HISTORY will be made if former Newcastle MP Jodi McKay emerges victorious from a NSW Labor process to elect a new leader.
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A woman Premier will face a woman Opposition Leader in the country's oldest parliamentary space in Sydney, known as the bearpit for all the wrong reasons.
It would be an interesting match-up.
Both women are known for being strong performers in parliament and for showing steel in the face of difficulties.
On Friday after announcing she would stand against Chris Minns in the Labor leadership contest, Ms McKay stressed her non-city background.
"I say to rural NSW, if a country kid from Gloucester can stand for the leadership of the Labor Party, then you can vote Labor," she said.
Ms McKay's history in the Hunter is a well known one. She spent her first 18 years living in Gloucester before making the move to Newcastle where she became known as the face of Hunter television news.
Her selection as the Labor candidate for Newcastle before the 2007 election - criticised as Labor "parachuting" her in to replace Bryce Gaudry - was the kind of rocky start from which the relationship between Ms McKay and certain groups within Newcastle never really recovered.
Despite grudging acknowledgment that the new Newcastle MP was a hard worker who listened to all sides before reaching conclusions, some critics remained critics until she left the city in 2011 after losing to the Liberal Party.
A subsequent Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry showed she faced a strong challenge not only from the Liberal Party during that election, but from influential elements within her own party.
In an ICAC inquiry from which few emerged with their reputations intact, Ms McKay showed a grit and integrity which earnt people's respect.
The Labor leadership contest will run for the next few weeks as Labor members across the state are given a chance to have their say.
Labor faces tough challenges at state and federal level. In NSW the party was underwhelming in March against a Berejiklian Government that was carrying considerable baggage, including bloated and unpopular infrastructure projects. The girl from Gloucester has her work cut out ahead of her to win party and public support.
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