Dorothy Ruth "Dolly" Pratt (born 11 March 1955) is an 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. Born in Coffs Harbour

Coffs Harbour, New South Wales

-History:By the early 1900s, the Coffs Harbour area had become an important timber production centre. Before the opening of the North Coast Railway Line, the only way to transport large items of heavy but low value, such as timber, was by coastal shipping. This meant sawmillers on the North Coast...

, New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, she was a Justice of the Peace

Justice of the Peace

A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...

 and coffee shop proprietor 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...

 before entering politics. She also worked at cattle sale yards. In 1998, 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 member for Barambah

Electoral district of Barambah

Barambah was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland from 1950 to 2001.The district was based in the South Burnett region. It is best known for being the seat of long-serving Premier, Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen....

, representing Pauline Hanson

Pauline Hanson

Pauline Lee Hanson is an Australian politician and former leader of Pauline Hanson's One Nation, a political party with a populist and anti-multiculturalism platform...

's One Nation. She left One Nation in 1999 to sit as an 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...

. In 2001, her seat of Barambah was abolished and largely replaced with Nanango

Electoral district of Nanango

The district of Nanango is an electoral division in the state of Queensland, Australia.Nanango was the original seat of Sir Joh-Bjelke Petersen . In the 2006 legislative election, incumbent member Dorothy Pratt beat off a strong challenge by the late Bjelke-Petersen's son John to retain the seat...

, which she won as an independent. Pratt was re-elected in 2004, 2006, and 2009. She is married with three children.