Grace Grace

The Honourable Grace Grace MP
Minister for Education of Queensland
In office 12 December 2017 – 18 December 2023
Premier	Annastacia Palaszczuk Steven Miles
Preceded by	Kate Jones
Succeeded by	Di Farmer
Minister for Industrial Relations of Queensland
Incumbent
Assumed office 7 December 2015
Premier	Annastacia Palaszczuk Steven Miles
Preceded by	Curtis Pitt
Minister for Racing of Queensland
Incumbent
Assumed office 12 November 2020
Premier	Annastacia Palaszczuk Steven Miles
Preceded by	Stirling Hinchliffe
In office 7 December 2015 – 11 December 2017
Premier	Annastacia Palaszczuk
Preceded by	Bill Byrne
Succeeded by	Stirling Hinchliffe
Minister for Employment of Queensland
In office 7 December 2015 – 11 December 2017
Premier	Annastacia Palaszczuk
Preceded by	Curtis Pitt
Succeeded by	Shannon Fentiman
Minister for Multicultural Affairs of Queensland
In office 7 December 2015 – 11 December 2017
Premier	Annastacia Palaszczuk
Preceded by	Shannon Fentiman
Succeeded by	Stirling Hinchliffe
Deputy Speaker of the Queensland Legislative Assembly
In office 24 March 2015 – 16 February 2016
Preceded by	Mark Robinson
Succeeded by	Di Farmer
Member of the Queensland Parliament for McConnel Brisbane Central (2007–2012, 2015-2017)
Incumbent
Assumed office 31 January 2015
Preceded by	Robert Cavallucci
In office 13 October 2007 – 24 March 2012
Preceded by	Peter Beattie
Succeeded by	Robert Cavallucci
Personal details
Born	Ignazia Graziella Farfaglia (1958-08-12) 12 August 1958 (age 66) Brisbane, Queensland
Political party	Labor
Spouse	Michael Grace
Signature
Website	www.gracegracemp.com

Ignazia Graziella "Grace" Grace (née Farfaglia) is an Australian politician and unionist from the state of Queensland.

She has been a member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland for the seat of McConnel and its predecessor seat, Brisbane Central, for all but two years since 2007, and a cabinet minister in the Palaszczuk and Miles Labor Governments.

Grace was born in Brisbane, Queensland, the daughter of an Italian migrant cane cutter. She attended All Hallows School in Fortitude Valley.[1]

She was an industrial relations advisor to the Keating government until 1995 when she was elected as assistant general secretary, and in 2000 the first female General Secretary, of the Queensland Council of Unions.^[1]

Grace was elected to the State Parliament at the 2007 Brisbane Central state by-election following the resignation of Premier Peter Beattie. Grace was re-elected in 2009 but lost the seat to the Liberal National Party's Robert Cavallucci in 2012. She won back the seat of Brisbane Central at the 2015 state election. After the seat was renamed McConnel, she was re-elected again in 2017 and 2020.

Grace was a notable supporter of the Bligh Government's decision to legislate civil partnerships for same-sex couples in Queensland, and voted to reinstate them in 2015 after civil partnerships were ended by the Newman LNP Government.^[2][3] New Farm and Fortitude Valley, the main centres for Brisbane's gay community, are both in her electorate and she has built close ties with gay rights organisations.^[4]

Later as a minister in the Palaszczuk Government she supported further reforms including legalising same-sex adoptions;^[5] equalisation of the age of consent in Queensland;^[6] a Queensland Government apology to people convicted of homosexual offences before homosexuality was legalised in 1990 and passing legislation to allow for those historic convictions to be expunged;^{[7][8][9][10]} a ban on gay conversion therapies;^[11] and passing legislation to modernise birth certificates to better recognise trans and gender-diverse Queenslanders, including allowing people to have their gender accurately documented without undergoing sexual reassignment surgery.^[12]

Grace campaigned in the 2015 state election to prevent the sale of Fortitude Valley State School after it was closed in 2013 by the Newman Government and earmarked for private property development. As Education Minister she opened a new school, Fortitude Valley State Secondary College, on the site in 2020. This was the first inner-city Brisbane school to built in over 50 years and the first vertical school in Queensland.^[13][14][15]

In 2015 Grace was elected Deputy Speaker of the Queensland Legislative Assembly until being appointed as a cabinet minister in the Palaszczuk Government. On 7 December 2015, following a cabinet reshuffle she was sworn in as Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations, Minister for Racing and Minister for Multicultural Affairs.^{[16] [17]}

During the government’s second term (2017-2020) Grace was made Minister for Education and Minister for Industrial Relations. Following the 2020 state election, she maintained these roles and made Minister for Racing for a second time.^[18]

Grace has served continuously as Minister for Industrial Relations since December 2015 and passed significant legislative reforms that made Queensland the first Australian State to establish a scheme to licence the labour-hire industry in 2017;^[19] make industrial manslaughter an offence in 2017;^[20][21] make wage-theft a criminal offence;^[22] and to introduce entitlements for Queensland public sector workers to 10 days paid domestic and family violence leave in 2016 and 10 days reproductive health leave in 2024.^[23][24][25]

Grace also reformed Queensland’s trading hours arrangements in 2017, by reducing 99 different trading-hour zones to four core trading hours areas to provide better certainty for workers and businesses;^[26][27] and established Easter Sunday and Christmas Eve after 6PM as public holidays in Queensland.^[28][29]

To protect workers from silica and dust diseases, Grace was the first minister in the country to advocate for a national ban on use, supply, importation, and manufacture of engineered stone in 2018, which was agreed by all Australian jurisdictions in December 2023.^[30][31][32]

As Education Minister, Grace oversaw the Cooler Cleaner Schools Program that air-conditioned every classroom, library and staff room in Queensland state schools, and placed almost 200,000 solar panels on roof tops of over 900 state schools by 2022, which contributed 61.4 megawatts towards Queensland's renewable energy target.^[33][34][35]

Grace announced that Queensland children would have access to free kindergarten in sessional kindergartens and long day care services for 15 hours per week, 40 weeks per year, from 2024.^[36][37]

In 2023 Grace announced a $35 million investment to provide vending machines with free period products to any Queensland state school that wanted one.^[38][39]  

Following the succession of Premier Steven Miles, Grace became Minister for State Development and Infrastructure, Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for Racing in the new Miles Government on 18 December 2023.^[40]

Grace was awarded the Knight of the Order of the Merit of the Italian Republic by the Consul of Italy in 2021.^[41]