Kate Jennifer Jones (born 10 April 1979) is an Australian former politician. She served as a Labor Party Member of Parliament in 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 Assembly ...

from 2006 to 2012, and again from 2015 to 2020. Jones first represented the seat of Ashgrove until she was defeated by eventual

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

Campbell Newman Campbell Kevin Thomas Newman (born 12 August 1963) is an Australian former politician who served as the 38th Premier of Queensland from 26 March 2012 to 14 February 2015. He served as the member for Ashgrove in the Legislative Assembly of Que ...

at the 2012 state election. Jones retook the seat for the Labor Party at the 2015 state election. The seat was abolished prior to the 2017 state election, so Jones contested and won the new seat of Cooper at that election. In the Palaszczuk Government, she was the Minister for Innovation and Tourism Industry Development, Minister for State Development and the Minister for the Commonwealth Games.

Education and community involvement

Jones attended Kelvin Grove State High School in Kelvin Grove. In 1995 she was the Premier of the first ever YMCA Queensland Youth Parliament, a non-partisan political program for young people. She completed her Bachelor of Arts in Politics and Journalism at the

Queensland University of Technology The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public university, public research university located in the city of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. It has two major campuses, a modern city campus in Gardens Point, Brisbane, Gardens Point ...

while working part-time at The Gap Markets, and graduated with a Master of Environmental Law from the Australian National University in 2014. Jones is a member of the Ashgrove Historical Society, Ashgrove Climate Change Action Group and sits on the management committee of the Enoggera Respite Centre. She is also a member of

The Fred Hollows Foundation The Fred Hollows Foundation is a non-profit aid organisation based in Sydney, Australia, which was founded in 1992, by eye surgeon Fred Hollows. The foundation focuses on treating and preventing blindness and other vision problems in people an ...

and

World Vision The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk of a "plu ...

Political career

Before entering Parliament, Jones worked as a Senior Media Adviser to Queensland Minister for Public Works, Housing and Racing Robert Schwarten and as Media Adviser to former Queensland Treasurer David Hamill. Jones was elected to state Parliament for the seat of Ashgrove at the 2006 general election to succeed Jim Fouras, who had served as

Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Speaker of the Legislative Assembly is a title commonly held by presiding officers of parliamentary bodies styled legislative assemblies. The office is most widely used in state and territorial legislatures in Australia, and in provincial and terr ...

during the 1990s. After retaining her seat in the 2009 election, she was appointed Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability in the new Bligh cabinet, replacing Andrew McNamara.

2012 election

Jones stood down from cabinet on 19 June 2011 to focus on defending her seat against newly elected LNP leader

at the 2012 state election. At that election, Jones was defeated, suffering a 13 percent swing as part of the LNP's massive victory. Newman became Premier.

2015 election

Jones sought to regain her old seat in the January 2015 state election. She won, defeating Newman on a swing of 10 percent—more than double what she needed. She became the second challenger to unseat a sitting premier in Queensland, the previous time this happened was in 1915.

2017 election

Ashgrove was abolished prior to the 2017 state election, so Jones contested and won the new seat of Cooper.

Palaszczuk government

On 16 February 2015, Jones was sworn in as Minister for Education, Minister for Tourism, Major Events and Small Business and Minister for the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

in the Palaszczuk Ministry, positions she held until 11 December 2017. On 12 December 2017, she was sworn in as Minister for Innovation and Tourism Development and Minister for the Commonwealth Games. Jones announced her retirement on 10 September 2020, the last sitting day before the 2020 Queensland state election in October.

Personal life

Kate Jones is married to Paul Cronin (former chief media adviser to Queensland Premiers

Anna Bligh Anna Maria Bligh (born 14 July 1960) is an Australian lobbyist and former politician who served as the 37th Premier of Queensland, in office from 2007 to 2012 as leader of the Queensland Australian Labor Party (Queensland Branch), Labor Party. ...

and Peter Beattie, and who now heads media relations at Aurizon. They have a son who was born in 2010.Climate Change Minister gives birth to a boy
— ''The Courier-Mail''

References

External links

Kate Jones — State Member for Ashgrove
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Kate 1979 births Living people Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly Politicians from Brisbane Queensland University of Technology alumni Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Queensland Labor Right politicians 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian women politicians Women members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly