Peta Credlin hits out at the haters

SHE’S been slammed for her role in Tony Abbott’s downfall, but Peta Credlin used a rare public appearance to suggest she’s the kind of person who should be in politics.

Peta Credlin, chief of staff to former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, poses for a photograph on arrival at the Australian Women's Weekly Women of the Future dinner at the Art Gallery of NSW in Sydney on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2015. (AAP Image/Paul Miller) NO ARCHIVING

SHE’S been slammed for her role in deposed prime minister Tony Abbott’s downfall, but Peta Credlin has used her first public appearance since her former boss was shafted to convince the public she’s the kind of person who should be in politics.

While ruling out rumours of her own political ambitions, the former chief of staff to the prime minister told a room full of influential women: “You will want to have women like me in politics.”

Speaking at an event hosted by The Australian Women’s Weekly, the in-demand panellist hit back at critics who had seen her earn tags such as the “Horsewoman of the Apocalypse” and parliament’s “Cruella De Vil”.

But Peta Credlin refuses to let “insider gossip” and “unnamed sources” define her, saying if those people felt intimated by her then they “don’t deserve” their jobs.

Ms Credlin was speaking at The Women of the Future Awards, held at the Art Gallery of New South Wales on Tuesday night.

It was her first public appearance since Mr Abbott was ousted from the top job last week by Malcolm Turnbull.

The former prime minister’s gatekeeper, who was invited to the event to speak as part of a panel discussing issues facing women today, told the audience that she thought the hardest thing women faced in the 21st century was overcoming misogyny and remaining confident.

She explained she found the last 10 years of her career more challenging, and that she had faced sexism in her career.

“I have had a handful of women support me and a handful of men,” she said. “But there’s also been a lot of silence and I would never see someone go through a tough time that I lived without trying to make contact.

“You will want to have women like me in politics, you will want to have women like me sitting in seats of authority, whether it’s department or writing policy documents or if it’s in the media.

“You want women in places where they can make a difference. Half the policy in this country is for us, but only about a tenth is by us.

“And if you do stand up and put women in the epicentre of decision making, whether it’s board rooms, government boards, politics, cabinet rooms wherever. If you don’t have women there we will not exist.”

Australian Women's Weekly Editor Helen McCabe, model Jesinta Campbell, Peta Credlin, and Annabel Crabb, on the red carpet at the Australian Women’s Weekly Women of the Future. PIC: AAP/Paul Miller.

While Ms Credlin spoke passionately about the need for women in high ranking positions, she dismissed the possibility of her running as a candidate herself.

“I am not going to run for politics,” she said.

“It’s been said about me for 16 years, I’m not. I want to be involved in my life and do something where I get my own voice.”

She also revealed the reason why she chose to speak out about her private battle with IVF, saying she wanted to be a “voice” for women who weren’t successful.

She said it was the only interview she had ever done in her 16 years in politics and hit out at those who criticised her for speaking out about “something so personal”.

“I wanted to be a voice for women that aren’t successful,” she told the audience.

“People say to me you know that ‘you’re really lucky to have the best job in the country’, and I am like, ‘there’s no luck involved’.

“I worked my guts out for six years to go from Opposition to Government, 5am in the morning, really late nights, huge pressure and it’s relentless.

“But that’s life, you’ve got to own what you are, you’ve got to own what you do. No one can take that away from me and I refuse — and I said to media at the weekend — I refuse to be defined by insider gossip, from unnamed sources where no one has the guts to put your name to it.

“And if you’re a cabinet minister or a journalist and you’re intimidated by the chief of staff of the Prime Minister then maybe you don’t deserve your job.

“Because I think it’s really important for women. No career goes in a straight line and I think it’s really important for women that if you hit a period where resilience and stress is required then we don’t give in. Women like Jesinta, who is going through a tough time, need to see old woman like us come through the end.”

Karl Stefanovic and Peta Credlin pictured at the AWW Women of the Future Awards. Pic: Richard Dobson

Ms Credlin also defended her “determined and controlling” demeanour, telling fellow panellist Annabel Crabb that if she were a man she would behave in the same manner.

“If I was a guy I wouldn’t be bossy, I would be strong. If I was a guy I wouldn’t be a micromanager I would be across my brief. If I wasn’t strong, determined and controlling, and got into government from opposition I might add, then I would be weak, and would have to be replaced.”

Ms Credlin also told the audience that had found the past week “tough” but that she was looking forward to finding herself again. She said she has no plans to run for parliament, despite speculation about that being in her future.

“I’m now thoroughly emancipated, I am not looking at my phone every 15 minutes., I am not having to talk to people I don’t want to talk to.

“I have got a piano in my house that has been there for three years that hasn’t been opened. And I am going to take time to breathe.

“I want to own who I am, I want to read.

“And I’m not going to be one of those people who kick the Liberal Party or the new Prime Minister on my way out. I think that’s undignified.

“I am looking forward to my next chapter whatever that it is.”