Kelly Leah Vincent (born 25 October 1988) is an Australian playwright, actress and former politician. She was elected at the 2010 state election for the Dignity Party to the eleventh and last seat for an eight-year term in the 22-member

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

in the

Parliament of South Australia The Parliament of South Australia is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of South Australia. It consists of the 47-seat South Australian House of Assembly, House of Assembly (lower house) and the 22-seat South Australian Legislati ...

. Vincent has

cerebral palsy Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, spasticity, stiff muscles, Paresis, weak muscles, and tremors. There may b ...

and attended parliament in a wheelchair.

Parliament House Parliament House may refer to: Meeting places of parliament Australia * Parliament House, Canberra, Parliament of Australia * Parliament House, Adelaide, Parliament of South Australia * Parliament House, Brisbane, Parliament of Queensland * P ...

underwent installation of a specifically designed desk inside the chamber, as well as wheelchair accessible toilets and ramps. Vincent identifies as

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

Early career

Vincent was a playwright and actress before being elected to parliament. She wrote and appeared in several "No Strings Attached" productions, a company dedicated to people with disabilities. She undertook high school

work experience Work may refer to: * Work (human activity), intentional activity people perform to support themselves, others, or the community ** Manual labour, physical work done by humans ** House work, housework, or homemaking ** Working animal, an ani ...

with the company in 2004, and has worked with the company on and off. She is also fluent in French and Spanish, and began language studies at university after year 12 before returning to writing plays.

Parliament

The party's upper house vote doubled from 0.6 percent to 1.2 percent at the 2010 state election, and after receiving preferences, Vincent was elected to the eleventh and last upper house seat. Vincent was listed second on the party's upper house ticket, but received the preferences of first candidate Paul Collier who died of a brain haemorrhage eleven days before the election. Aged 21 at the time of election, Vincent was the youngest member of the

and the youngest woman elected to any Australian parliament. She stated she would "probably side with

The Greens The Greens or Greens may refer to: Current political parties *The Greens – The Green Alternative, Austria *Australian Greens, also known as ''The Greens'' * Greens of Andorra * The Greens (Benin) *The Greens (Bulgaria) * Greens of Bosnia and He ...

on certain issues". Vincent was a member of a number of parliamentary committees including the Social Development Committee, Access to and Interaction with the Justice System for People with Disabilities, Disability Services Funding, Electoral Matters in South Australia, Joint Committee on the Operation of the Transplantation and Anatomy Act 1983, Access to the Education System for Students with Disabilities, and the Joint Committee on matters relating to Elder Abuse. She was defeated in the 2018 state election even as the Dignity Party increased their primary vote. She blamed the introduction of

optional preferential voting One of the ways in which ranked voting systems vary is whether an individual vote must express a minimum number of preferences to avoid being considered invalid ("spoiled" or "informal" or "rejected"). Possibilities are: * Full preferential vot ...

for her defeat.

Recent works

After leaving parliament, Kelly established True Ability Theatre Company with Alirio Zavarce in 2020. In 2021 she published her first book "Dandelion Heart." This is a collection of essays and poems.

Awards

On 29 March 2017, Vincent won a Zonta Women of Achievement Award for Outstanding Achievement in Human Rights.

References

External links

*
Rise of Kelly Vincent: Stateline SA (ABC), 9 April 2010 – video transcript
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vincent, Kelly 1988 births Living people Members of the South Australian Legislative Council People with cerebral palsy Australian politicians with disabilities Australian stage actresses Australian women dramatists and playwrights Australian actor-politicians Bisexual women politicians Bisexual women writers Bisexual dramatists and playwrights Australian bisexual women Australian bisexual actresses Australian bisexual writers LGBTQ legislators in Australia Australian LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights Women members of the South Australian Legislative Council Australian disability rights activists 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian women writers 21st-century Australian actresses 21st-century Australian women politicians 21st-century Australian dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Australian LGBTQ people Australian wheelchair users Australian activists with disabilities Australian LGBTQ actresses LGBTQ writers with disabilities