She suffered considerable embarrassment as a result of the so-called 'sports rorts affair', when she revealed that funding for sporting bodies was arranged on the basis of a group discussion around a "great big whiteboard" in her office.[3] She resigned from the ministry on 28 February 1994 and from parliament 11 months later on 30 January 1995.[4] The resulting by-election on 25 March 1995 saw the loss of the Canberra electorate to the opposition Liberal Party.[4]
