Grace Grace Daughter: The All Hallows’ schoolgirl who rebelliously hitched up her dress to show off her legs had no idea that she would one day become the Minister for Education…In any case, Grace Grace does not consider herself a “bad” girl reformed. Cheeky is her preferred term.
“Don’t you think all kids are a little bit cheeky?” The Queensland Labor MP, a 62-year-old Brisbane native, claims. Doing something a tad risqué is something everyone wants to do at some point. Her tenacity was on display from the get-go: “My eighth-grade science instructor once claimed that her students could easily outperform us on this particular scientific assessment. That was all there was to it. They couldn’t keep up with me.” Grace’s stubbornness hasn’t changed in nearly five decades. That’s the end of it if someone says they can’t do something because “then I want to do it,” she says. Brisbane Central was vacated by former Labor premier Peter Beattie in 2007, and Grace was elected to the State Parliament in his place. It was renamed McConnel in a redistribution prior to the 2017 election, which includes the CBD, Fortitude Valley, and New Farm.
During Campbell Newman’s time as premier, Grace lost the seat to the LNP but reclaimed it in 2015. With the Greens eyeing the seat in October, she’ll have another struggle on her hands. A poll of 600 constituents, commissioned by the Green Party, shows its candidate Kirsten Lovejoy marginally ahead on first-preference votes. She keeps her seat in Parliament with a 7.9 percent advantage. Labor officials regard her as “being able to win people over by the sheer force of persuasion and argument” as one of the government’s greatest negotiators. In addition to promoting equal rights for women and people of color, she has been an outspoken supporter of the LGBTQI+ community.
When we meet in the legislative cafe, the sun has already fallen after yet another long day of debate. A long-fought wage theft bill has just passed, but Grace isn’t ready to celebrate with her coworkers since she has to meet with me. When I look over, I see her engaged in a conversation with a waiter. As the two speak in a Sicilian accent, hands are flying everywhere.
Grace, an Italian Immigrant’s Daughter
Grace, an Italian immigrant’s daughter, is always on the lookout for someone who speaks her mother tongue, Sicilian. According to one of her cabinet colleagues, she’s the Labor Party’s “Italian mama.” My first indication of this is the minister’s repeated offers to bring me tea or coffee before we even begin talking.
If you see her in the corridor, she’ll typically give you a wink and a smile as she calls you “Gracie.” She does, however, have a smattering of Sicilian ancestry. Sicilian life is built on the foundation of family, even if it isn’t always visible. Despite the fact that she and her siblings are the only boys in the family, her parents were open about their desire for a son. “They can’t help but be upset. Even though I’m the most reserved one of the bunch, you have no idea how crazy it becomes when we’re all together.”
She was born in Australia to Italian immigrants Salvatore and Concetta Farfaglia in the early 1950s. To finance for her mother’s flight from Sicily, her father cut cane in north Queensland. “Nothing was brought over by them. They would do everything they could to make as much money as possible “Grace says so. “As a child, I had no access to a bicycle. My mother would have died if she ever heard me tell you that we had to return Christmas presents because they were defective.” Salvatore was in his prime when he was injured at a tannery and was unable to return to work. As a result of his struggle, Grace became involved in the labor movement.
The pastor and Michael Grace
The pastor and Michael Grace, with whom she shares a married name, marked their 35th wedding anniversary on September 8th. “We made a joke about it when we first met. The way he put it to me was, ‘I always wondered what would happen if I met and married a girl named Grace because then she’d be Grace Grace’. My response was a giggle and the words “you’d be lucky, mate. “.” For much of her life, Grace has lived in the McConnel electorate in Brisbane, an industrial area that has transformed into a high-rise apartment zone and has become home to many members of the city’s LGBTQI+ population. “In the past, Spring Hill was a dangerous and crime-ridden neighborhood. Moreover, the Valley was not what it is now “According to Grace has to say.
“When it wasn’t sexy, I was the first politician to support marriage equality. It’s a no-brainer for me, for that very reason. A long-time supporter of gay rights, “I just never understood why somebody should be discriminated against because of who they loved.” She tells a narrative to explain why she thinks this way. There was a Spring Hill family whose kid came out as gay when she was a child, and his family ostracised him and practically rejected him, she recalls. “When I got a call from my uncles, they said he was living on the streets in Valley. “So my mother and grandmother, two diminutive Sicilian women in black, told me to go retrieve him and bring him back to my family. “When he arrived, they prepared Italian food and took care of him. I will always remember it. In the past, he’d hand-wash his wigs and then line-dry them.
“OMG, that is so harsh. As a youngster, I just thought that was so harrowing. I don’t understand how you could do this to your son. This experience taught me a lot about caring for someone else’s child.” Her term as a state parliamentarian ended on March 3, 2012, when Grace Grace resigned from her seat. In January 2015, she was re-elected as the MP for Brisbane Central, and in November 2017 she was re-elected after the constituency was renamed.
While serving as a minister in the Ministry of Employment and Industrial Relations from December 2015 to December 2016, Grace successfully implemented a number of important legislative reforms, such as the Racing Integrity Act, the Multicultural Recognition Act, and the Industrial Relations Act 2016. Grace was elected as the state’s Minister of Education and Minister of Industrial Relations following the 2017 state election, both of which she is enthusiastic about. Her tireless efforts in this area will see the construction of a new high school in Fortitude Valley, which will open in 2020.
Legislative Service
Grace has served on the boards of numerous organizations, including Sunsuper, Energex, and the Jupiters Casino Community Benefit Fund, over the course of her professional career. P&Cs, the New Farm Neighbourhood Centre, Teneriffe Progress, the Queensland Aids Council (QA), and the Fortitude Valley Chamber of Commerce are just a few of the organizations she has worked with within her electorate. Grace and her husband Michael reared their daughter, Alex, in their electorate, where she has resided her entire life.
CURRENT:
December 12th, 2017: Minister of Education and Minister of Industrial Relations
PAST:
- Employment and Industrial Relations Minister for Racing and Multicultural Affairs: 8 December 2015 to 11 December 2017.
- The term of office of the deputy speaker is from March 26, 2015, to February 16, 2016.
- 16 Jun 2011–17 May 2012: Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Committee Member
- Ethics Committee Member: June 16, 2011 – March 23, 2012
- Deputy Government Whip: June 22, 2011 – February 19, 2012
- Served on the Legislative Scrutiny Committee from April 23, 2009, to June 30, 2011.
- 30 October 2007 – 20 March 2009: Member of the Public Accounts Committee
- Member of the Estimates Committee D: 2008 & ndash ; 2008
- Committee Member: 12 May 2008 – 28 November 2008 for the review of organ and tissue donation procedures.
Other:
- The Queensland Council of Unions’ first female general secretary has been elected.
- Honored with a Centenary Medal
- Fellows of the Australian Safety Institute FISA (Hon).
- Member of the Queensland Sicilian Association as well as several other neighborhood and civic groups.
- A supporter of the Queensland Asbestos Related Disease Support Society and its charitable endeavors.
- Former member of the Jupiters Community Benefit Fund Board of Directors
- Former Queensland Community Foundation governor.
