Kay Elson
Member of the Australian Parliament
for Forde
In office
2 March 1996  17 October 2007
Preceded byMary Crawford
Succeeded byBrett Raguse
Personal details
Born (1947-01-25) 25 January 1947
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Political partyLiberal Party of Australia
OccupationFinancial consultant

Kay Selma Elson (born 25 January 1947), Australian politician, was a Liberal Member of the Australian House of Representatives from March 1996 until her retirement in November 2007. Kay represented the Division of Forde, Queensland.[1] She was born in Brisbane, Queensland, and was a special events co-ordinator for a handicapped association,[2] a shop proprietor and a financial consultant before entering politics.[1] Elson is married to David, a beekeeper and bush poet.[3] Elson has eight children, 24 grandchildren and four great grandchildren.[4]

Elson had contested a total of four Queensland state elections prior to her candidacy for federal parliament.[5] She ran for Woodridge in 1983 as a Nationals candidate, Springwood in 1986 as an independent candidate, and Albert and Broadwater in 1989 and 1992 respectively as a Liberal Party candidate. She ran as "Elson, Selma Kay" for the 1983 election.[6]

Elson was preselected as Liberal candidate in Forde for the 1996 election. The seat was originally a safe Labor seat, but a redistribution added some Liberal-friendly territory in the Scenic Rim, which all but erased Labor's majority. Elson defeated Labor incumbent Mary Crawford on a nine-percent swing, turning Forde into a safe Liberal seat in one stroke. Her victory was part of Labor's near-total collapse in Queensland; Labor was cut down to only two seats there.

In October 2006, Kay Elson announced that she would not be seeking a fifth term and retired at the 2007 Election. By this time, she had built up her majority to 12 percent. However, the seat was lost to Labor on a 14-point swing, making it one of the safest Coalition seats to be gained by Labor.

References

  1. 1 2 Elson, Kay Selma (1947 - ), The Australian Women's Register, 22 April 2009.
  2. Retiring MPs, Australia Votes 2007, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2007.
  3. https://honeybee.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/AHBIC_Congress-wrap-7.2018.pdf
  4. Farouque, Farah (12 October 2003). "The Pull of House and home". The Age. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
  5. Paul A. Pickering (March 1998). "The Class of 96: A Biographical Analysis of New Government Members of the Australian House of Representatives". Australian Journal of Politics & History. 44 (1): 95–112. doi:10.1111/1467-8497.00006. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  6. "Parliamentary Papers Volume 3". Queensland Parliament Legislative Assembly. 1983. p. 71.


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