Would-be MP rolls up his sleeves

KERRIELYN CLARK kclark@laketimes.com.au

AS RETIRING Member for Throsby, Jennie George, returned to Canberra this week for the resumption of Federal Parliament, Stephen Jones – the man who will replace her – if elected, “hit the campaign ground running.’’

“No one really wants to hear about politics until after Australia Day, except your family,’’ Mr Jones said.

While stressing Ms George was the Member until the next election, Mr Jones said he intended to spend the next few months filling his calendar.

“I will be talking to community groups down here in the Illawarra and in the Southern Highlands,’’ Mr Jones said. “I will be pounding the pavement and doing the door-knocking.

“There’s a rule in politics that you spend 70 per cent of the time listening and 30 per cent of the time talking.

“I’m set to talk about me and my background and why I think I’m a good candidate and about the Rudd Government and why they should be re-elected.

“But there’s no point talking about those things unless you listen to people and their concerns and issues.’’

The second child in a family of five, Mr Jones said his upbringing with a teacher father and school aide mother had a lot to do with his career path and foray into politics.

“I grew up in a big, Catholic family of five where there was the strong belief that nobody was better than anybody else,’’ he said. “We were also taught to speak our minds on things. It was not overly political but there were very strong social values.’’

From those formative years, Mr Jones moved further into community service roles and ultimately into the union role he will give up for politics.

“There is the assumption that people in my position use unions as a stepping stone but I never did,’’ he said. “I saw it as an end in itself. I could have taken an easier path to politics….’’

Mr Jones said it was while working with the unions that he started toying with the idea of a future political career.

“I really got a sense that government matters, that politics matters because that determines who will be in government,’’ he said. “Instead of lobbying other people to try and change things I started thinking maybe I’d give it (politics) a go. It was certainly not something I plotted my whole life around.’’

Mr Jones said the other significant influence on his career choice was also something around which his election campaign would be focused – unemployment.

“Finishing school in a recession has really shaped my view,’’ he said. “When I finished school half of my mates could not find jobs and that was really demoralising.’’

Mr Jones said the Government needed to look at a long-term employment strategy and that it was important the Illawarra was not left behind in the economic recovery.

In terms of other campaign platforms, the would-be Member for Throsby also said his priorities would include health - attracting and keeping medical staff and promoting the Rudd Government’s ideas on climate change.

“We are not immune in the Illawarra to the national debate on climate change and how we are dealing with it,’’ he said.

“We need long-term plans and policy, not short-term politics.’’