By Jorian Gardner
VICKI Dunne has not always been a Liberal. The MLA for Ginninderra and shadow minister for family and community services, environment, women and education says she came to politics gradually.
“I came from quite a Labor household – I even voted Labor in 1975, then I sat there on the night watching the results come in thinking ‘how could I get that so wrong?’” says Dunne.
“I mean, my parents are proud of me being elected and things like that, but it would be more of a joy to them I think if I wasn’t a member of the Liberal Party!
“I love being in the Liberal Party: In our party room there is robust discussion and we are free to disagree with each other when we need to.”
Well, she can’t have loved the robust freedom of the last six months, watching (and participating) as her party underwent massive change, getting a new leadership team and expelling one of her closest colleagues and allies, the now-independent Richard Mulcahy, from the Liberal parliamentary party.
“It was a dreadful time,” she says. “We did the right thing, though, when it came to Richard, and I think it became a catalyst. It made us sit back and think ‘what else do we have to do?’ and we realised needed to look at [leadership] alternatives. 
“That ended up being Zed and the fantastic team we have now. Personally, it was all done with a great deal of regret as I have a great regard for his [Richard Mulcahy’s] capacity – but the time came and we had nowhere else to go.”
Its lead ACT Liberals into a new, hopeful period, Dunne says, a hope that will lead them to victory at the next election. And with that sniff of hope, even Dunne is talking about what might happen if the Liberals take office.
“I want to be a minister, of course,” says Dunne.  “And I don’t just want to be like some people who see it as a path to the comfortable enclave of the Speaker’s office, I want to be a government minister to make a difference.”
But getting there won’t be easy and certainly not for Dunne, who faces her third election, not always an easy one in this system, she notes – ashen faced, with less hope than she had a few moments before.
“This is about the best job that I have ever had,” she suddenly beams, snapping back into her most-optimistic tone.
“It’s immensely rewarding in so many different ways… but it can be a bit scary, your time is not always your own. I mean, you can’t just run down to the shops in your tracki-daks – or, at least, I don’t think I can – perhaps Bill Stefaniak can. That’s the appealing thing about Bill, people look at him and say ‘he’s just one of us’ – but I can’t go out without putting on my make-up and getting dressed. But I do love it.
“I think we do need more MLA’s, however,” she says. “I have a friend who is a State member in SA, and he has a cute little electorate of about 20,000 – I mean there are over 100,000 electors in Belconnen… it’s a big job.
“I think we do need more members, but only a modest increase to, say, what has been recommended and talked about before and that’s 21”.
Dunne says that when she is not working – “which I do ALL the time!” she enjoys presenting at Radio for the Print Handicapped, spending time with her large family, reading, and “trying to avoid doing the housework!”
The upcoming election and the months before, she says, may be hard work, but she wouldn’t swap her experiences for anything and the “fun” of October is approaching fast. 
However, the ashen-face appears again as she contemplates her longer-term future, as if to indicate how serious she is taking what’s about to come.
“There are many ways you can renew yourself, and sometimes the electorate can be really tough,” says Dunne. “As I said before, a third-term election is really precarious for me and I can’t take it for granted.  In the ACT, there are no safe seats.”