THE second woman elected to run a state or territory in Australia will speak at a Zonta Club breakfast event in Coffs Harbour to celebrate International Women’s Day, and she credits Darwin’s size as making her job easier.
Clare Martin was elected Chief Minister of the Northern Territory in 2001, after serving as Labor opposition leader for two years and as the Member for Fannie Bay in Darwin since 1995.
After resigning from the top job in 2007, during the federal government intervention into NT indigenous affairs, she accepted her current role as chief executive of the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS), the peak body of the community and social services sector.
A morning radio program presenter’s role in Darwin led to her meeting her NT-based lawyer husband and, a later position presenting the state-based television program, The 7.30 Report.
Historically, the rise of women in many fields is made challenging by parenting demands, so Coffs Coast Independent asked what was the impact of political life on Clare’s two young daughters.
“I can’t compare what it was like for someone working in another part of the country,” she said. “ In Darwin, it’s not far from one side to the other.
“My electorate office was 10 minutes from my house, across the road from the school and that’s what gives it a small level of sanity.
“As Chief Minister, part of your job is having a driver and that facilitates all sorts of things, just to have that time to go through speeches and documents and you don’t need to find a park.
“It was still incredibly busy, but I was usually home at night and always tried to keep talking.
“Sometimes things get pretty stressful and I’d always say, ‘you’re more important than the job, if you want me to get out of it, I will,’ and they never wanted that.
“They used to get exhausted by shopping, as people used to stop and want to talk and the girls would grab my arm and say, ‘we’ve got to go now’.
“Being Chief Minister was a massive adjustment.
“There are so many layers of government you’ve got to learn and the amount of paper is something breathtaking.”
She rejected suggestions that politics requires cut-throat personalities.
“It’s not for the faint-hearted. But if you’re running a business, you’ve got to be tough, accountable and able to deal with people well,” she said.
“ In politics you have that extra component of being exposed to the media and that’s the toughest part.
“Sometimes you’d cope with criticism and sometimes you’d crumple.
“My advice (to political newcomers) was to just duck and move on, sometimes you can nurse injuries too long.”
As head of ACOSS, Clare represents a largely non-profit sector of organisations, increasingly engaged in delivering social service programs on behalf of government.
“The target for ACOSS is the 10 per cent of Australians who are doing it tough,” Clare said.
“Our focus is on how to get the long-term unemployed into work and reduce housing stress, with more public housing and more affordable private housing.”
n Clare Martin is the guest speaker at the Zonta Club’s breakfast event for International?Women’s Day at C.ex Coffs on Friday.
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