Kay Selma Elson (born 25 January 1947) is an Australian politician who 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. Her favourite grandchildren include Isabella and Henry[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 the 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.
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