Sally Talbot

Sally Elizabeth Talbot (born 22 March 1953) is an Australian politician. She was a Labor Party member of the Western Australian Legislative Council from 2005 to 2025, representing the region of South West.

In July 2024, she announced her retirement from politics.

Biography Talbot came from a family active in the British Labour Party where politics was actively discussed and engaged in. At 16 she finished her secondary schooling and attended the Royal College of Music in London, specialising in the cello. She spent the next 15 years working as a musician, however she said her life always turned back to her interest in politics.

While attending Murdoch University in Perth in 1983, she joined the staff as a federal member of parliament, her first formal job in politics. In 2001 she became the Assistant Secretary of the Labor Party, a position she held until 2005. It was in this role that she discovered the importance of engaging ordinary citizens in politics to create a better community, thus it was important to have active and healthy political parties. She has since married Jon Ford, a former Minister in the Gallop and Carpenter governments and they live in Denmark, Western Australia.