Mary Crawford Politician

Mary Catherine Crawford (born 12 April 1947) was an Australian politician. Born in Toowoomba, Queensland, she was educated at the University of Queensland before becoming a teacher. In 1987, she was elected to the Australian House of Representatives as the Labor member for Forde. On 25 March 1994 she was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Housing and Regional Development, a position she held until the defeat of the Keating Government in the 1996 election, in which Crawford lost her seat. Crawford had previously held her seat with a fairly safe majority of 8.6 percent. However, a redistribution ahead of the election wiped out Crawford's majority, reducing it to an extremely marginal 0.1 percent. She was defeated by Liberal Kay Elson on a nine-percent swing.