Annette Ellis

Who is Annette Ellis?

Annette Louise Ellis, Australian politician, was a Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives from March 1996 to August 2010, representing the Division of Namadgi 1996–98 and the Division of Canberra from 1998 to 2010.

In the 1996 federal election she contested the newly created seat of Namadgi against the Liberal Member for Canberra, Brendan Smyth. Notionally, the seat was very safe for Labor; as originally drawn it had a notional Labor majority of 10.9 percent. However, due to the heavy swing nationwide against the Keating government, Ellis was only assured of victory when she received a large flow of Green preferences on the third count. Ellis become one of the few Labor candidates to defeat a Liberal during the landslide election that brought the Howard government to power. Namadgi was abolished after only one cycle, and Ellis transferred to Canberra, holding it with little difficulty.

Ellis was born in Melbourne, Victoria, and was a public servant, electorate adviser and ministerial adviser before entering politics. She was a member of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly from 1992 to 1995.