Allison Ritchie

A foundation Member and State Convenor of Emily's List in Australia, Ritchie was also active in supporting the election of women candidates to Australian Parliaments. Ritchie actively lobbied the Howard and Rudd governments for the introduction of a paid maternity leave scheme for all Australian women and was one of only four Australian MPs to make submission to the Productivity Commission’s inquiry into Paid Parental Leave.

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.

Since leaving Parliament, Ritchie has given birth to her second child, a daughter, in December 2010. She has also established and jointly owns a farming business in rural Tasmania.

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.

During her time in parliament, Ritchie served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer (2005-2008), Minister for Planning and Workplace Relations (2008) and as Parliamentary Secretary for Economic Development (2009).

Ritchie was successful in achieving a number of improvements to the democratic processes of Tasmania. She implemented improved transparency of the Tasmanian electoral system by securing the requirement for party affiliation information to be present on ballot papers for Legislative Council elections while serving as a Member of the Parliamentary Working Group into the 2004 Review of the Tasmanian Electoral Act.

On 5 May 2001, Ritchie was elected to the Legislative Council. She was the youngest person ever elected to the Tasmanian upper house.

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.

From 1996-2001 Ritchie was employed as the Executive Assistant to the State Secretary of the Tasmanian Branch of the Australian Labor Party. Ritchie held many positions within the Party, including Branch Secretary, Platform Committee Member, Administrative Committee Member and Southern Convenor of the Labor Women's Network.

From 1993-1996 Ritchie worked as a manager for a private information technology company.

Allison Maree Ritchie (born 28 July 1974 in Hobart) was a member of the Tasmanian Legislative Council (upper house) for Pembroke from 2001 to 2009.