Mary Crawford
Member of the Australian Parliament
for Forde
In office
11 July 1987  2 March 1996
Preceded byDavid Watson
Succeeded byKay Elson
Personal details
Born (1947-04-12) 12 April 1947
Toowoomba, Queensland
NationalityAustralian
Political partyAustralian Labor Party
Alma materUniversity of Queensland
OccupationTeacher

Mary Catherine Crawford AM (born 12 April 1947) is a former Australian politician. Born in Toowoomba, Queensland, she was educated at the University of Queensland before becoming a teacher. In 1987, she was elected to the Australian House of Representatives as the Labor member for Forde. On 25 March 1994 she was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Housing and Regional Development, a position she held until the defeat of the Keating Government in the 1996 election, in which Crawford lost her seat. Crawford had previously held her seat with a fairly safe majority of 8.6 percent. However, a redistribution ahead of the election pushed Forde into some rural, conservative-leaning territory in the Scenic Rim. This wiped out Crawford's majority, reducing it to an extremely marginal 0.1 percent. Believing that this made Forde difficult—if not impossible—to hold, Crawford tried to transfer to the friendlier seat of Rankin, but was rebuffed by the party's organisational wing. She was defeated by Liberal Kay Elson on a nine-percent swing.[1][2]

Crawford was made a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2020 Australia Day Honours for "significant service to women, and to the people and Parliament of Australia."[3]

References

  1. Carr, Adam (2008). "Australian Election Archive". Psephos, Adam Carr's Election Archive. Archived from the original on 6 October 2008. Retrieved 13 July 2008.
  2. "Crikey | News, investigations, analysis and opinion".
  3. Stehle, Mark (25 January 2020). "Australia Day Honours 2020: Full list of recipients". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 25 January 2020.


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