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Maxine McKew

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Maxine McKew
Born
Maxine Margaret McKew

(1953-07-22) July 22, 1953 (age 73)
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Occupation(s)Journalist, politician
Years active1974–2010 (journalism and politics)
Known forDefeating Prime Minister John Howard in 2007 federal election; ABC journalist
Notable workHosted Lateline, The 7.30 Report; author of Tales from the Political Trenches

Maxine Margaret McKew (born 22 July 1953) is a former Australian journalist and politician affiliated with the Labor Party. She held the position of Parliamentary Secretary for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government during the tenure of both the First Rudd Ministry and the First Gillard Ministry.

Between 2007 and 2010, McKew served as the representative for the Division of Bennelong, New South Wales, in the Australian House of Representatives. She gained prominence by defeating then-Prime Minister John Howard, who had maintained the seat for 33 years—making her only the second individual since 1929 to remove a sitting Australian prime minister from office and the third to overcome a major party leader in an election. At the 2010 Federal election, she was defeated in Bennelong by the Liberal candidate John Alexander.

Before entering politics, McKew was an acclaimed broadcast journalist, hosting key programs on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), including Lateline and The 7.30 Report on both television and radio.

Personal

McKew’s early life began in Brisbane, Queensland, where her father, Bryan McKew, worked as a boilermaker. After her mother Elaine passed away when McKew was five years old, she spent three years living with her grandparents before relocating to Moorooka with her father and sister following his remarriage. She later attended All Hallows' School in Brisbane.

Currently, McKew lives in the Sydney suburb of Epping alongside her partner, former ALP National Secretary Bob Hogg. Due to McKew’s Roman Catholic faith and Hogg’s prior divorce, they have decided against marrying. She relocated to reside within the Bennelong electorate in March 2007.

On 3 March 2007, there were reports concerning death threats directed at McKew. However, it was widely believed that attempts to interfere with her vehicle were more likely theft-related rather than politically motivated acts.

Media career

Following secondary education, McKew briefly pursued university studies before spending two years living in London, where she supported herself through various temporary roles including relief typing at a BBC office. A letter she penned on BBC stationery helped secure a cadetship at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in Brisbane in 1974, after a short stint as a news analyst at investment bank Goldman Sachs. By 1976, she was hosting This Day Tonight, a local current affairs program.

During the late 1980s, McKew worked as a political correspondent for Ten News before returning to ABC. Over more than three decades with ABC, she anchored programs such as 7:30 Report and Lateline, also contributing to The Carleton-Walsh Report, AM, PM, and The Bottom Line. Her work earned her both a prestigious Logie and a distinguished Walkley Award. In October 2006, she announced her departure from ABC, marking the conclusion of her broadcasting career.

From 1999 until 2004, McKew authored the column Lunch with Maxine McKew for The Bulletin, where she conducted interviews with notable Australians that frequently uncovered significant stories. The Australian Financial Review recognized her as one of "the top ten exercisers of covert power in Australia."

After winning the Bennelong seat in 2007, media outlets highlighted a striking photograph of McKew that drew comparisons to an iconic scene from Basic Instinct.

Politics

McKew was regarded as a prospective Labor candidate for the secure federal seat of Fowler during the 2001 and 2004 elections. In 2004, then Labor leader Mark Latham attempted to have her preselected for this western Sydney electorate but was unsuccessful, partly because McKew was reluctant to move from her Mosman residence to Labor’s outer suburban heartland. She attributed her refusal largely to Labor’s lack of clear direction at that time. Prior to this, she had also been approached by John Hewson with an offer to join the Liberal Party.

Following her departure from the ABC in December 2006, McKew joined the Australian Labor Party in January 2007, taking on a strategic advisory role for leader Kevin Rudd. Early reports in 2007 suggested she was once again under consideration for preselection in Fowler, though other electorates were also possibilities.

Campaign for Bennelong

On 25 February, Rudd’s office confirmed that McKew would challenge Prime Minister John Howard in the Division of Bennelong at the upcoming election. Subsequently, McKew and her husband Hogg put their Mosman property on the market. Historically a Liberal bastion since 1949, Bennelong had gradually shifted toward Labor support in recent years. Howard had represented the seat since 1974 but had required preference votes to secure victory in two out of three elections since becoming prime minister.

In mid-2007, McKew detailed her stances on environmental protection, education reform, and women’s issues in The Bulletin. A 2006 redistribution rendered the already marginal Liberal seat even more competitive, with Labor needing a four percent swing to claim it. Much of Bennelong’s area was represented by Labor at the state level. A Morgan poll conducted for Crikey indicated Labor held a 55% two-party preferred lead. By October 2007, leaked polling data suggested McKew had gained an advantage over Howard.

Early returns on 24 November 2007 pointed to a closely fought race. The ABC and other outlets projected Bennelong as a likely Labor gain, and Howard acknowledged it was "very likely" he had lost his seat. Initially describing the contest as a "knife edge," McKew declared on 26 November that Bennelong was "a Labor seat for the first time," though she refrained from formally claiming victory. Election analyst Antony Green subsequently confirmed her win.

With counting continuing on 1 December, McKew officially claimed victory, citing a uniform swing toward Labor and voter dissatisfaction with Howard’s tenure. She paid tribute to Howard’s long service and understood his hesitation to concede immediately. Most projections indicated Howard would have needed an unrealistic majority of outstanding ballots to retain his seat.

Howard formally conceded on 12 December after the Electoral Commission declared McKew the winner by 44,685 votes (51.4%) compared to Howard’s 42,251 (48.6%). The final tally revealed that McKew’s success was largely due to strong preferences from Green voters—78.84% placed her second—resulting in a two-party preferred margin of 2.8 percentage points.

Role as Parliamentary Secretary

On 29 November, Rudd announced McKew as one of his Parliamentary Secretaries, with the ministry officially sworn in on 3 December. In this capacity, she was tasked with responsibilities related to early childhood education and child care. Soon after her electoral victory, McKew published a book critiquing the political approach of the Howard government.

McKew delivered her inaugural speech in the House of Representatives on 14 February 2008.

Following several ministerial resignations, on 6 June 2009 McKew assumed the position of Parliamentary Secretary for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government.

Electoral defeat

During the 2010 federal election, McKew was unseated in the Bennelong electorate by John Alexander representing the Liberal Party, experiencing a swing exceeding 5%. She partly attributed her loss to the lackluster national campaign conducted by the Labor Party.

Post-political career

Following her political tenure, McKew became involved with Social Ventures Australia, providing expertise on education matters, and was appointed as a Vice Chancellor's Fellow at the University of Melbourne. In 2012, she authored a political memoir titled Tales from the Political Trenches, offering a critical analysis of Federal ALP leadership dynamics and organizational culture.

She has been an active member of the Australian-American Leadership Dialogue, a bipartisan civil diplomacy initiative established by Melbourne entrepreneur Phil Scanlan, and holds the position of Distinguished Fellow at the Australia India Institute.

Her additional commitments include participation in the Women's Advisory Group for the National Breast Cancer Centre, engagement with the University of Sydney Research Institute for Asia Pacific, serving on the Sydney Symphony Council, and acting as Patron of Osteoporosis Australia.

Up until April 2024, McKew was part of an advisory board for State Library Victoria. During this period, she was involved in a controversy surrounding the Teen Writing Bootcamp. Correspondence revealed that she encouraged examination of Lebanese Australian Muslim poet Omar Sakr's social media posts concerning his perspectives on Palestine and the Gaza conflict. She underscored the importance of maintaining political neutrality policies applicable to Victorian cultural organizations. After these details became public, McKew affirmed that her conduct was consistent with established institutional guidelines.

Honours

Further reading

External links

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