Kate Warner


Catherine Ann Warner, is an Australian lawyer and legal academic serving as the 28th and current Governor of Tasmania since 2014.

Early life and education

Warner was born Catherine Ann Friend in Hobart, Tasmania, and attended St Michael's Collegiate School and the University of Tasmania, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Laws with Honours on 15 April 1970, and with a Master of Laws by research thesis on 7 December 1978. Her master's thesis focused on "Presentence Psychiatric Reports in Tasmania".

Legal and academic career

After graduation, Warner worked as Associate to the Chief Justice of Tasmania, Sir Stanley Burbury, at the Supreme Court of Tasmania and was admitted as a barrister and solicitor in 1971. Following completion of her master's thesis in 1978, she commenced her lengthy career as an academic at the University of Tasmania Law School. She was promoted to Lecturer in 1981, to Senior Lecturer in 1989, Associate Professor in 1993, and Professor in 1996.
In 1992, Warner was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Law and later was appointed Head of the School of Law. She was promoted to Professor in 1996 and in 2002 was appointed as foundation Director of the Tasmania Law Reform Institute.
Warner was awarded the Allen Austin Bartholomew Award for the best article in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology in each year from 2004 to 2007.
Warner is an internationally recognised expert in the fields of criminal law, criminology and sentencing and has taught, researched and published in these areas for more than 30 years.

Governor of Tasmania

On 10 November 2014, the Premier of Tasmania, Will Hodgman, announced that Warner would be appointed as the 28th Governor of Tasmania, after the death in office of Peter Underwood. She was sworn in on 10 December 2014. On 26 September 2019, Hodgman announced that the Queen had approved his request to extend Warner's term by a year, ending 19 December 2020.

Personal life

On 13 January 2019 it was announced that Warner had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Titles, styles and honours

Honours

;Orders
;Medals
;Organisation
;Fellowships