Gallacher was born in Paisley, Scotland, and migrated with his parents to Australia as a young child. He attended school at Lethbridge Park and Shalvey before completing his studies at Randwick Boys High School. He joined the NSW Police Force in 1980 and served as an officer in general duties, highway patrol, internal police investigations, criminal investigations and special operations. He completed a Bachelor of Professional Studies through the University of New England in 1998. From 1991 to 1994, Gallacher was a delegate to the New South Wales Police Association. He was a senior lecturer in the Police Service's Professional Responsibility Command and qualified for the Police Service Medal. Gallacher has lived and worked on the Central Coast for over 25 years. He is actively involved in local surf life saving and is also a keen horseman. Gallacher's family supported the Labor Party but Gallacher himself joined the Liberal Party. Gallacher credited Labor Attorney General Frank Walker for his Liberal conversion: "I always say it was Frank Walker, when he was Labor Attorney-General in the Wran government, who turned me into a Liberal. He had an approach to the criminal justice system which favoured the rights of offenders and I want to support the victims of crime and the police who uphold the law." However despite this criticism of Walker and different policy positions with him, he and Gallacher did become friends.
Political career
In 1996 Gallacher was appointed to the New South Wales Legislative Council, filling a casual vacancy caused by the resignation of Stephen Mutch. Gallacher had won preselection for the vacancy in a field of ten candidates. The other candidates included former Liberal minister Anne Cohen who had lost her lower house seat at the 1995 election and Catherine Cusack who would eventually be elected to the Legislative Council in 2003. He first faced election at the 2003 state election and was re-elected. In 2005, he was appointed Shadow Minister for Police in the New South Wales Shadow Cabinet and was appointed the portfolio of Shadow Minister for the Hunter in April 2007. Following the 2011 state election which saw the O'Farrell government come to power, on 3 April 2011 Gallacher was appointed Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Minister for the Hunter, and Vice-President of the Executive Council, Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council. In December 2013 Gallacher took on the additional responsibilities as Minister for the Central Coast following the resignation of the incumbent minister, Chris Hartcher. Due to the resignation of Barry O'Farrell as Premier, and the subsequent ministerial reshuffle by Mike Baird, the new Liberal Leader, in April 2014 in addition to his existing responsibilities as a minister, Gallacher was appointed as the Minister for Industrial Relations. The Hunter regional portfolio was assigned to Gladys Berejiklian. On 2 May 2014, the Independent Commission Against Corruption heard allegations that Gallacher was involved with Chris Hartcher in the establishment of a business called Eightbyfive which sought to conceal prohibited donations to the Liberal Party from a development company owned by Nathan Tinkler. Later that day, Premier Mike Baird announced that Gallacher had resigned from Cabinet. He sat on the crossbench. Prior to his ministerial resignation, it had been reported that Gallacher was interested in moving to the Legislative Assembly with the intent of becoming Liberal Leader one day. Gallacher resigned as an MP in April 2017 to become to CEO of Ports Australia. Gallacher's reputation of integrity was finally restored on 18 October 2019 by the Inspector of the Independent Commission Against Corruption when he gave evidence before a NSW Parliament's ICAC Oversight Committee to the effect that there was no evidence of any corruption by Gallacher, that there was no adverse finding against him and that the allegation had been improperly put at a public hearing by counsel assisting.
