Kristy McBain, Labor's candidate for Eden-Monaro, has discussed the sexism she has faced during her career, such as recent comments from a television host who said "it's much easier to be a candidate if you're a woman".
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She was speaking at an online seminar for Women for Election Australia (WFEA) on Thursday exploring the importance of more women running in politics.
On May 20, she participated in a Sky News interview with co-host Graham Richardson who said the female "demographic seems to be to be pretty well covered" in local government politics.
"In fact, as I look around the Labor party these days it's much easier to be a candidate if you're a woman, isn't it? I mean we're making up for lost time," he said.
Asked about the incident by WFEA CEO Licia Heath, Ms McBain said her first reaction was to think of a meme she had seen that showed a woman drinking from a cup and spurting out hot tea.
"It's definitely not easy," she said.
For instance, she said when she was elected as a Bega Valley Shire Councillor in 2012 she had two young children and in her first council meeting she tried to move a motion to change the day councillors met, Wednesdays, because she could not get childcare that day.
She said her motion was met with a "collective gasp from everyone in the room" because somehow changing the day council met would "change the whole dynamic".
Being a young councillor, candidate as well as Bega Valley Shire's youngest mayor in history she has also faced ageism like being told "you're too young to know that" or "you don't have any life experience", she said.
"Your life experience isn't measured in years, it's measured in the things you need to do or put up with in your lifetime," Ms McBain said.
She also spoke about her experiences dealing with the federal government as mayor for the Bega Valley Shire, saying after bushfire devastated the Tathra district in March 2018 council asked the government for more funding as it was struggling, but "we received nothing".
"Despite visits from the prime minister and several of his ministers, nothing changed," she said.
Ms McBain said her "biggest bugbear" was when talking about bushfires' impact on the community she felt as if council was not being listened to.
For instance, she said she was told "time and time again" the government was not able to support small business, then later all of a sudden would be told "it is our remit to support small business".
The Eden-Monaro by-election will be held on July 4 and will be contested by Ms McBain, the Liberals' Fiona Kotvojs and several other independents and parties.
Albert McKnight
Journalist at Bega District News.
Journalist at Bega District News.
