Jacqueline Marie (Jackie) Kelly (born February 18, 1964), former Australian politician, was a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives from March 1996 until November 2007, representing the Division of Lindsay, New South Wales.
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Early career
Kelly was born in Upper Hutt, New Zealand, and obtained a law degree from the University of Queensland. She was a probation and parole officer and a legal officer with the rank of Squadron Leader in the Royal Australian Air Force before entering politics.
Political career
In 1996, Kelly was elected twice to the seat of Lindsay, based around the suburb of Penrith, on the western fringe of Sydney. The first time was at the general election on 2 March 1996; however she was later disqualified from election because of her RAAF employment, and not having taken steps to renounce her New Zealand citizenship. After addressing these issues, she was re-elected at a by-election on 19 October 1996 with an increased majority.[1] Kelly was Minister for Sport and Tourism and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Sydney 2000 Games from 1998 to 2001, and Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister from 2001 to 2004. While the first sitting Australian federal parliamentarian to give birth to a child was Ros Kelly in 1983, in 2000 Jackie Kelly became the first serving Australian federal minister to give birth to a child (a daughter named Dominique). In 2001 Kelly was criticised for describing the collapse of Ansett Airlines as a "blip".[2] In 2006 Kelly was paired with Pavel Aubrecht when she competed on Torvill and Dean's Dancing on Ice and was eliminated third. In May 2007 she announced her intention to retire from federal politics at the 2007 election. Jackie Kelly retired from the position, advocating the failed candidate Karen Chijoff. On 21 November 2007, three days before the federal election, Kelly's husband, local orthodontist Gary Clark, was caught with four other people in the electorate of Lindsay handing out fake pamphlets purporting to be from a non-existent Islamic group, and thanking the Labor Party for supporting terrorists. Three Liberal Party members (including Gary Clark and the husband of the Liberal candidate for Lindsay) were forced to leave the party.[3] Kelly denied any knowledge of the pamphlets prior to their distribution, stating "I think it's basically a Chaser-style prank".[4] During the Channel Seven election night coverage on the evening of November 24th, Kelly was a commentary panelist. It became clear that her previously held seat of Lindsay would be lost, and she progressively appeared unhappy as other panelists referred to the events leading up to the election. By 8:30pm, Kelly left the stage and was not referred to again during the commentary.
See also
References
- ^ About Jackie. Jackie Kelly MP - Member for Lindsay (2003). Retrieved on 2006-09-01.
- ^ Tourism Minister under attack over Ansett crisis. Retrieved 23 November 2007.
- ^ Fake flyer distributors apologise. Retrieved 23 November 2007.
- ^ Libs' fake Muslim letter roundly condemned. Retrieved 23 November 2007.
External links
| Parliament of Australia | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Ross Free |
Member for Lindsay 1996 – 2007 |
Succeeded by David Bradbury |
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Kelly, Jackie |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Kelly, Jacqueline Marie (full name) |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Australian politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 18 February 1964 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Upper Hutt, New Zealand |
| DATE OF DEATH | living |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
