Jodi McKay often describes herself as the “girl who cried at ICAC”. Given what else came out at the Independent Commission Against Corruption this year, McKay’s tears offered one of the more positive moments for the people of NSW.
Before Mckay’s political career came to an abrupt end in 2011, through what could well be considered one of the first manipulated elections in NSW, McKay was better known as the state member for Newcastle and a minister managing a number of portfolios including Tourism, Women, and Science and Medical Research.
McKay has today been pre-selected as the Labor candidate for the seat of Strathfield at the next state election in 2015, and we believe she’s just the right sort of candidate NSW needs right now.
Speaking recently on a panel with Women’s Agenda at law firm K&L Gates, McKay revealed how for a number of years after her narrow 2011 election loss she felt unable to show her face in Newcastle. She struggled to sell her home and to get work. She later moved to Sydney and she started working with Family Planning NSW.
Because of ICAC, which ultimated uncovered what had transpired during her election campaign, McKay told the audience she had been seriously considering running for office again. It’s something she couldn’t have fathomed had the truth not emerged.
The former journalist and communications professional was in office for one term from 2008 to 2011. She lost the 2011 election by a tiny number of votes, always believing a smear campaign by her own labor colleagues, including MP Joe Tripodi, may have contributed to the result.
Earlier this year at ICAC she gave evidence of alleged bribes offered to her that she then reported to the NSW Police. She told the inquiry Nathan Tickler had urged her to support a major coal project in return for him bankrolling her 2011 campaign.
ICAC counsel revealed that Tinkler’s company Buildev worked with Tripodi and a former Labor staffer to distribute thousands of anonymous leaflets to Newcastle homes warning of ‘Jodi’s trucks’ carrying freight from a container terminal. When McKay heard what she’d long suspected to be the truth, she found herself in tears in the witness box. “It just hit me,” she later told the Newcastle Herald. “I just couldn’t breathe, and then all this emotion came up and I thought, ‘finally I know’.”
McKay stood up against corruption. She lost her job and much of the support she had within her community. She set about starting a new career and new life in a new city. Years later, it appears she’s been vindicated. NSW Labor leader John Robertson intervened to ensure her selection for the Strathfield seat – despite McKay calling for a pre-selection process to go ahead.
“I want a good candidate,” Robertson said. “Jodi McKay is the perfect candidate for Labor to be running the March 2015 election.”
And McKay appears ready for the challenge. After a number of difficult years, she told ABC Radio this morning she’s feeling stronger than ever before.