It is week two of the election campaign and we have hardly seen the prime minister’s partner, Tim Mathieson. I can’t remember an election campaign where voters have seen so little of the candidates’ better half. So what is going on?
Even the erratic Mark Latham travelled around Australia with the gorgeous Janine Lacy in tow. Yet, so far, apart from the odd appearance in Canberra, Ms Gillard’s boyfriend of four years has not been seen.
If Australia’s first female PM is formally elected by the people on August 21, she will make history by being the first person in the top job to be unmarried and living in The Lodge. (The only other PM not technically married while in office was the then recently widowed John McEwen, who held the top job from late 1967 to early 1968. He married soon after.)
For that reason, while it is not critical to how Ms Gillard will perform, I do think voters would like to know a bit more about the First Bloke. In the United States, no stone is left unturned in the dissection of President Barack and Michelle Obama’s lives. The spouse of the newly elected British prime minister, Samantha Cameron, is also well known to UK voters.
We know that Tim Mathieson was a hairdresser, then a hair products salesman. We know he has been married before and has adult children. We also know that he is now employed as a marketing executive, selling luxury apartments for the Ubertas Group, in Melbourne.
Yet voters expect to see more of their political leaders’ partners at election time and this is no exception. Which begs the question: are Labor Party minders hiding him and, if so, why?
Perhaps Labor’s wily campaign chief, National Secretary Karl Bitar, is just concerned that Ms Gillard’s modern relationship could be an electoral turn-off in conservative seats, particularly the electorally important state of Queensland. Whatever the reason, I would like to see more of Mr Mathieson.
I think Opposition leader Tony Abbott has been slow to bring his wife into the campaign. Margie Abbott has never relished the high-profile role and still looks slightly awkward when confronted by the frenzy of photographers and reporters, but she is certainly one of his biggest electoral assets.
Her presence alongside Mr Abbott also reinforces the message that Mrs Gillard is unmarried and does not have a traditional family life.
Mrs Abbott and the couple’s three daughters – Louise, Bridget and Frances appeared in The Australian Women’s Weekly in February and they immediately helped change people’s perception of the Liberal Party leader. Yet our request to photograph Mr Mathieson with Ms Gillard for AWW’s August cover was politely declined.
In the past, prime ministerial spouses have often been reluctant contributors to public life. Janette Howard never looked comfortable in the role, but she was always by her husband’s side, especially on the big occasions. Paul Keating’s wife, Annita, was also awkward, especially as English was not her first language. She famously caused uproar during the 1993 election when she posed for a stunning Vogue magazine shoot, with straight hair and designer clothes. She looked beautiful, and she did have a genuine interest in Australian fashion but it was seen as a long way from the Labor Party heartland.
Thérèse Rein undertook a rigorous gym regimen during her husband’s brief time in the top job. She claimed it was about climbing Mt Kilimanjaro with her son, but many people wondered if it was also partly to do with the pressure of being constantly photographed with her husband.
The two stand-out prime ministerial spouses in modern times have been Hazel Hawke and Margaret Whitlam. They were greatly admired by the Australian public for the way they handled this difficult role. Mr Mathieson also seems to have some of their “Australian-ness”, but I am not sure we are going to get a chance to find out during this campaign, which is a great pity. I for one would like to know more.
By contrast, I expect Liberal Party strategists will be doing all they can to keep the impressive Mrs Abbott, and those three photographic daughters on the TV news bulletins as often as is physically possible.
- Helen McCabe is the Editor-In-Chief of AWW. The July issue of the magazine is out tomorrow, July 28
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