ON Saturday, NSW Nationals members will choose a replacement for the member for Orange Russell Turner, who will retire at the next state election. With a margin of more than 17 per cent, the seat will almost certainly be retained by the party. That means whoever members select will likely find themselves in Macquarie Street come March 2011. This week, the Central Western Daily profiles the four people who think they’re the best person to take the reins. Having spent the better part of three decades spruiking someone else’s products, Kim Currie is suddenly in a position where she needs to market herself. The high profile tourism promoter tells BEVAN SHIELDS why she should be the next member for Orange and explains the challenges of making it happen.
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SHE’S no stranger to politics but Kim Currie is still having trouble reconciling some of its more unpleasant realities.
Ms Currie, the chief executive officer of tourism promotion body Taste Orange, is climbing a steep mountain as she turns away from marketing and towards state politics.
In the process, she’s trying to overcome the perception politicians look out for themselves more than they do their constituency.
“What I’m standing for is to do a job, not get a job,” she said in reference to the preselection process.
“One of the reasons people don’t respect politicians is because of all this cliche behaviour, looking after each other, knocking things all the time and always being negative.
“I truly believe it doesn’t have to be like that.
“What I hope people do in the lead-up to the preselection is recognise it doesn’t have to be that way.”
She conceded convincing the 400 branch members that she’s the party’s best bet to replace incumbent Russell Turner will be a difficult task.
“If I felt there were appropriate candidates to represent this electorate, I would have sat back and absolutely not have contested the preselection,” Ms Currie said.
She denied that’s an indictment of the other three candidates - barrister Andrew Gee, Orange councillor Fiona Rossiter and former Orange mayor John Miller.
“I think they all have strong platforms and certainly some are more community minded and have a greater track record in that regard than others,” she said.
“But me saying I think I’m a better candidate is not saying I don’t think there are other good candidates.”
Ms Currie insists she’s the only candidate able to attract broad voter support come polling day in March 2011.
She’s targeted health, education, regional development, small business, tourism and agriculture as her key policy platforms.
It’s a strategy that offers a little bit of something to everyone.
“The National Party has an increasingly declining vote [so] it’s very important we have a strong, broad support base,” Ms Currie said.
“The National Party is working really hard to recruit diverse candidates with life experience, women in particular.”
She suspected her gender would work for and against her.
If Ms Currie is preselected, it would be the first time the NSW Nationals have picked a female candidate for the seat of Orange.
“But I don’t think anybody should vote for one candidate or another just because they’re a woman, I think it should be seen as an added bonus,” Ms Currie said.
“If women in regional areas who have the right skills don’t step up, we’re wasting a great opportunity.”
Ms Currie lived in Mudgee, a city in the electorate, for around 20 years before moving to Orange in 2006.
She has three sons and a daughter and her partner David Lowe is president of the NSW Winemakers’ Association.
Her father was a senior New Zealand Labor minister.
His political leanings clearly failed to rub off on his daughter.
“He’s trying to be supportive but it’s difficult to understand the National Party here is not like the National Party in New Zealand,” she said.
“He’s supporting me because I’m his daughter and he loves me, but horrified I’m prepared to put myself in a position where I will potentially be a politician because it’s not what a parent would want for their child.
“Having grown up in a political family I know how hard it can be.
“One thing that everyone close to politics says to you is do you realise three quarters of the job is being a social worker?”
“I do understand that the biggest and most rewarding part of the job is to serve the people who turn up on your doorstep who have nowhere else to turn.”
She ranks her selection as the 2009 NSW Rural Woman of the Year, role as a councillor with the NSW Royal Agriculture Society and appointment as Australia’s first wine and food development officer in 2003 as some of her “core achievements”.
KIM CURRIE
Chief executive officer of food, wine and tourism promotional body Taste Orange.
2009 NSW Rural Woman of the Year.
Partner of NSW Winemakers’ Association president David Lowe and mother of four children.
Daughter of former New Zealand Labor minister.
If preselected, would campaign on health, education, regional development, small business, tourism and agriculture.
