Kelly O’Dwyer is the first person to be having a child whilst serving in Cabinet

GROUNDBREAKING Federal Cabinet minister Kelly O’Dwyer always hoped she would be ‘juggling it all’ with motherhood and politics.

FEDERAL Cabinet minister Kelly O’Dwyer always hoped she would be “juggling it all” with motherhood and politics.

The Financial Services and Revenue Minister is the first woman to hold a cabinet role while in the throes of parenthood.

Between 5am wake up calls from her 22-month-old daughter Olivia, obstetric appointments for her new baby due in April and jetting to Parliament House in Canberra, O’Dwyer is setting the example for what women can achieve in politics.

“It actually shocked me to learn — I was actually told by (another MP) that I was the first person to be having a child whilst serving in cabinet and I thought surely not in today’s day and age, surely there have been others that have already done this,” O’Dwyer, 39, said.

“But it was true.”

For O’Dwyer, it really bugs her that men in politics with children are never put under the same level of scrutiny and right from her preselection in Peter Costello’s former seat of Higgins in 2009 her parenting desires were put under the microscope.

The eldest of four kids, including two younger sisters who are both currently also pregnant and a younger brother, O’Dwyer is passionate about getting a fair go for women and mothers.

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Federal minister for Financial Services and Revenue, Kelly O'Dwyer, with her daughter Olivia. Picture: David Smith

“I am lucky to have received significant support from the Liberal party membership in Higgins but there were some people who did express some concern at the time that it would be very challenging to have a family and pursue a political career,” she said.

“This is something that men have been able to manage for quite some time and it doesn’t seem to have the same focus that it does when it comes to women.”

It’s a topic that comes up again and again in the public sphere. If you have kids, you’re apparently not working hard enough or able to handle your responsibilities and if you don’t have kids you aren’t relatable enough.

“I would want other women to know that you can actually have a family and serve at the highest levels in government. You can make a very big contribution to shaping the nation through policy development, just as any man can … this is a place that is open to absolutely everyone,” O’Dwyer said.

“I think everyone regardless of their family position should be judged on their performance, regardless of their gender should be judged on their performance and I think that there have been some quite cruel suggestions that seem to be directed to women about whether they have a family or not which I don’t think is directed in the same way to men as to whether they have a family or not.”

Elected at the 2009 by-election triggered by Peter Costello’s resignation, O’Dwyer was subsequently elected at the 2010, 2013 and 2016 polls.

She is the youngest female member of cabinet, the first female parliamentarian to hold a Treasury related portfolio in cabinet and is responsible for some of the biggest pieces of legislation impacting every day Australians.

PM Malcolm Turnbull and Julie Bishop with Kelly O'Dwyer and 4 month old Olivia. Picture: Kym Smith

She has served as Chair of the House Standing Committee on Economics, Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer, Minister for Small Business and now Minister for Financial Services and Revenue.

O’Dwyer, who married investment banker Jon Mant in 2006, said she has a fantastic support network — not least of which included her husband.

When Olivia was born, Mant took seven months off work so he could travel with O’Dwyer and bring Olivia to Parliament House to be breastfed.

But that was also not without controversy, when in 2015 her chief whip Scott Buchholz advised O’Dwyer to express more breastmilk so her breastfeeding would not cause her to miss parliamentary votes. She was in fact entitled to a proxy vote.

“It has been really lovely for me (Jon taking time out to look after Olivia) because Olivia has a really fabulous bond with Dad. She obviously spends a bit of time with my Mum and Dad and family is very important to me,” O’Dwyer said.

O’Dwyer’s parents Karen and Dan, both lawyers, were the first of their families to attend university and always wanted the best for their kids. This included a daily two-hour drive to deliver the O’Dwyer girls to Presbyterian Ladies College in Burwood, in Melbourne’s south.

O’Dwyer said she also has “enormous support” from her parliamentary colleagues but in particular Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.

She also regularly talks to mentor, and Australia’s longest serving Treasurer, Peter Costello to receive advice on the job.

Kelly O'Dwyer during Question Time. Picture: AAP

Julie Bishop said O’Dwyer was an outstanding member of Cabinet and she admired her work ethic and ability to juggle home and family life.

“Kelly is very capable, she is bright, engaged and she has opinions that she is not afraid to voice,” she said yesterday.

“I admire her capacity and ability to manage her work with her family life.”

Bishop said the cabinet was “delighted” for O’Dwyer and her husband to be expanding their family.

“I know she is keen to continue working and to continue to be a cabinet minister and it is great there is flexibility of workplace arangments as such that she can be a cabinet minister in a significant financial portfolio and still be able to raise a family.”

O’Dwyer says her biggest aim is to work towards lower taxes for all Australians.

“If we just leave things on the personal income tax front exactly as they are over the next ten years the majority of people who are actually paying tax will be in the top two tax brackets and that to me is not right and not fair,” she said.

“The government should really only take what it needs to take in terms of taxes in order to perform the role of government … I actually believe in smaller government and giving people the ability to make their own choices about their own lives. That’s how I’ve been brought up and that’s very much part of the Liberal philosophy and how I see the world and I hope in this job that I am able to have an impact in this direction.”