Elizabeth Grace was a Liberal Party of Australia member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1996 to 1998, representing the Brisbane-based electorate of Lilley.
11 Facts About Elizabeth Grace
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Elizabeth Grace was a primary school teacher from 1967 to 1974 and from 1977 to 1986 and was an information clerk with the Queensland Government Travel Centre from 1989 to 1991.
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Elizabeth Grace was then unemployed for several years, and later said that her life "changed dramatically when she was retrenched" in her fifties.
4.
Elizabeth Grace was the secretary of the Liberal Party's Nundah branch in 1994.
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Elizabeth Grace was elected to the House of Representatives at the 1996 federal election, defeating Labor MP Wayne Swan amidst the national Liberal victory in an electorate campaign centred on unemployment.
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Elizabeth Grace served on the House standing committees on family and community affairs and legal and constitutional affairs from 1996 to 1998.
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Elizabeth Grace voted for the Andrews bill to overturn the Northern Territory's voluntary euthanasia laws in December 1996.
8.
Elizabeth Grace served as treasurer of the party's conservative Lyons Forum faction.
9.
Elizabeth Grace lobbied for the release of the future flight plans but did not otherwise take a stance beyond stating that she would like flights to come in over Moreton Bay, and the proposal was stalled by a ministerial decision in August 1998 - which was attacked by critics as an attempt to defer the issue until after the election.
10.
Elizabeth Grace refused to concede defeat until the result was formally declared, having reportedly believed she would win and being "shocked" by her defeat though colleagues had long believed it was inevitable; she stated that she "was at a loss" to explain it, though she blamed voters' fears around the goods and services tax.
11.
In January 1999, Elizabeth Grace moved to Maryborough to work as a special liaison officer for National Party MP Warren Truss.