Another Brisbane TV reporter puts up hand to fight election

She is used to asking tough questions of politicians. Now, ex-Channel 10 reporter will be on the receiving end after being preselected for a state seat.

Former Channel 10 reporter Lauren Day (pictured with her husband Matthew Day, son Joseph,6, and daughter Rosie, 1.

The LNP has preselected well-known Channel 10 TV reporter Lauren Day for the Indooroopilly-based state seat of Maiwar, which returned Queensland’s first Greens MP in a knife-edge contest at the last election.

Ms Day was preselected, unopposed, on February 18 and is tipped to make incumbent Michael Berkman fight very hard to retain his seat.

“I became fed up with what I was seeing ‘on the road’ and decided to put my hand up,’’ Ms Day said.

She admitted to living a few hundred metres outside the electorate, in Chelmer, but said it was part of the seat until the last election.

“I am heavily involved in the Maiwar community including St Lucia Park Run, St Lucia Meals on Wheels, Bardon Yoga and local environment groups,’’ she said.

Ms Day, who resigned from her TV job in December so she had nine months to campaign, said her priorities were fixing road congestion and schools.

Find her on Facebook at: Lauren Day LNP for Maiwar.

WE ASKED LAUREN DAY EIGHT QUESTIONS. HERE ARE HER ANSWERS

Tell us a bit about yourself

Before putting myself forward to represent the Maiwar electorate, I was a reporter at Channel 10. I became fed up with what I was seeing ‘on the road’. I’m incredibly humbled and excited to have been endorsed by the LNP as the candidate for Maiwar.

I’m doing this for the next generation of Queenslanders – for my children and for the future of Queensland. I want to protect local jobs, protect our lifestyle and help people. I also want a future where young Queenslanders can be rewarded for effort and given the best possible opportunities in life.

What is your background?

I worked as a journalist my entire career. I always loved finding out ‘the story’ in people’s lives. I have always loved talking to people and trying to help people. So I studied journalism and international studies and languages after high school and then worked as a journalist. One of my first jobs was making breakfast for Mel and Kochie on Sunrise, doing ‘the graveyard shift’ at Channel 7. I have also always loved travel and languages. I lived in Austria for one year as a Rotary international exchange student and in Spain for one year as a university student. My husband Matthew is a police officer and we have two gorgeous children, six-year-old Joseph and one-year-old Rosie. My kids are by far, the best part of my life. I’ve had many positions and titles throughout my life but the best job by far is ‘mum’. We live just outside the electorate, a few hundred metres from the border (in Chelmer.) This was previously the Indooroopilly electorate until the last state election. I grew up in Sydney and moved

to Brisbane (Chelmer) in 2010 when I met my husband Matthew. We are so proud to call the west Brisbane area our home. It is the perfect area for work and lifestyle. I am deeply passionate about protecting our lifestyle. I am heavily involved in the Maiwar community. Some of the things I’m involved in include St Lucia Park Run, St Lucia Meals on Wheels, Bardon Yoga, and the various Cubberla-Witton Catchments Network environmental groups. My son is also involved in local sports groups – cricket training at Fig Tree Pocket every Friday, Little Athletics in Toowong. Of course I also worked at Mt Coot-Tha, where Ten is based.

Why are you running?

I started working for Ten News in January, 2015. Being ‘on the road’ every day and talking and listening to people, I realised Labor was failing Queenslanders. We now have the worst

unemployment rate in the country, growing hospital waiting lists, crime out of control and a state going backwards. I witnessed first-hand how the Palaszczuk Government failed vulnerable children in foster care, such as Tiahleigh Palmer. I reported on the horrific cases of other children including Mason Jet Lee. In many cases, the punishment wasn’t fitting the crime. The community is sick of seeing people literally get away with murder. I’ve done dozens of live crosses during peak hour, where the entire city comes to a standstill because our roads and rail systems have been ignored. In fact, the traffic in Maiwar is so bad that I used to take all the backstreets to drive to Channel 10 at Mt Coot-Tha every day. It was impossible to get to work using the Western Freeway or Coronation Drive or Moggill Rd.

