Gold Coast politician couple Meaghan Scanlon and Mark Bailey in relationship

LOVE is in the air — even for a couple of local pollies. And after keeping their relationship quietly under wraps for quite a while, it’s time to meet our very own political power couple.

MEET the surprise Queensland political couple whose careers are dependent on the highway which divides their lives — the congested Pacific Motorway.

Mark Bailey is the State’s Transport Minister who represents the south Brisbane electorate of Miller. Meaghan Scanlon at 24 last year became Queensland’s youngest female MP after winning the Gold Coast marginal seat of Gaven.

MPs Meaghan Scanlon and Mark Bailey having brekky at Nerang. Photo by Richard Gosling

Until recently, when the Opposition ranks began quietly talking about the MPs being an “item”, most people in Parliament assumed the extremely private former Coast lawyer was just another single 20-something.

Approached by The Gold Coast Bulletin for an interview, Mr Bailey takes up their story.

“We met in Broadbeach. I was born on the Gold Coast, at Broadbeach in Moana Park. It’s funny. I went to Broadbeach State School. We were meeting with a range of other people in a cafe there,” he said.

“We saw each other again at a function, and we started talking more to each other there. I certainly noticed Meaghan there,” Mr Bailey said. Photo by Richard Gosling

This was in 2016, a work visit to the Coast, and the conversation just flowed, neither having met before being in the same Labor Left faction.

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“I was a lawyer at that time. I was working at the firm,” Ms Scanlon adds, recalling that their relationship got off to an easy, casual start.

“We saw each other again at a function, and we started talking more to each other there. I certainly noticed Meaghan there,” Mr Bailey said.

Ms Scanlon ran for Labor in the safe conservative seat of Fadden in July 2016, improving the ALP’s vote by more than three per cent but her campaign typically focused on issues and not her personal life.

“I always been very private about my private life,” she said, laughing as her partner orders breakfast at a coffee shop within walking distance of her Nerang electorate office.

“And no-one’s really flat out asked me, I don’t think ever. If anyone has ever asked I’ve always been honest.

“But I think most people don’t really ask those sort of questions. At a professional setting (like Parliament), everyone is just focused on getting the job done. We really don’t talk about people’s personal lives. We’re there to do the job.”

Mr Bailey’s Miller electorate is on the edge of south Brisbane and takes in Rocklea and Moorooka, strong working areas which contrast to the Glitter Strip.

“I like that community. I’m not going anywhere,” he said.

The M1 has brought the couple together in the most unlikely of ways. (AAP image, John Gass)

Asked about the practicalities of juggling political and personal lives, they both admit it can be difficult.

Mr Bailey: “We don’t really see it each that often. The diary thing is difficult because I travel a bit, obviously I have work dinners and sometimes you’re just late at the office, there is a lot going on.”

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Ms Scanlon: “But in some ways I think that works well because we both get that our jobs are our first priority.”

Mr Bailey: “There is no sense of why we can’t see each other more often, we both know exactly why that is.”

For politicians, this is unusual — there’s easy flow of conversation, neither particularly striving to be dominant and an apology if one interrupts the other.

How does Ms Scanlon react from the backbenches if her partner on the front benches is facing verbal grenades lobbed by the Opposition?

“He’s capable of answering the questions,” she replies.

What threatens to divide them due to geography unites them. The M1 is their intersection, where their personal and professional lives meet.

Mr Bailey drives it himself, not using a driver. He knows Ms Scanlon on winning her marginal seat pledged to upgrade not just the M1 but interchanges.

“We have four upgrades fully funded back to back,” he said.

“We obviously share a lot of common interests. I think Mark also completely understands the Gold Coast and understands campaigning, and the commitment,” says Ms Scanlon. Photo by Richard Gosling

“Basically when we came to Government in 2015 there had not been a single new dollar put on it by the previous government for three years. There’s a big hole there on the progressive upgrading which should have happened.

“We’ve done exit 54 in first term, the exit 57 design’s under way. What I don’t understand is the previous government, they didn’t even do the planning, which isn’t high cost it’s more the time. We’re in one of the highest growth areas not just in the State but Australia.”

Apart from the politics and the highway, both MPs share similar family stories, generations linked to miners, a toughness far away from the tinsel of the Glitter Strip.

Ms Scanlon’s mother lived with her five brothers and sisters in a three-bedroom Housing Commission home in Victoria, and her great-grandfather was a coalminer who tragically died of black lung disease.

Mr Bailey’s family has similar working class roots, his father a tradie, his brothers a panel beater and sheet metal worker. He graduated from university as a teacher before becoming a city councillor.

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“We work very hard for our communities. There’s been no silver spoon in our direction,” he said.

Asked about the qualities she likes about him, Ms Scanlon is both shy to reply and offer too much.

“We obviously share a lot of common interests. I think Mark also completely understands the Gold Coast and understands campaigning, and the commitment. He’s a very respectful person, he understands the importance of women being involved in politics,” she says.

For the transport minister, it seems he has found the road home again.

“Meaghan is smart, she is fun. We share a lot of interests, we have a lot of things to talk about, like politics, current affairs — the Gold Coast. Even though I moved away from the Gold Coast when I was a kid, I always have had an interest in the Gold Coast. It’s always been my home town,” he said.