Upbeat Fran Bailey in the pink

Returned McEwen MP Fran Bailey took time out before Christmas to talk with Mail journalist Kath Gann
THE strain of the past month is starting to show on McEwen MP Fran Bailey.
It’s just minutes before she has to drive to Seymour for the declaration of the McEwen poll and a staffer notices she is wearing blue!
What was she thinking?
Next to Bennelong, where the Prime Minister lost his seat, McEwen has been the headline grabber of the 2007 federal election.
The week-long recount turned the tables on Labor “winner” Rob Mitchell and handed Ms Bailey a 12-vote victory in what is now the most marginal seat in the country.
The staffer makes a good point – it’s a plot that’s guaranteed to attract a frenzy of print, radio and television media … and her boss’s trademark pink is at home in the ironing basket.
Ms Bailey is a seasoned politician with a reputation for making the most of marketing opportunities but she is prepared to take this hiccup in her stride.
Nothing … that is “nothing” will take the shine off an event which will deliver among other things a sixth term as representative of McEwen (albeit in opposition), the closest win in a federal election since 1901, and vindication of her claim – labelled sour grapes by the Labor party – that the numbers never did add up.
Ms Bailey stands by her original comment that the challenge was about maintaining democracy and public confidence in the electoral system but there is no doubt it was also about winning.
The “R” word, clearly, was not an option. Although faced with three years in opposition after high-profile roles in government – areas including tourism, defence and small business – it seemed a reasonable question to ask.
Perhaps I shouldn’t have mentioned age!
“The day I wake up and not look forward to what I am going to do is the day I will say someone else can do it,” Ms Bailey responds, surprised that her retirement would even enter anybody else’s head!
“I’ve never felt like that. I love what I do and I thrive on hard work.
“Hilary Clinton is my age and she’s standing for president. For me, age is not an issue,” she adds with mild indignation and a reminder that most women are late starters in politics, as she was.
Women still in the majority of cases have the role of primary care giver.
Ms Bailey, mother, wife, teacher and businesswoman, was the first Victorian Liberal woman to be elected to the House of Representatives when she won McEwen in 1990.
Despite the backlash against the government, and swings of between 8 and 10 per cent in half of the Yarra Valley polling booths – Badger Creek, Yarra Junction, Woori Yallock, Millgrove, Warburton East and Buxton, Ms Bailey sees her return as validation of years of hard work.
“The 6.4 margin was a joke,” she says pointing out that after the last election McEwen went from 91,000 voters to 105,000. “No-one ever took that into account. I kept saying McEwen was more like a two per cent seat, so to have hung on with the massive national swing against the government and all the demographic changes, I actually am very proud of that achievement.”
She points out that that result also came with no help from preferences, something she says was personally disappointing.
“I was disappointed because when I look at all the measures I have put in place to address climate change within both tourism and small business, we were leading the way … but it didn’t matter how much we did.”
There is a hint of disappointment also that the tourism portfolio hadn’t been given the respect it deserved.
She points out that the new government now has two ministers doing the job she did in tourism and small business.
That must be satisfying?
“Yeah! … yes, it is,” she nods noting that tourism is the second biggest industry in the country. “I agree with it … it should have been a cabinet ministry.”
The change of profile from minister to backbencher in itself isn’t an issue. It will mean new challenges, new opportunities and Ms Bailey says she has no doubt she can work with the new government and get results for her constituents.
“I have proved myself in opposition before and the way to do that is simply what we have always done here, make people and community groups aware of the funding that’s available and help with the applications.”
Networking pays dividends. “There aren’t all that many MPs who can pick up the phone and speak directly to departments,” she says.
While not prepared to discuss specifics, parliament watchers can expect to see the McEwen MP, probably in pink, introduce a number of private members bills over the next three years.
And she will be pushing the State Government to come good with its share of the money for the Yarra Glen Bypass.
“The State Government needn’t think I’m going to take it easy, or slow down,” she warned, adding that a lot of the issues she aims to pursue from the backbench are State Government issues.
Indigenous tourism and youth employment are also on the agenda.
Ms Bailey might also have a say about changes to the voting system. “It has to happen,” she says. “When you look at it a lot of those mistakes made on election night were made by people who are basically tired. They’ve worked all day then are expected to have a really sharp focus on the numbers for hours after the polling booths are closed.
“I think in the 21st century we have got to have a more efficient system. In McEwen we have polling booths where only a couple of hundred votes are lodged.
“The system needs a real good overhaul.”
That overhaul could one day be attributed to the recount of McEwen in 2007 but when it comes to achievements so far it is getting the multiple sclerosis drug Beteferon on the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme that Ms Bailey says she is most proud of.
“Where The Bloody Hell Are You” gets headlines but you don’t hear about things like that and they’re the things which give a personal sense of achievement.
“That’s the aspect of the job I love; being able to use my position, my influence, my networks to deliver something that makes a real difference in people’s lives.”
Ms Bailey’s office will remain in Healesville, her home town. Whether there’s an advantage for the Yarra Valley in having a member in opposition in residence, as opposed to a member of government on the other side of the electorate, remains to be seen.