Alannah Joan Geraldine MacTiernan was born in Melbourne in 1953, and attended St. Bernadettes Primary School in East Ivanhoe and Our Lady of Mercy College in Heidelberg. She moved to Western Australia at the age of eighteen, and worked various jobs before completing a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Western Australia. She then worked in Aboriginal Employment and Training, and established and ran a surburban newspaper, before completing a law degree in 1986. MacTiernan practised with the Dwyer Durack law firm from 1987 to 1993, and became a partner of the firm in 1992. MacTiernan had joined the Australian Labor Party in 1976, and established the Highgate branch in 1981. She was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of Western Australia for the East Metropolitan Region (Legislative Council) on 6 February 1993 for term commencing 22 May 1993. She resigned on 21 November 1996 and was elected as member for Armadale on 14 December 1996 in succession to Hon Elsie Kay Hallahan (retired). MacTiernan was re-elected in 2001, 2005 and 2008, and was Minister for Planning and Infrastructure from 16 February 2001 - 6 September 2008.

Sources used to compile this entry: Black, David and Phillips, Harry, 'Making a Difference: Women in the West Australian Parliament 1921-1999', Parliament of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, 2000; Alannah MacTiernan: Media Statements 2006-2008 (online), http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/88569/20080905-1741/www.mediastatements.wa.gov.au/Pages/CurrentMinistersSearchb6f0.html?minister=MacTiernan&admin=Carpenter; Watson, Judyth [ed.], We Hold Up Half the Sky: The Voices of Western Australian ALP Women in Parliament, Australian Labour Party, Perth, Western Australia, 1994; The page for Alannah MacTiernan on the Parliament of Western Australia website can be found here: http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/Parliament%5CMemblist.nsf/WAllMembersFlat/MacTiernan,+Alannah+Joan+Geraldine [accessed 2009-11-30].