Maria Justine Elliot (née Borsellino; born 29 July 1967) is an Australian politician. She is a member of the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...

(ALP) and has served in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

since the 2004 federal election, representing the

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

seat of

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

. She served as Minister for Ageing in the

First Rudd Government First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

from 2007 to 2010 and as a parliamentary secretary in the Gillard Government from 2010 to 2013.

Early life

Elliot was born on 29 July 1967 in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

. Her father Bob Borsellino (d. 2011) was a journalist and political activist who led efforts for an inquiry into the killing of the

Balibo Five The Balibo Five was a group of journalists for Australian commercial television networks who were murdered in the period leading up to the Indonesian invasion of East Timor. The Balibo Five were based in the town of Balibo in East Timor (then ...

. He was a candidate for the Democrats and Greens at several state and federal elections. Her grandfathers were both World War II veterans, Joe Borsellino with the

United States Marine The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

s and Victor Perkins with the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (Austral ...

. Elliot attended

Nambour State High School Nambour State College is a co-educational, state high school located in Nambour, Queensland, Australia. Established on 2 February 1953. In 2006 the school had enrolment figures of 1,367, including adult students. Previously it was called the Nam ...

, graduating in 1984. She went on to complete a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

at the

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = B ...

, majoring in English and history, and a graduate diploma in human resource management and industrial relations at

Griffith University Griffith University is a public research university in South East Queensland on the east coast of Australia. Formally founded in 1971, Griffith opened its doors in 1975, introducing Australia's first degrees in environmental science and Asian s ...

. Elliot was an officer with the

Queensland Police The Queensland Police Service (QPS) is the principal law enforcement agency responsible for policing the Australian state of Queensland. In 1990, the Queensland Police Force was officially renamed the Queensland Police Service and the old motto ...

from 1990 to 1997. She subsequently moved to New South Wales and worked at the Department of Juvenile Justice from 2002 to 2003.

Political career

Elliot joined the ALP in 1995 and served as president of its Tweed Coast branch from 2003 to 2004.

Opposition (2004–2007)

In a considerable upset at the 2004 election, Elliot defeated the National Party's

Larry Anthony Lawrence James Anthony (born 17 December 1961) is an Australian former politician. He was a National Party of Australia member of the Australian House of Representatives representing the Division of Richmond, New South Wales, from the March 1 ...

, a minister in the Howard government. Elliot's win was one of the few victories for the Labor Party as the

Coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

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 Tweed Heads is a town in New South Wales. It is located on the Tweed River in north-eastern New South Wales, Australia, in Tweed Shire, next to the border with Queensland and adjacent to its "twin town" of Coolangatta, which is a suburb of the ...

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 Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...

candidate's preferences flowed overwhelmingly to Elliot, allowing her to defeat Anthony by 301 votes. Elliot served on the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health and Ageing from 2004 to 2007. 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.

Government (2007–2013)

Prime Minister

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and again from June 2013 to September 2013, holding office as the leader of the ...

announced Elliott 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 In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...

. She publicly announced that this was because of her opposition to coal-seam gas mining (CSG) in the electorate, which conflicted with the role of parliamentary secretary.

Opposition (2013–2022)

Elliot 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 and then increased her majority again at the 2019 election. Elliot served on the Joint Statutory Law Enforcement Committee in 2013 and 2014, and the Joint Standing Treaties Committee in 2013. She also served on the three House of Representatives Standing Committees of Regional Australia, Publications and Petitions from 2013 to 2016. Elliot has been the Chair of the Federal Labor Country Caucus since 2014, and was the Deputy Chair of the Standing Committee on Petitions from 2013 to 2016, and again since 2019. She has also served on the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity since 2016, and the Law Enforcement Committee since 2019.

Government (2022-present)

Personal life

Elliot has two children with her husband Craig Elliot, who is also a former police officer. As of 2018 they lived in the rural locality of Nunderi. Her husband was the ALP's candidate in

Tweed Tweed is a rough, woollen fabric, of a soft, open, flexible texture, resembling cheviot or homespun, but more closely woven. It is usually woven with a plain weave, twill or herringbone structure. Colour effects in the yarn may be obtained ...