Kirstie Marshall

Kirstie Marshall (born 21 April 1969) is a notable Australian aerial skier and Victorian state politician.

Marshall was an ex-gymnast who became an aerial skier at Mount Buller, Victoria. During her skiing career Marshall won over 40 World Cup medals, including 17 World Cup gold medals. Marshall competed in aerial skiing as a demonstration sport at the 1992 Winter Olympics, and as a medal event in 1994 and 1998, where she came sixth and fourteenth respectively.

In December 2002, aged 33, Marshall was elected as a Member of Parliament in the Victorian Legislative Assembly for the Australian Labor Party.

On 26 February 2003, she was ejected from the Lower House chamber for breastfeeding her 11-day-old baby, Charlotte Louise. A section of the Parliamentary rules, namely Standing Order 30, states: "Unless by order of the House, no Member of this House shall presume to bring any stranger into any part of the House appropriated to the Members of this House while the House, or a Committee of the whole House, is sitting." As there is no age limit to ‘strangers in the House’ (non-elected persons), only MPs and certain parliamentary staff are allowed in the House during sitting times.

Subsequently, the Speaker of the House set aside a room in which female MPs can feed their children without violating the Standing Orders.

Read more about Kirstie Marshall:  Early Life & Sporting Career, Political Career, Olympic Links

Famous quotes containing the word marshall:

    Work is a responsibility most adults assume, a burden at times, a complication, but also a challenge that, like children, requires enormous energy and that holds the potential for qualitative, as well as quantitative, rewards. Isn’t this the only constructive perspective for women who have no choice but to work? And isn’t it a more healthy attitude for women writhing with guilt because they choose to compound the challenges of motherhood with work they enjoy?
    —Melinda M. Marshall (20th century)