Justine Elliot

Background and early career

Elliot was born in Brisbane, Queensland and was educated at the University of Queensland, where she graduated in Arts. She was a Queensland Police officer between 1990 and 1997 and was later Juvenile Justice Conference Convener with the New South Wales Department of Juvenile Justice. Elliot also holds a Graduate Diploma in Human Resource Management & Industrial Relations from Griffith University.

Political career

In a considerable upset at the 2004 election, Elliot defeated the National Party's Larry Anthony, a minister in the Howard government. Elliot's win was one of the few victories for the Labor Party as the Coalition easily won a fourth term in government. She was only the second Labor member ever to win the seat, and was also the only Labor challenger to defeat a Coalition MP in a rural seat. Richmond had been in the hands of a conservative party for all but six years since Federation, and for 66 of those years by the National Party. For much of that time, it had been a reasonably safe National seat. However, the growth of Tweed Heads and other coastal communities, as well as the concurrent loss of its more rural territory, has seen it become an increasingly urban seat since the 1980s. Elliot trailed Anthony by 11 points on the first count and was well behind him for most of the night. However, on the seventh count, a Green candidate's preferences flowed overwhelmingly to Elliot, allowing her to defeat Anthony by 301 votes.

The 2007 election saw Elliot re-elected over the Nationals' Sue Page. She picked up a swing of over 7.4 points, which was significantly larger than the New South Wales state average and technically made Richmond a safe Labor seat. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced she would be part of his new ministry on 29 November 2007, as Minister for Ageing. She retained the seat at the 2010 election with only a small swing against Labor. She stepped aside as Minister for Ageing ahead of the formation of the Second Gillard Ministry on 11 September 2010. On 11 September 2010 Elliot was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Trade, and held this position until a reconfiguration of the ministry on 4 February 2013 when she became a backbencher. Eliot retained Richmond for Labor at the 2013 election even as the Coalition opposition defeated the incumbent Labor government, marking only the second time (the first being her initial victory in 2004) that the non-Labor parties had been in government without holding Richmond. She again won with an increased majority at the 2016 election.