I also reported on the ongoing rail fail and the Lady Cilento scandal. I became fed up with what I was reporting on and how Queenslanders were being ignored. I decided I could no longer keep reporting on ‘the story’. I wanted to be part of a team that would have a better ‘story’ for Queensland. I want to help small businesses, fight for a better economy and

fight for Queensland’s future. I resigned from Ten News just before Christmas in December to run for preselection for Maiwar. I was endorsed on Tuesday, February 18 – the same day the Greens Member (Michael Berkman) was referred to the parliamentary ethics committee.

Editor’s note: Mr Berkman was referred for wearing an anti-Adani T-shirt in the Chamber, which is against rules about bringing “props’’ into Parliament (similar to Prime Minister Scott Morrison bringing a lump of coal into federal Parliament). Mr Berkman stands by his decision.

Is politics something you have thought about doing for a while? Is that because of your job?

The more I reported on the Palaszczuk-Trad Government, the more I wanted to get into politics. I witnessed many government ministers lie and make up stories just for the sake of a press conference. It disgusted me. I started thinking more seriously about running after the birth of my daughter, Rosie. I wanted to be a voice to fight for my children and protect them.

As the wife of a police officer, I also became more concerned about crime in our community. I am deeply disturbed by the Greens’ policy to take tasers and guns off general duty police officers. Some nights I don’t know when or if my husband will be home and I think it’s appalling that the Greens want to make the jobs of our police officers even harder.

What do you see as the priorities for Maiwar?

I am really passionate about raising education standards and improving the schools in Maiwar.

Congestion is another major issue in the western suburbs and traffic on our major roads is grinding to a standstill. I’m also really concerned about the state’s growing unemployment rate. The first thing we need to do is give businesses confidence again to employ people. The business community has no confidence in the Palaszczuk-Trad Labor Government and we have the worst unemployment in Australia. Of course, it’s the people of Maiwar who matter most and I’ll be speaking to as many locals as possible in coming weeks and months to find out their concerns.

It will be a tough battle. Berkman has a large team of volunteers, advantage of incumbency and has worked very hard on local issues. The Labor candidate also has a good track record in the community. Do you see it being another close race?

It will be a tough battle but I’m up for a fight. I have hit the ground running and am looking forward to meeting as many locals as possible over the coming months. I’ll be talking with them about the importance of changing the government, to get Queensland working again.

Over-development and lack of genuine public input in development/planning issues are a huge cause for concern in this electorate (TriCare Taringa, Indro Golf Course retirement village, multiple highrises in Toowong particularly the Sunland proposal at the old ABC site). Do you think State Govt/Council planning laws are too skewed in favour of developers and what would you do to help residents concerned at overdevelopment.

The Greens and Labor constantly talk about overdevelopment, ignoring the fact that the Deputy Premier, Jackie Trad, is the one politician in Queensland who can ultimately stop development applications. As always, they’re all talk. Labor has been in government in Queensland for 25 of the last 30 years and has completely neglected the western suburbs of Brisbane. We need a change of government that gets the balance the right and builds the roads and rail needed to connect the western suburbs to the city.

Inner-city Brisbane has swung to the Greens in last year’s federal election. How will you persuade voters who have/might consider turning to the Greens to support the LNP?

Most of the Greens’ policies are not green, they’re extreme. Some of their worrying plans and

policies include closing prisons and making dangerous drugs legal. Their plan for Queensland is a frightening socialist one, destroying job opportunities and taxing families more. The LNP, on the other hand, believes everyone can do well in life and has a right to be rewarded for effort. I believe when people vote Green, they don’t realise how extreme their policies really are. My focus is reaching as many locals as possible between now and October and making the case for why we urgently need a change of government, which means changing our local MP, who is in lock-step with the Palaszczuk-Trad Government. A vote for the Greens means a vote for Labor, which would give us another four years of this hopeless government. We cannot afford another four years of a Greens/Labor government.