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Katie Allen, the former MP for the Melbourne seat of Higgins, has died at the age of 59.
Her family took to social media on Tuesday to announce her death.
Katie Allen in November.Credit: Simon Schluter
“She spent her life caring for others as a mother, doctor, professor, MP and friend. She is deeply loved,” their post read.
“She passed in peace surrounded by family and lived a full, beautiful life, all the way to the end.
“We love you so much.”
Allen’s death has come just seven months after she revealed her cancer diagnosis – cholangiocarcinoma, which affects the bile ducts.
Last month, she told this masthead of how her medical student daughter first alerted her to the symptoms.
The post from her family did not say when she died.
Allen, a Liberal, was elected to the now-abolished seat of Higgins, in Melbourne’s inner south-east, in 2019. She had previously sought the state seat of Prahran for the Liberals and unsuccessfully sought election for the party in the seat of Chisholm at this year’s federal election.
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She was a paediatrician by training, and served as the division head of population health at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. She was also on the board of Cabrini Health, chair of the Melbourne Girls Grammar School council and on the advisory board of several medical technology start-ups.
Aside from her family, among the first to pay tribute was former state Liberal leader Brad Battin.
“Life isn’t fair for many. And for Katie – this was not fair,” the Berwick MP wrote on Instagram.
“But the changes she made, the people she supported and the beliefs she lived, for many gave them the opportunity they may never have had. And with her support, life was more fair. Thank you, Katie, for everything.”
More to come
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