Elizabeth Anne Clark (born 6 November 1953), is an Australian former politician with the Labor Party in the Queensland Legislature who held the seat for Clayfield and also an actress of television and film, director, producer and presenter, credited as Liddy Clark and Liddy Clarke.[1]
Acting career
She has various credits in film and television to her name.
She is possibly best known for her two small screen roles in the cult series Prisoner. She played child killer Bella Albrecht for two episodes in 1979 and Sharon Smart, the victim of a crooked religious cult, for six episodes in 1983.
In the 1998 Queensland state election, she challenged Liberal minister Santo Santoro in the normally safe Liberal seat of Clayfield. While Santoro defeated her on the first count, Clark picked up a seven percent two-party swing to make the seat marginal.
In 2001 she challenged Santoro again, and this time won.[2] Even allowing for the massive Labor wave that swept through the state in that election, Clark's election was considered a shock result. She was reelected in 2004.
She was briefly Minister for Indigenous Affairs in the government of Peter Beattie, She was involved in the so-called "Winegate" affair. A bottle of wine was taken aboard a government jet travelling to a "dry" indigenous community in North Queensland. Two of Clark's staff were moved from their jobs over the affair, and after an independent inquiry Clark was cleared of any wrongdoing.[3][4][5]
She lost the seat, the most marginal in Queensland, at the 2006 Election.