Anita Frances Phillips is a former Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n politician. She studied at the University of Melbourne

University of Melbourne

The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...

, receiving a Diploma of Social Studies in 1968 and a Bachelor of Arts in 1976. In 1969, she moved to Townsville

Townsville, Queensland

Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Australia, in the state of Queensland. Adjacent to the central section of the Great Barrier Reef, it is in the dry tropics region of Queensland. Townsville is Australia's largest urban centre north of the Sunshine Coast, with a 2006 census...

 in Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

 and became a social worker. In 2001, she was elected to the Queensland Legislative Assembly

Queensland Legislative Assembly

The Queensland Legislative Assembly is the unicameral chamber of the Parliament of Queensland. Elections are held approximately once every three years. Voting is by the Optional Preferential Voting form of the Alternative Vote system...

 as the Labor

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

 member for Thuringowa

Electoral district of Thuringowa

The district of Thuringowa is an electorate in the Legislative Assembly of the state of Queensland, Australia.The division encompasses suburbs of the former City of Thuringowa on the western edge of Townsville in North Queensland, stretching from Deeragun in the north to Kelso in the south...

, defeating One Nation-turned-independent

Independent (politician)

In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...

 sitting member Ken Turner

Ken Turner (politician)

Kenneth "Ken" Turner is a former Australian politician. He was born in Brisbane. Before his involvement in politics he was a commercial fisherman, and served in the Citizens Military Force 1961–1965. In 1998 he was elected to the Queensland Legislative Assembly as a member of Pauline...

. In 2004, she retired in order to contest the federal seat of Herbert

Division of Herbert

The Division of Herbert is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. Eligible voters within the Division elect a single representative, known as the member for Herbert, to the Australian House of Representatives. The division was first contested at the 1901 election...

, held by the Liberal Party

Liberal Party of Australia

The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...

's Peter Lindsay

Peter Lindsay

Peter John Lindsay , Australian politician, was a Liberal Party of Australia member of the Australian House of Representatives from March 1996 to July 2010, representing the Division of Herbert, Queensland. In January 2007 he was appointed to the position of Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister...

, in the 2004 federal election. She was unsuccessful.