Katelin McInerney celebrates her winning poll numbers with parents Clare and Paul. Photo: Supplied.
Katelin McInerney didn’t always want to be a politician.
The newly elected though yet-to-be-sworn-in Member for Kiama is the first woman to hold the seat, although that doesn’t hold as much importance to her as regaining the seat for the Labor Party and Minns Government.
Speaking after taking a couple of days off to catch up with husband Brian and five-year-old son William following last Saturday’s byelection, Katelin admits she doesn’t ever remember thinking, “Gee, that looks like a job I would love to do”.
But what she does remember are the robust discussions around the family dining table that focused on “solidarity, sticking together and the importance of fairness”.
“I take a lot of inspiration from my family,” the 41-year-old said.
“My grandfather was a Transport Workers’ Union (TWU) delegate for the Sydney Sun and very well respected in any workplace he walked into.
“And of course a mum working in public education in lower socio-economic schools really gives you an insight and a real focus, but also dad in local journalism and the campaigns through the 1990s and 2000s that had such an enormous impact on my social justice.”
That teacher mum is Clare, who stood on the Labor Party ticket at last year’s Kiama Council election, and dad is Paul, a senior journalist who worked at the Illawarra Mercury for many years.
“There were some hearty debates around the dinner table, but it was always on the finer points,” Katelin said.
“I think the basic values were uncontested – you know, making sure that everybody in this community is treated fairly and no-one gets left behind – that was the founding premise of most of our discussions.
“And I think if you didn’t, at some fundamental level believe in that, you certainly didn’t stick at our kitchen table very long.”
Katelin said the greatest gift her parents gave her was solid self belief and self-confidence.
“As a parent now, I am always looking for ways to instill that belief in my son – and any of the kids in our area, our little sphere – because if you believe in yourself and really back yourself then there’s not too much in life that you won’t have a crack at,” she said.
Katelin is a local through and through, having attended Minnamurra Public and Kiama High.
She is a former journalist – and like her father worked at the Illawarra Mercury – and was an organiser and director with the journalists’ union MEAA. She has since worked with not-for-profits in the housing and community space.
Politics came to the fore after Katelin had her son.
“I think it comes with age and with getting more skin in the game when you become a parent,” she said.
“I know it’s a bit of a cliche but it becomes even more apparent and urgent to make sure you take every opportunity to leave the world a better place for our kids.
“I looked at my skill set and thought, yep, this is the right skill set to fit the job.
“I really love the community I live in but also appreciate the challenges we face are going to be complex – are already complex – but the challenges through climate change and back-to-back disasters in our neck of the woods really brings home the need to move as fast as we can to a clean, green economy here in the Illawarra.
“We have a housing crisis we have to tackle and we also have a health system we have to rebuild to make sure it’s fit for our region but also copes with the growth we’re expecting here over the next few years.
“So I think you need someone who’s got experience looking at policy settings and advocating and that was certainly in my wheelhouse and part of the reason why I put my hand up in 2025.”
Katelin’s first tilt at the seat was in 2023, narrowly missing out to the incumbent Gareth Ward, who was re-elected despite sexual assault charges hanging over his head.
Her win this time around returns the seat to the Labor Party, which had held it from when it was created in 1981 until Mr Ward, then a Liberal Party member, was first elected in 2011.
He resigned from the Liberal Party in 2020 after being charged with the sexual offences for which he was eventually convicted in July this year.
Mr Ward eventually resigned from parliament on 8 August.
Labor now holds all state seats from southern Sydney to the Victorian border, but Katelin said with 500 days and counting to go until the 2027 state election, she didn’t take a single vote for granted.
“I’m incredibly aware of the very great privilege it is to serve our community in this way and I intend to work every single day to make sure our area is getting the representation it deserves, the investment we need and the services we deserve going forward,” she said.
“We are an electorate of small towns and villages and every town and every village has a distinct set of issues and problems and perhaps investment that’s needed, but I think the key to tackling them is getting out and listening to people.”
The Kiama electorate is a seat of opposites. Stretching from the bush to the beach, it encompasses some of the most expensive real estate in regional Australia as well as large stocks of social housing that Katelin says have been neglected by previous governments.
“It’s a huge challenge that we’re coming into in this electorate but it’s one that I am not only really keen to tackle, but that I understand at a really fundamental level, having worked in the housing advocacy space and also living here and watching the community grow,” she said.
Katelin doesn’t become the official Kiama MP – or get paid as one – until the writs are declared on 3 October and she is officially sworn in.
In the meantime, the Parliamentary Speaker Greg Piper has oversight of the electorate and the current contact details for the Kiama electorate office remain in place for urgent issues.
Katelin is itching to get to work and follow in the footsteps of the local and national politicians who have inspired her.
“There’s a Penny Wong quote that’s always resonated for me – You can choose not to be interested in politics but you can’t choose not to be affected.”
