Kathy Sullivan interviewed by Lindsay Marshall in the Decades of Division oral history project [sound recording]
- Bib ID:
- 4978435
- Format:
- Audio
- Author:
- Sullivan, Kathy, 1942-, interviewee
- Online Access:
- National Library of Australia digitised item
- Access Conditions:
- Access open for research, personal copies and public use.
- Description:
-
- 2010
- 1 sound file (ca. 107 min.)
- Series:
- Decades of Division oral history project.
- Technical Details:
- Mode of access: Online.
- Summary:
-
Kathy Sullivan (nee Martin) talks about her early life and level of interest in politics; her career plans after leaving school; attitudes to education barriers for women; working relationships with Liberal Party hierarchy; the relationship between Coalition parties; the public image of Queensland Premier Sir Frank Nicklin and state of the Queensland education system; her work as a teacher after university studies and continued involvement with the Liberal Party and teacher unions; leaving teaching to work at University of Queensland; the elevation of Joh Bjelke-Petersen to premiership in 1968; her motives for standing for Liberal Party preselection as a Senate candidate and securing preselection; the campaign for the 1974 federal election; the National Party's relationship with the Democratic Labor Party (DLP); the implications of name-change from Country Party to National Party; Sir Gordon Chalk; Liberal Party's attitude to regional areas and local councils; tensions within the Coalition over three-cornered contests; Bjelke-Petersen's claimed Christian outlook and his treatment of political opponents; the lack of a mentor as a new senator; issues canvassed in first speech to the Senate and National Party's pursuit of small business support.
Sullivan discusses her recollections of historic 1974 joint sitting of Federal Parliament; Gough Whitlam; Malcolm Fraser; her views on parliamentary reforms sought by independent MPs after 2010 federal election; John Howard; Andrew Peacock; Bill Snedden; the relationship between Coalition parties at the federal level as opposed to tensions at state level; the anti-Whitlam campaign by Bjelke-Petersen; Bert Milliner; the election of Flo Bjelke-Petersen to the Senate at 1980 federal election; her decision to leave the Senate and contest federal seat of Moncrieff in 1984; the role of Joh and Flo Bjelke-Petersen in Moncrieff at 1984 election; the role of Moncrieff in 1986/87 "Joh for PM" campaign; Bjelke-Petersen's opposition to Labor and Liberal parties following 1983 Queensland Coalition split; the defection to the National Party by former Liberal ministers Don Lane and Brian Austin after the 1983 election; the comparative strengths of National and Liberal organisational wings and views on amalgamated Liberal National Party (LNP); her views on political opportunities for women and standards in contemporary politics.
- Biography/History:
-
Kathy Sullivan (nee Martin) was elected as Queensland Senator at the 1974 federal election. She resigned to contest the federal seat of Moncrieff on the Gold Coast at the 1984 election and served as the Member from Dec. 1984 until her retirement at the 2001 election. During this time she was Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs from 1997-2000. She is the first woman to serve in both houses of Parliament and the longest-serving woman in the federal parliament.
- Notes:
-
- This interview was conducted in association with the Queensland Chapter of the Don Dunstan Foundation and the National Library of Australia.
- Recorded on 11 September 2010 in Southport, Qld.
- Index/Finding Aid Note:
- Timed summary (5 p.) and uncorrected transcript (typescript, 56 leaves)
- Subject:
- Other authors/contributors:
- Related Records:
-
This belongs to the Decades of Division oral history project.
This collection contains 20 records. - Copyright:
-
In Copyright
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- Reason for copyright status:
- Until 2080 [Created/Published Date + 70 Years]
Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Sound Recording
- Published status:
- Unpublished
- Creation date:
- 2010
Copyright status may not be correct if data in the record is incomplete or inaccurate. Other access conditions may also apply. For more information please see: Copyright in library collections.
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