Cressida O’Hanlon is a far from typical Labor candidate

Cressida O’Hanlon’s background may sound Liberal or even Nationals but the Labor candidate for Dunstan is separated by just 184 votes in an oh-so-close battle against former premier Steven Marshall.

On the Monday after the election, while some were celebrating or commiserating, Labor’s Cressida O’Hanlon was out with advisers Michael Atkinson and Jennifer Rankine, taking down corflutes and asking the public to advise if she missed any.

That sort of community commitment has brought her to the brink of unseating former premier Steven Marshall in Dunstan.

As of Thursday morning, Mr Marshall (9451 votes) had pulled slightly ahead of Ms O’Hanlon (9267 votes), with almost 70 per cent of the votes counted.

Ms O’Hanlon says she has been helped by the canny advice of former Labor ministers Rankine and Atkinson.

“I think we got every one of them down by 6pm, I think the community expects corflutes down as soon as possible after the election,” Ms O’Hanlon told The Advertiser.

Election Day is over and @MickAtko, @RankineJen and I (and others) are in the midst of taking down corflutes. We hope to have them all down by the end of today. If anyone sees any we’ve accidentally missed please let us know.

— Cressida O’Hanlon (@CressidaOHanlon) March 21, 2022

The mother of four – two still at school – is the daughter of a bricklayer and member of an artistic dynasty.

She is a former farmer, qualified family mediator and more recently a business coach and with her husband James O’Hanlon has built a successful small business, workplace consultancy Citadel.

The farming and small business background may at first glance suggest Liberal or Nationals leanings.

Ms O’Hanlon says her support for Labor began 25 years ago when, as a farmer, she suffered through the millennium drought in NSW and felt the Coalition was not addressing the impact of climate change.

“People are concerned about growing levels of inequality, they are concerned about climate change, they are concerned about funding for schools and hospitals,” she says.

Ms O’Hanlon’s first campaign was against the Liberals’ James Stevens in the federal seat of Sturt in 2019, when she felt there was a “It’s Time” factor sweeping the nation.

There wasn’t. But the experience set her up to contest Dunstan.

Cressida O'Hanlon. Picture: Tait Schmaal.

The granddaughter of artist David Boyd, her upbringing including living in France and on a boat on the Mediterranean, and she features in her grandfather’s artwork. She grew up in Sydney, married at 20 and had the stress of farm life near Gunnedah in NSW as flood followed drought, before the family sold the farm and moved to Sydney.

She met her second husband, James, in Newcastle. The army officer was posted to SA for two years and the couple “fell in love with Adelaide”.

Cressida O'Hanlon with husband James and kids Cy, 14, and Phoebe, 9, at a colleague’s home. Picture: Tom Huntley

Ms O’Hanlon’s father had wanted her to study law, and she began studies as a mature-age student.

She didn’t like the adversarial aspect of law but did like bringing people together with mediation – a negotiation skill she hopes to bring to politics.

“It’s been very tight, it’s a big ask to defeat a sitting premier and now it is a waiting game,” she said.