De-Anne Kelly
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
De-Anne Margaret Kelly (born 21 March 1954), is an Australian politician. She has been a National Party member of the Australian House of Representatives since March 1996, representing the Division of Dawson, Queensland. She was re-elected in 1998 and 2001. She was born in Rockhampton, Queensland, and was educated at the University of Queensland. She was a business proprietor, cattle producer and sugar-cane farmer before entering politics.
Kelly has been Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Transport and Regional Services and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Trade 2003-04 and Minister for Veterans' Affairs since October 2004, yet lost the position in a 2006 reshuffle. She is the first female member of the National Party to hold ministerial office in the federal Parliament.
In December 2004 Kelly was the subject of criticism in Parliament when it was revealed that a member of her staff was a former lobbyist for a company for which a government grant had been approved (though in the event the grant was not made), and that no declaration of interest form had been lodged by this staff member as required by the Ministerial Code of Conduct.
