Allison Ritchie

Allison Ritchie
Deputy Mayor of Clarence
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 November 2022
Preceded by	Heather Chong
Councillor of the City of Clarence
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 November 2022
Leader of the Tasmanian National Party
In office 27 November 2013 – 26 November 2014
Succeeded by	Steve Martin
Member of the Tasmanian Legislative Council for Pembroke
In office 5 May 2001 – 20 June 2009
Preceded by	Cathy Edwards
Succeeded by	Vanessa Goodwin
Personal details
Born	28 July 1974 Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Political party	Labor (since 1988 or 1989)
Relations	Carol Brown (aunt)

Allison Maree Ritchie (born 28 July 1974) is an Australian politician who currently serves as Deputy Mayor of City of Clarence. From 2001 to 2009, she was a member of the Tasmanian Legislative Council representing the electorate of Pembroke.

Early life

Ritchie grew up on Hobart's Eastern Shore and attended Mornington Primary School, Clarence High School, Rosny College and the University of Tasmania. Coming form a family with strong political connections (an aunt, Carol Brown, is a federal senator and a great uncle was a state president of the ALP) Ritchie joined the Labor Party at age 14.

Political career

On 5 May 2001, Ritchie was elected to the Legislative Council.

On 24 November 2001, Ritchie became the first MP to marry for the first time while in office with her marriage to husband, David Cowle. She also became the first woman to give birth while a member of the Legislative Council with the birth of her son in December 2002.

In June 2009 Ritchie attracted controversy over the employment of family members in her office. A review by the Auditor-General found that no formal rules had been broken but that "the recommendation of her mother’s appointment, in the knowledge of a flawed assessment process, was not in accordance with the principles of openness and objectivity outlined in the Code of Conduct."

Ritchie stepped down as Minister due to ill health (understood to be the diagnosis of an auto immune disease) on 24 November 2008 and resigned from Parliament entirely on 20 June 2009.

In January 2013, having resigned from the ALP in 2011, Ritchie announced her intention to contest once again the upper house seat of Pembroke as an independent at the election held on Saturday 4 May—the seat was retained by the Liberal candidate and incumbent councillor Vanessa Goodwin.

At the 2022 Tasmanian local elections, Ritchie was elected Deputy Mayor of Clarence City Council.