Judith Caroline Spence (born 19 May 1957) is an Australian politician and former member of the

Legislative Assembly of Queensland The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembl ...

for the Labor Party, from the 1989 election to 2012. She represented

Mount Gravatt Mount Gravatt is a southern suburb of the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia and a prominent hill and lookout within this suburb (). In the , Mount Gravatt had a population of 3,366 people. Geography The suburb is situated in the south- ...

until 2009, but after a redistribution she switched to Sunnybank, which covered much of the same territory. She was Leader of the House, a role responsible for the co-ordination and management of Government business in the Assembly from 7 April 2009 to 24 March 2012.

Early life

Spence was born 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 ...

on 19 May 1957 and obtained 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 ...

and Diploma of Teaching before becoming a secondary school teacher.

Political career

Spence was elected to Parliament at the 1989 election on 2 December 1989, defeating

National National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

MP Ian Henderson and becoming the first Labor member for the seat in 32 years. She was a member of various committees and, upon the defeat of the Goss government as a result of the Mundingburra by-election, became Shadow Minister for Consumer Affairs and Women in the Beattie shadow cabinet in February 1996, adding Aboriginal and Islander Affairs to her shadow responsibilities in December 1996. After the 1998 state election, where Labor won minority government, she became Minister for Women's Policy, Aboriginal and Islander Affairs and Fair Trading in the Beattie Ministry. In 2000, she resigned from the Left faction of the Labor Party and joined the dominant Labor Unity faction. At the 2001 state election, she retained Aboriginal and Islander Affairs but otherwise moved to Families and Disability Services. In 2004 she was promoted to Minister for Police and Corrective Services, in which she served until the 2009 election. She was demoted to Parliamentary Secretary assisting the Premier and Minister for Arts at this time by Premier

Anna Bligh Anna Maria Bligh (born 14 July 1960) is a lobbyist and former Australian politician who served as the 37th Premier of Queensland, in office from 2007 to 2012 as leader of the Labor Party. She was the first woman to hold either position. In 2 ...

, attributed by some analysts to the settling of a dispute arising from her earlier factional switch, but she was appointed to the senior position of Leader of the House the following day. Spence stood down from Parliament at the 2012 election.

Personal life

She is a member of

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

and several schools' Parents & Citizens committees.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spence, Judy 1957 births Living people Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly Griffith University alumni People from Brisbane Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Queensland 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian women politicians Women members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly