The Woman Who Took on Tony

Few election battles were watched as closely as the one between former PM Tony Abbott and Olympic skier Zali Steggall. Beverley Hadgraft had a close-up view of a woman on a mission.

In December last year, Zali Steggall was searching for Christmas presents. She bought four T-shirts – one for herself, one for her husband, Tim Irving, and one each for her parents, Jack and Susan. The message on the front read ‘Time’s Up Tony’. The T-shirts were being widely sold all over Sydney’s Warringah electorate to voters fed up with their MP, Tony Abbott. Local businessman Mark Kelly was behind the accompanying ‘Vote Tony Out’ social media campaign and was dropping off orders personally so he could chat to purchasers. When he met Zali at her Balgowlah Heights home he asked if she’d post a statement on his Instagram feed. It appeared on New Year’s Day: “It’s time for Warringah to elect a member who truly wants to reflect the views and values of its people,” she wrote.

At the time, the former Olympic skier turned family law barrister had no intention of standing. But four days later, chatting to a friend about the post, Zali decided to put up her hand, just like that. “She said: ‘I’m at this point in my career when, if I’m ever going to do something else, this is the time,’” recalls Mark.

Mark and others running micro campaigns to replace Abbott had already formed a coalition. “We had funding. We had a campaign manager we’d recruited from Kerry Phelps’ campaign. We had a train sitting in the station. We just didn’t have anyone to drive it,” he says.

“Zali went through about 15 meetings with different people to vet her. She had a very good brain, a great profile and she’s tireless in her work ethic. You watch women like Tanya Plibersek and Penny Wong, and there’s something really nice about intelligent women who are doing things for the right reason.