REMEMBER WHEN

GOLD COAST BULLETIN Tuesday, October 20, 1998

IT WAS October 1998 and Prime Minister John Howard was recovering from an electoral scare that came close to toppling him from office after just one term.

Despite losing 14 seats in the poll to the Kim Beazley-led Opposition as well as the popular vote, Mr Howard’s Coalition won 80 seats to Labor’s 67, giving him a slim grip on power.

In the aftermath of the poll, Mr Howard undertook a customary shake-up of his ministry and gave new roles to new talent.

Among those given a surprise elevation was one of Mr Howard’s favourite MPs, Lindsay MP Jackie Kelly.

Kelly was in her second term in Parliament on receiving the promotion, and held her seat until the 2007 election.

Ms Kelly told the Bulletin she was a big fan of the Gold Coast, but revealed she would not take her then-upcoming honeymoon on the Glitter Strip.

“I have great affection for Queensland, it is right up there as a major tourism destination and contributes significantly to Australia’s export earnings,” Ms Kelly said.

She told the Bulletin she had spent much of her university years in the city.

“I spent a bit of time at the old Broadbeach Hotel and loved going to Wet’n’Wild and Dreamworld,” she said.

However, Ms Kelly said she and fiance Gary Clark, from Queensland, would instead spend their honeymoon overseas.

Ms Kelly said she chose to go to Bali to avoid offending any of Australia’s tourism hot spots.

She would leave the tourism portfolio at the 2001 election.