Ray Halligan

Raymond James "Ray" Halligan (born 23 August 1939) was a Western Australian politician, who served in the Western Australian legislative Council from 1997 to 2009. Ray is Married to Judith, and they have four children, Craig, Alison, Dean and Jennifer.

Ray was born in Sydney in 1939. He attended Woy Woy High School, in the New South Wales Central Coast town of Woy Woy.

In 1968, Ray was awarded his Accountancy Certificate, and began to practice as an accountant. Working in Papua New Guinea for a time, Ray was employed with the Papua New Guinea Development Bank, as well as private companies in the country. For a time he was Chief Accountant for the Nauru Phosphate Corporation. Halligan is a member of the National Institute of Accountants.

Ray was elected to the Western Australian Legislative Council in 1997 for the Liberal Party of Australia, as the member for the North Metropolitan Region. He was elected at a by-election, after the previous member, Ross Lightfoot, was appointed to the Australian Senate to fill a casual vacancy.

From 9 March to 31 December 2001, Ray was the Shadow Minister for Local Government. From 1 January 2002 to 20 March 2005, he was the Shadow Minister for three portfolios: Housing, Works and Services and Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs. From 20 March 2005 to 2008he was the Shadow Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs .

Since 24 May 2005 to 2009, Ray was the Deputy Chairman of Committees for the Parliament of Western Australia. He was the Deputy Chair of the Joint Standing Committees on the Corruption & Crime Commission, on Delegated Legislation and had been a member of the Standing Committee on Constitutional Affairs. Ray was the secretary for the parliamentary wing of the Liberal Party in Western Australia.

Ray is a member of a number of political and community organisations, including Australians for Constitutional Monarchy and Australian National Flag Association. Ray was made the foundation Vice-Chairman for The Friends of Israel (WA) Inc in 2009.