Pressure forces Kelly out – Federal MP quits politics for family – HOWARD VS RUDD: [2 All-round First Edition]
D.D. McNicoll, John Stapleton. Weekend Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 26 May 2007: 7.
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Abstract
CITING pressure on her family from the public spotlight and a desire to spend more time with her children, Jackie Kelly — the former sports minister and champion for John Howard’s so-called “battlers” — announced her resignation from federal parliament yesterday.
“The unions set up an office across the road from my office and my husband was drawn into the media. He was not a fair target,” she said.
“Personally I thought how was our relationship going to weather another three years — it was a big factor.” Asked if she thought politics was too tough a profession for a young mother, Ms Kelly smiled grimly. “Politics is an uncompromising lifestyle, a very disruptive lifestyle. It is a completely non-routine lifestyle and children really need routine.
Full Text
CITING pressure on her family from the public spotlight and a desire to spend more time with her children, Jackie Kelly — the former sports minister and champion for John Howard’s so-called “battlers” — announced her resignation from federal parliament yesterday.
Dressed in a tracksuit and wearing sneakers before heading off to coach her son Lachlan’s soccer team, Ms Kelly said her resignation would not come as a surprise for the Liberal Party as she had raised the possibility last Christmas.
The 43-year-old said after 12 years in politics she wanted to spend more time with her children — Lachlan, 5, and daughter Dominique, 7.
“It is the high point of my day,” she said of her coaching duties.
Ms Kelly said that her Penrith-based electorate of Lindsay was always going to be a tough seat but recent union action that had targeted her husband and family in the workplace debate had prompted her to consider resignation.
“The unions set up an office across the road from my office and my husband was drawn into the media. He was not a fair target,” she said.
Ms Kelly said the pressure being put on her family was such that she feared for the future of her marriage to orthodontist Gary Clark.
“Personally I thought how was our relationship going to weather another three years — it was a big factor.” Asked if she thought politics was too tough a profession for a young mother, Ms Kelly smiled grimly. “Politics is an uncompromising lifestyle, a very disruptive lifestyle. It is a completely non-routine lifestyle and children really need routine.
“They need consistency in their lives and that has been a very difficult thing to deliver for my two little ones.”
Ms Kelly follows in a line of high-profile female politicians who have or will walk away from their careers forthe sake of family and personal happiness.
In 2006, then senator Natasha Stott-Despoja, the youngest woman ever to be elected to the AustralianParliament, announced after an ectopic pregnancy she would not be re-contesting her position in this year’s election so as to spend more time with her family. She described being on the front bench and having a small child as very stressful.
And former NSW education minister Carmel Tebbutt departed the ministry in the week following the NSW election in March to spend more time with her six-year-old son Nathan. Ms Tebbutt had been a minister for eight years and was regarded as on track to become the state’s first woman premier.
Ms Kelly said her daughter was going into Year 3 next year and she felt it was time to focus more on her children’s wellbeing and education.
She said both the children and her husband were delighted with her decision to quit politics.
See Jackie Kelly’s career highlights at www.theaustralian.com.au