Kate Ellis
Kate Ellis grew up in the in the Murray River town of Mannum in South Australia. Her family owned the local bakery and her mother worked as a teacher at the local primary school.
Kate moved with her family to Adelaide where she attended high school in the inner south-western suburbs and later studied international relations and politics at Flinders University. Her political interest was sparked when higher education funding was slashed and massive increases to HECS fees were introduced.
She became involved with student campaigns to highlight these and other issues, was editor of the student newspaper and later President of the Students’ Association.
Kate worked for two South Australian state ministers before making her mark at a federal level.
On October 9 2004, Kate made history as the youngest woman ever elected to the Australian House of Representatives, after winning the seat of Adelaide.
Following the Australian Labor Party election victory in November 2007 Kate was elevated to the Rudd Government ministry as the Minister for Sport and Youth, and Minister for Early Childhood, Education and Childcare. She is now Minister for Employment Participation, Minister for Status of Women and Minister for Child Care.
In her elusive spare time, she loves to cook, play for her local social netball team and attempts to keep her garden alive.
Articles by Kate Ellis
How a 19th century leader sets a tone of sexism
Some might be wondering why two days of our national media cycle have included debate over a man miaowing like…... Read more
There’s no such thing as “just” a domestic dispute
The nation was stunned by the gruesome triple homicide in Kapunda last year. A husband, wife and their 16 year…... Read more
Claims we’ve gone soft on equal pay are rubbish
It costs nearly $1 million dollars more to be born a woman in this country. While the average 25 year…... Read more
Treating women’s sport like a trivial fashion contest
I’m going to confess straight up to having little to zero interest in the underwear choices of Venus Williams. Yet…... Read more
Moving past the blame game on body image
Sarah Murdoch and Mia Freedman are hot. Like really, really hot. But I don’t reckon that fact takes away from…... Read more
Counterpunch: Body image problems are far from fantasy
Yesterday on The Punch, Tory argued that Karl Lagerfeld’s rather out there recent comments were right - “sort of”. The…... Read more
Sports stars do not have the right to be boneheads
As the media cycle turns once more to appalling allegations against one of our sport stars, it provides a timely…... Read more
Should successful athletes have to pay back the AIS?
Over the past 18 months I have regularly been presented with two opposing yet pretty extreme views on the issue…... Read more
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Online journos, read and hope - what Charlie Sheen taught Salon about being original http://t.co/6fyXfvuR via @NiemanLab
@EnoTheWonderdog Loads of laughs. He turned 1 on Tuesday and has a highly enthusiastic sense of humour.
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The humourless hysteria of the holier-than-thou
In I Spit On Your Grave, a young woman is gang raped in a remote woodland. She is beaten and tortured…
Cash mobs aren’t so flash
For a moment in the mid-naughties, they were the coolest of all cool social media-fuelled meme-thingos.…
If we wanted reality, we’d turn off the television
“Some day, far into the future, this here machine will become a powerful medium with the potential…
Nosebleed Section
choice ringside rantings
From: Punch on: Open thread 09/02/2012
marley says:
I'm one of the older ones, so I've certainly seen a few changes in my time. When I started school I learned to write with a nib pen, dipped in an inkwell (no, I'm not kidding). My mother became a dab hand at getting inkstains out of my clothes. Flicking ink at one another in the classroom was an essential… [read more]From: I’d rather have a piece of toast than listen to crap lyrics
Erick says:
Led Zeppelin are responsible for my all-time favourite mixed metaphor: "There you sit, sit and stare, like a book on a shelf rusting." (Misty Mountain Hop) I laugh every time I hear it. Hmmm, I believe I've decided what to play on the way to work today. [read more]Gentle jabs to the ribs
No wuckin forries. These nuckin futs are tuckin fops
Well, puck me with a fitchfork. The F-word is apparently an acceptable part of Australian speech. That’s… Read more
