Quick Facts
Biography
Judith Mary (Judy) Keall (née Dixon, born 10 January 1942) is a former New Zealand politician. She was an MP from 1984 to 1990, and again from 1993 until her retirement in 2002, representing the Labour Party.
Biography
| Parliament of New Zealand | ||||
| Years | Term | Electorate | List | Party |
| 1984–1987 | 41st | Glenfield | Labour | |
| 1987–1990 | 42nd | Glenfield | Labour | |
| 1993–1996 | 44th | Horowhenua | Labour | |
| 1996–1999 | 45th | Otaki | none | Labour |
| 1999–2002 | 45th | Otaki | 21 | Labour |
Dixon was born in Timaru on 10 May 1942.
She was first elected to Parliament in the 1984 elections, winning the North Shore seat of Glenfield. She was re-elected in the 1987 elections, but in the 1990 elections, she was defeated by National's Peter Hilt.
In the 1993 elections, she returned to Parliament as MP for the lower North Island seat of Horowhenua. In the 1996 elections, when the Horowhenua electorate was abolished, she was elected as MP for the new Otaki electorate. She was re-elected in the 1999 elections, but at the 2002 elections, she chose to retire from Parliament. She was one of only two electorate MPs who retired in 2002; the other was Labour's Geoff Braybrooke. Keall was succeeded by her former Parliamentary Secretary, Darren Hughes.
Keall chaired Parliament's health select committee and she was the key proponent of legislation that would make bars and restaurants smoke-free.
Keall was separated from her husband Graeme for seven years and part of her retirement from politics was that she could spend more time with him.