JODI McKay is being pressured to run as Labor’s candidate for the seat of Strathfield in the state election next March but the former member for Newcastle has refused to be parachuted in by head office.
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‘‘They are very keen for me to go back in,’’ said Ms McKay, referring to the ALP’s NSW head office in Sussex Street.
But Ms McKay, who has the support of the left and right factions, has made it clear she would contest a community selection process.
‘‘I am not going to be parachuted,’’ she said.
For the past three years, Ms McKay has been living and working in relative anonymity in the inner-western suburb of Ashfield after her narrow loss of Newcastle to the Liberal’s Tim Owen in the 2011 election.
But explosive revelations at the Independent Commission Against Corruption, which showed that Ms McKay paid a high price for her principles, have rekindled an interest in her career by the ALP machine.
In a day of dramatic evidence in May, Ms McKay wept at the ICAC hearings when it was revealed colleague Joe Tripodi was behind a ‘‘dirty tricks’’ campaign which was being bankrolled by Nathan Tinkler, whose bribery attempts Ms McKay had rebuffed.
The ALP was also rocked by allegations that then treasurer Eric Roozendaal and Mr Tripodi were involved in the leaking of a confidential Treasury document to the Newcastle Herald which also damaged Ms McKay’s re-election chances.
‘‘I have had branch members ring me out of the blue ... to let me know they are proud that I stuck to the principles of the party, to my own belief systems and no matter what the outcome I remained firm on that path,’’ she said.
Ms McKay was a well-known Newcastle newsreader and television journalist when then premier Morris Iemma intervened to ensure she was selected as Labor’s candidate for the 2007 election. This caused lasting animosity in many branches, which Ms McKay has no wish to re-ignite.
The former minister for tourism and the Hunter will have to contest a community pre-selection, scheduled for October. Her main opponents are likely to be the mayors of Strathfield and Burwood.
Daniel Bott, the mayor of Strathfield, has indicated he will be a candidate but John Faker, the mayor of Burwood, has not decided whether to run. Although Mr Faker is popular in the area, there has been concern over his previous connections to corrupt Labor kingmaker Eddie Obeid.
‘‘Anyone who says they didn’t deal with Eddie as a party political person would be lying to you. There’s no denying I knew the bloke, I knew him well. But did I know he was doing shonky deals? Ah, no!’’ Mr Faker said.
