Michael Joseph Gallacher MLC, (born 27 September 1961 in Paisley, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

) an Australian politician, is the Minister for Police and Emergency Services

Minister for Police and Emergency Services (New South Wales)

The New South Wales Minister for Police and Emergency Services has responsibilities which includes bus and ferry policy, contracting and regulation, rail policy, fares and concessions, and taxi and hire car policy and regulation...

, Minister for the Hunter region and Vice-President of the Executive Council

Vice-President of the Executive Council

The Vice-President of the Federal Executive Council is a position in Australian federal governments, whose holder acts as presiding officer of the Federal Executive Council in the absence of the Governor-General....

 in the O'Farrell

Barry O'Farrell

Barry Robert O'Farrell MP, is an Australian politician and is the 43rd Premier of New South Wales, Minister for Western Sydney, Leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party and a Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Ku-ring-gai for the Liberal Party since 1999.Born in...

-Stoner

Andrew Stoner

Andrew John Stoner is an Australian politician, Deputy Premier of New South Wales and member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for the seat of Oxley since the 1999 state election, and the Leader of the New South Wales National Party since 31 March 2003...

 Liberal

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...

/National

National Party of Australia

The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...

 coalitition

Coalition (Australia)

The Coalition in Australian politics refers to a group of centre-right parties that has existed in the form of a coalition agreement since 1922...

 government

O'Farrell Ministry

The O'Farrell ministry is the 93rd ministry of the Government of New South Wales, and is led by the 43rd Premier Barry O'Farrell.The Liberal–National coalition ministry was formed following the defeat of the Keneally Labor government at the 2011 election...

 since 2011. Gallacher has been a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council

New South Wales Legislative Council

The New South Wales Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of New South Wales in Australia. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney. The Assembly is referred to as the lower house and the Council as...

 since 1996.

Early life and background

Gallacher immigrated with his parents to Australia as a young child. He attended school at Lethbridge Park

Lethbridge Park, New South Wales

Lethbridge Park is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Lethbridge Park is located 47 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Blacktown and is part of the Greater Western Sydney region.-History:Lethbridge Park...

 and Shalvey

Shalvey, New South Wales

Shalvey is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Shalvey is located 48 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Blacktown and is part of the Greater Western Sydney region....

 before completing his studies at Randwick

Randwick, New South Wales

Randwick is a suburb in south-eastern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Randwick is located 6 kilometres south-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the City of Randwick...

 Boys High School.

He joined the NSW Police Force in 1980 and served as an officer in general duties, highway patrol, internal police investigations, criminal investigations and special operations. He completed a Bachelor of Professional Studies through the University of New England

University of New England, Australia

The University of New England is an Australian public university with approximately 18,000 higher education students. Its original and main campus is located in the city of Armidale in northern New South Wales....

 in 1998. From 1991 to 1994, Gallacher was a delegate to the New South Wales Police Association

New South Wales Police Association

The Police Association of New South Wales was formed in 1922 and is the industrial association representing over 99 percent of the sworn police officers in the State of New South Wales, Australia. The current president of the association is Scott Weber....

 and was a senior lecturer in the Police Service's Professional Responsibility Command and qualified for the Police Service Medal.

Gallacher has lived and worked on the Central Coast for over 25 years and is actively involved in local surf life saving. He is also a keen horseman. His children are Kurt and Caitlin.

Political career

In 1996 Gallacher was appointed to the New South Wales Legislative Council, filling a casual vacancy caused by the resignation of Stephen Mutch

Stephen Mutch

Stephen Bruce Mutch was an Australian politician. He was educated at the University of New South Wales and became a solicitor in 1979. A member of the Liberal Party, he was a policy advisor until he became a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council in 1988...

.

He first faced election at the 2003 state election

New South Wales state election, 2003

Elections to the 53rd Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday 22 March 2003. All seats in the Legislative Assembly and half the seats in the Legislative Council were up for election...

 and was re-elected. In 2005, he was appointed Shadow Minister for Police in the New South Wales Shadow Cabinet

New South Wales Shadow Cabinet

The New South Wales Shadow Cabinet is the opposition to the incumbent Government in the State of New South Wales. The Shadow cabinet is made up of 15 members of the NSW Australian Labor Party caucus...

 and was appointed the portfolio of Shadow Minister for the Hunter in April 2007.

Following the 2011 state election

New South Wales state election, 2011

Elections to the 55th Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday, 26 March 2011. The 16-year incumbent Australian Labor Party government led by Premier Kristina Keneally was defeated in a landslide by the Liberal-National coalition opposition led by Barry O'Farrell.New South Wales has...

which saw the O'Farrell government come to power, on 3 April 2011 Gallacher was appointed Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Minister for the Hunter, and Vice-President of the Executive Council, Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council.