Dr. Austin Gatt was born on 29th July 1953 and received his education at the Lyceum and the University of Malta. He read Law and graduated as a Doctor of Laws in 1975. Dr. Gatt practiced law as a partner with one of the oldest law firms on the island.
In 1980 the Nationalist Party entrusted Dr. Gatt, with building a party organization to eliminate the possibility of electoral fraud in the 1981 general elections’, this problem having been prevalent in the previous General elections. In 1981 elections the Nationalist Party polled 51% of the votes.
Dr. Gatt’s contribution to the Nationalist Party continued when he was appointed as Chairman of the Management Board of Independence Print Company Limited. The company incorporated all the commercial activities of the Nationalist Party. Dr. Gatt was also the head of the Legal Office of the Party, representing the party in a number of constitutional cases. In 1987 he again led the organization of the Party to monitor electoral fraud and eventually became Chairman of the Board of Directors of Independence Company Limited and Euro Tours Company Limited.
After the Nationalist Party was elected to Government in 1987, Dr. Gatt was elected Secretary General of the Party on 5th February 1988. This meant that Dr. Gatt became responsible for the overall organization of the Party and for the implementation of policies approved by the Executive Committee and the Administrative Council of the Party. Dr. Gatt spearheaded a complete reorganization of the Party’s political, administrative and commercial structures and was responsible for preparing and ensuring the implementation of all plans for the General Elections of 1992 and 1996.
Dr. Gatt contested the general elections for the first time in 1996 and was elected from the First District. Between 1996 and 1998 he was Party spokesman for Justice, Local Councils and Housing and was entrusted by the Nationalist Party to set up the Party’s television station. Following the Nationalist Party victory at the General Elections of September 1998, Dr. Austin Gatt was appointed Parliamentary Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, and six months later, Minister for Justice and Local Government.
Dr. Austin Gatt, embarked on various ambitious tasks in all areas within his portfolio. Amongst these there are the creation of an information economy and society in Malta, the introduction of e-Government, a major administrative reform in the law courts, and the consolidation of Local Government Authorities.
Dr. Austin Gatt was re-elected to Parliament in 2003, from the First District. He was appointed as a Minister for IT & Investment, responsible for the creation of the Information Society and Economy and ICT in Government. He is also responsible for AirMalta plc, Gozo Channel Co. Ltd, Malta International Airport plc, Enemalta Corporation, Water Services Corporation, Malta Freeport Corporation, Public Broadcasting Services Limited, Malta Drydocks Corporation and Malta Investment Management Co. Ltd. He was further assigned the responsibility of the privatisation process in March 2004.
Following a cabinet reshuffle, in July 2004, Minister Gatt was appointed as Minister for Investment, Industry and Information Technology. This meant that in addition to his responsibilities, he also became responsible for Investment Promotion and Malta Enterprise. The year 2007 was a great year of achievements for Minister Gatt with the advent of Smart City Malta and the launch of the 43 major projects constituting the Regenration of the Grand Harbour and the Port of Marsamxett.
The general election of March 2008 saw the re-election to Parliament of Dr. Gatt again from the first electoral district. He has been appointed Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Communication.