Meet the ACT’s new Minister for the Arts

A voracious reader who loves the theatre, Tara Cheyne MLA was born in Queensland but is passionate about her adopted home of Canberra.

Ms Tara Cheyne (pronounced ‘Chain’), the Labor member for Ginninderra (covering most of Belconnen) in the ACT Legislative Assembly has been appointed as the ACT’s new Minister for the Arts.

She replaces the former Minister, Gordon Ramsay, who was defeated in the ACT’s recent October election, losing his seat to ACT Liberals candidate, Peter Cain, by 167 votes.

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Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in 2020. In 2021 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association. Most recently, Richard received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts