Australian Story: Oct 31
Monday night's Australian Story will profile former NSW Premier Kristina Keneally and the issue of Stillbirths.
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Monday night’s Australian Story will profile former NSW Premier Kristina Keneally and the issue of Stillbirths.
Kristina Keneally’s dramatic and controversial rise through the ranks of the NSW Labor party is well documented. Born and raised in America, she made history by becoming the first female Premier of NSW. But in March she was dislodged by angry voters in a defeat of historic proportions. What few realise is the family experience that Kristina Keneally says led her into politics and toughened her for the brutal crossfire of public life.
Kristina Keneally arrived in Australia in 1999 with her husband Ben and her young son Daniel. She had plans for an academic career working as a feminist theologian and to have at least four children. But a routine eighteen week scan for her second pregnancy revealed a congenital defect. She was told that once she had given birth, her daughter Caroline would die. The experience was devastating for Kristina Keneally, testing both her faith and her deepest beliefs.
For two years she was lost, rarely venturing outside her home.
When she remerged she realised a career in academia now held little attraction, and ultimately sought preselection for the safe Labor seat of Heffron. The decision surprised many, given that husband Ben had always been the one to express interest in a political career. The pre-selection battle was “dirty… delightfully dirty… the Labor party’s fight over this particular state seat had become a national issue,” said reporter Quentin Dempster.
“I think Kristina became more politically ambitious than Ben. The dirtiness that came with some of it I think turned Ben off”, said sister-in-law Josie Byrne.
Kristina Keneally explains how the experience of losing Caroline transformed her, and how it enabled her to stare down her political enemies in one of the fiercest pre-selection battles in Labour history. For ten years she never spoke in detail about the loss of her daughter – now she says it’s time to raise the profile of the issue.
After the Labor Party’s crushing electoral defeat earlier this year, Keneally went to the back-bench and found more time for her role as the patron of the Stillbirth Foundation. Despite over 2000 Australian babies dying of stillbirth a year, the causes and possible preventions remain a mystery. Groundbreaking research backed by the Stillbirth Foundation may finally help unravel the mystery.
8pm Monday on ABC1.
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7 Responses
Thank you Kristina ,14 years ago i lost my 2 beautiful baby twin boys -Brodie -stillborn and Joel-neo natal death all in 1 terrible day.Watching you tonight and having the same feeling towards God -but in my case i was asking why did he have to have both my babies,wasn’t 1 enough and the guilt i felt and that almighty question why me.As a politician you were up against some tough opponents but like you said nothing comes close to the loss of a child.Lets hope that the research by the Stillbirth foundation will help reduce the 2000 babies that are stillborn every year .
As a mother who has had an anacaphalic child i wept and wept. It has been 17 yeas since we said goodbye and every day it still hurts. Very few people (family included) understand the anguish ,pain and suffering a parent goes through in such a tragic tale. Thank you Australian Story and Kristina for sharing your story. To know i am not alone is huge. Thank you from the bottom of my heart and may God bless you and your family. That of course includes Caroline.
Can’t believe of the 4 previous comments posted by others – two don’t even relate to Kristina Keneally & the other 2 talk about what she looks/sounds like. You guys should be ashamed of yourselves – people & especially politicians should be defined by what they achieve not on their appearance, accent or gender! Do you think other readers like my self actually care if you think someone’s accent is easy on the ear or if a hair style is “much more feminine and atractive” (spelling mistakes intentional). No wonder people think Australian’s are unintellegent, ill-informed morons at times….
Another show ruined, by the overpowering background music, please tone it down, so we can hear what people are saying.
I just Googled …Teddy Love Club…..the little verse at the top right brought me to tears….
Stillbirths aside, I just want to also say that Kristina Keneally is the most stunning politician in Australia today. Hope she runs federally because her combination American/Australian accent is easy on the ear. Disclaimer: I’m a non-New South Wales voter.
THis should be interesting, i dont mind Kristina Keneally she tried but the damage was already done well before she ever got in the job, so it wasnt all her fault. I must say thatt she looks better now then that photo indicades, iam talking about the hair style. whoever put her up to that crappy hair style should have got the sack. I much like her new long and straight hair style much more feminine and atractive. On the topic of still births i did my bit to help the cause with a gold coin donation to the Teddy Love Club, which is an organisation which helps would have been mothers deal and over come their greefe of loosing a child, a great organisation by the sounds of it.