Frances Bedford

Early life and education Francis Ellen Bedford was educated at Santa Sabina College in Strathfield, New South Wales.

Bedford, her father and siblings moved to Melbourne and then Adelaide after the death of her mother in 1966.

Career Bedford became involved in politics and became an electorate officer for former Labor MP Peter Duncan, who also served as her campaign manager during her first election.

Bedford was elected to the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Florey at the 1997 state election for the Labor Party, defeating incumbent Sam Bass with 51% of the two-party-preferred (2PP) vote; in addition to the 1997 election win, Bedford also contested and won the 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2014 elections as the Labor candidate. LGBT rights and health activist Jim Hyde served as her campaign manager in Adelaide for the 1997 election, and also helped her (from Melbourne) in her later Florey campaigns.

At the 2018 state election, she successfully ran as an independent candidate, winning 56.1% of the 2PP vote. at the time of her resignation, Bedford argued that Labor's ‘faceless men’ had removed the ability for any non-faction-aligned Labor Members from being able to win preselection in the party and that they had effectively attempted to end her career via “hostile takeover”.

Following her departure from the Labor Party, Bedford, as with the rest of the crossbench, continued to provide confidence and supply support to the minority Labor government. A ReachTEL poll conducted on 2 March 2017 of 606 voters in post-redistribution Florey indicated a 33.4 percent primary vote for Bedford running as an independent which would likely see the endorsed Labor candidate defeated after preferences. In December 2017, Snelling decided not to nominate for Florey, and was replaced as Labor's endorsed candidate by Rik Morris. Bedford successfully re-contested Florey as an independent at the 2018 state election, gaining a 30.6 percent first preference vote and defeating Morris on preferences.

In October 2021, Bedford announced she would move to contest the seat of Newland at the 2022 state election. She justified the move citing electoral boundary changes pushing much of her constituents into the Newland electorate for the 2022 state election. She placed third, gaining 12% of the vote, and was defeated.

Bedford contested Florey in the 2026 state election, achieving 4.8% of the primary vote in fifth place and was again defeated.

During Bedford's time in Parliament, she contributed to the House of Assembly Chamber 645 times (Motions, Bills, Speeches etc.) with 82 Contributions to Legislation (Second Readings etc.), 10 Private Bills, 3 Private Bills Passed the Parliament, 395 Grievance Debate (Motions) Speeches, and 15 Addresses in Reply speeches. However, in practice, Bedford was the de facto speaker, with Atkinson generally only taking the chair during opening prayers and Question Time.

Constitutional Reform Bedford introduced ten pieces of legislation into the Parliament during her 25-year parliamentary career with three passing into law.

The made changes to the state's Constitution to ensure that the Parliament's Speaker was an independent or non-political party-affiliated Member of Parliament, with Bedford arguing that “Parliament must be free of any political influence, perceived or otherwise, and be beyond reproach and a beacon of best practice as it weighs and deliberates laws and amendments to legislation to present the best possible outcomes for the people of South Australia”. The law passed the Parliament with a majority of two after Bedford secured the full support of the Labor opposition and her three independent crossbench colleagues. At the time of the law's passing, there was already an independent speaker (Cregan) who continued as speaker for the remainder of the Parliament.

Personal life Bedford has lived in the Adelaide suburb of Modbury Heights since 1976,