatives and the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, representing the Australian Labor Party. Debus has been a minister in both the Australian and New South Wales governments...
, Ellis became Minister for Early Childhood Education, Childcare and Youth. She remained as Minister for Sport.
In April 2010, John O'Neill
John O'Neill (sport administrator)
John O'Neill is an Australian sporting administrator. He has been involved with both rugby union and football at the national level, after being head of the NSW State Bank...
, the CEO of the Australian Rugby Union
Australian Rugby Union
The Australian Rugby Union is the governing body of rugby union in Australia. It was founded in 1949 and is a member of the International Rugby Board the sport's governing body. It consists of eight member unions, representing each state and territory...
, claimed that shortly after the election the government had privately promised funding for a number of rugby projects, but two years later the union was still waiting for financial help while millions had been spent on a bid to host the FIFA World Cup
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...
. Ellis responded by saying that "since coming to office we have delivered about $2.04m to the ARU, including $507,000 for the Pacific Nations Cup". Other rugby officials claimed that the grant mentioned was actually compensation for the $650,000 spent on a project backed by Ellis' predecessor, George Brandis
George Brandis
George Henry Brandis, SC , Australian politician, has been a Liberal member of the Australian Senate representing Queensland since May 2000.-Education & Early Career:...
, that was cancelled by the new government.
Ellis was re-elected to the seat of Adelaide at the 2010 federal election. Ellis became the Minister for Employment Participation and Child Care and the Minister for the Status of Women in the Gillard Government on 14 September 2010.
Personal life
Ellis was formerly engaged to union official, Stephen Donnelly, but broke the engagement in 2009. In October 2010 Ellis was romantically linked to PunchThe Punch (Australia)
The Punch is an Australian opinion and news website owned and run by News Limited, the Australian holding of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation....
editor, David Penberthy
David Penberthy
David Penberthy is the editor-in-chief of News Limited opinion website, The Punch. He was editor of The Daily Telegraph in Sydney, Australia, from April 2005 until November 2008.-Career:Penberthy studied at the University of Adelaide in the late 1980s...
who had recently separated from his wife. In January 2011, local newspaper The Advertiser confirmed the existence of a romantic relationship between the two.
Ellis supports the Adelaide Football Club and was named as a club ambassador in 2009.
Ellis' 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
The Courier-Mail
The Courier-Mail is a daily newspaper published in Brisbane, Australia. Owned by News Limited, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, in Brisbane's inner northern suburbs, and it is printed at Murarrie, in Brisbane's...
newspaper. In 2009 she declined an offer of $30,000 from Zoo Weekly
Zoo Weekly
Zoo is a weekly lads' magazine published in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 29 January 2004, as the second weekly men's magazine in the UK after the similar and rival magazine Nuts)...
magazine for her to pose nude. In April 2010, she modelled a Karen Millen
Karen Millen
Karen Millen is an Icelandic owned women’s designer clothing brand, specialising in tailoring, coats and eveningwear. Karen Millen stores are found throughout the United Kingdom, America, Austria, Denmark, the Republic of Ireland and many other European countries.-History:The company was founded in...
dress and Gucci
Gucci
The House of Gucci, better known simply as Gucci , is an Italian fashion and leather goods label, part of the Gucci Group, which is owned by French company PPR...
high-heels for Grazia
Grazia
Grazia is an Italian weekly women's fashion and celebrity gossip magazine, with international editions printed in France, Serbia, Australia, United Kingdom, Greece, Portugal, Japan, the Netherlands, India, Bulgaria and Germany....
magazine. She agreed to do the shoot to raise awareness of poor body image
Body image
Body image refers to a person's perception of the aesthetics and sexual attractiveness of their own body. The phrase body image was first coined by the Austrian neurologist and psychoanalyst Paul Schilder in his masterpiece The Image and Appearance of the Human Body...
and in order to encourage fashion magazines to promote healthy attitudes toward weight and eating.