EMILY's List

Fiona McNamara

Federal candidate for Dickson in Queensland
Margin: -1%

Fiona has been a member of the ALP since 1996 and has been a member of the Gladstone, Paddington( Queensland) and South Melbourne (Victoria) branches and is currently a member of the Pine Rivers Central Branch (Queensland). She has been a member of Emily's List since 2001 and has been involved in the QELAG since 2005.

Fiona has a strong connection to the Dickson electorate. She grew up in the area and her family has lived in the Bald Hills since the late 1950s. She lived there until she began her working career and has a grass roots understanding of the area and the issues which confront people who live and work in Dickson.

She currently works for the Queensland Teachers' Union. Her work background is as an English and History teacher in secondary schools. She has taught in a number of schools across the State for over ten years and has also taught in two schools in the electorate, Dakabin State High School and Albany Creek State High School. She works in the electorate as a QTU Organiser and has a good knowledge of the people and issues in the area. Her employer is supportive of her candidacy.

Fiona has taken a lead role in relation to women's issues in teachers' unions when she was the Federal Women's Officer for the Australian Education Union. She has also been a member of the ACTU Women's Committee. Whilst in these roles she prepared major submissions in relation to paid maternity leave. Her areas of expertise include gender equity, feminisation of the teaching profession and the issues in relation to poverty and education.

She believes she can bring a range of skills and abilities to the candidacy. She is a confident public speaker and looks forward to engaging the sitting member Peter Dutton in public debate. She is a strong advocate for improved provision of quality public services including education and health and was actively involved in the Your Rights at Work campaign to overturn John Howard's Work Choices legislation. .She have a reputation as a hard worker and will devote herself over the coming months to win Dickson for Labor.

Fiona ran a strong campaign in the 2007 election and came within 217 votes of winning the seat.