Local teacher and Labor candidate Laura Hughes is taking a second tilt at running for New England.
“I ran three years ago for the Federal Parliament,” Hughes says.
“That was my first experience as a Federal candidate, having run for Tamworth Council and missing out on the last spot.”
For a seat with voters so infamously rusted-on to the Nats you’d need a blowtorch to shift them, Hughes is proud of what she achieved – she didn’t win, of course, but made a dent, increasing the turnout of Labor voters by roughly fifty percent, and capturing close to 20% of the primary vote.
For any other seat, that mightn’t seem like much, but for New England, it’s almost seismic.
“I was pretty pleased with that,” Hughes says.
“Many, many years ago, Labor had a higher standing in New England but it had dropped down, so I felt like I was really happy with that achievement.”
Hughes grew up in Newcastle, the daughter of a single mother, who, like Laura herself, was a teacher.
“Her name’s Alison, she’s nearly 85, still alive, and I learned how to be a teacher as much from her as from university”
But Hughes took a small detour before joining the classroom.
“Mum’s marriage had ended, and it was a bit tough,” Hughes says.
“We didn’t have much money. I have a twin brother and I have a sister who was a year above us, so three of us finished high school in two years – poor mum!”
“So mum said to me, ‘Oh, there’s a test, if you come first in this test, you can get a scholarship and go to business college’.”
“And I came first, I went to business college, I learned how to do shorthand and typing and bookkeeping and all that sort of stuff, which actually has stood me in good stead over the years.”
Hughes studied early childhood education at university in the 1980s – “a long time ago, I’ll admit” – when early childhood education was still a relatively new field. She attended the University of Newcastle, where she won the Ellen Rose Memorial Award, named after a former student who had been tragically killed on her first day as a teacher.
“Her family decided to create this award for anyone who was an advocate.”
“I was telling my Auntie Nancye, and she became quite distressed.”
“She said ‘I went to university to be a teacher, I went as a mum, I had two small children, and Ellen Rose was my best friend at university. And I remember the day she died, and I went to her funeral. Laura, this is an amazing connection’.”
“Our family is full of teachers,” Hughes says, “amazing teachers, amazing educators.”
For Hughes, it was her time in the student union, representing her fellow students to the faculty and administration where she got her taste for politics, like so many others.
“I was an advocate for the student body, and interacted with the faculty and spoke up about things.”
Hughes followed her former husband across the Range to Tamworth, supporting him, raising their four children, and ran her husband’s medical practice. After that, she returned to teaching at a local primary school in Tamworth.
“I learned the importance of connecting with children, I learned the importance of being well-prepared in the classroom, I learnt the importance of recognising that every child is different, what they bring to the classroom is different.
Between her job and campaigning, Hughes volunteers as a breastfeeding counsellor, something she’s done for over thirty years, and still volunteers for the National Breastfeeding Helpline – something Hughes is keen to point out was a Labor initiative.
“Years ago, Nicola Roxon was our Health Minister under Julia Gillard, and she approved a National Breastfeeding Helpline – we’d asked for a number of years, we’d asked the Coalition before that, but it was Labor who signed the contract.”
“I did a shift last week – we answer about 60,000 calls a year,” she said.
“People say to me ‘Why are you doing this? You’re all right, your children are grown ups. Why would you do this?’ And I say, because mothers still need help, and I have the skill set.”
Coming into politics after already living a life outside of it is something that Hughes thinks will resonate with the voters.
“A lot of people know me, have some sort of connection with me,” Hughes says.
“I think people recognise that I’m genuine – I’m just an ordinary, everyday person.
“I’m not a pollie, I’m not angling for something further up the ladder – I’m interested in being the Member for New England, and representing people who live here.”
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