Candy Celeste Broad (born 4 January 1956) is an Australian politician. She has been a Labor Party member of the Victorian Legislative Council from September 1999 to May 2014, first representing the electorate of Melbourne North Province until 2006, and then as a Member for the Northern Victoria region.
After making a name for herself as the Assistant National Secretary of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), Broad moved into politics, contesting a safe Labor seat at the 1999 Victorian state election. She was immediately promoted into the ministry and served three years as Minister for Energy and Resources and Minister for Ports. After overseeing a range of changes in this area, she was promoted to Minister for Local Government and Housing after the 2002 election, but was unsuccessful in retaining a frontbench position following the 2006 Victorian State Election.
Beginnings
Broad was born in Perth, Western Australia, and studied commerce at the University of Western Australia. She graduated in 1978 and joined the Australian Labor Party the following year. After moving to Melbourne, Victoria in 1980, she worked as an administrator at the Labor Resource Centre—which specialised in industry and employment-related research—for several years. In 1986, she was appointed as a ministerial adviser, specialising in conservation for three years, before switching to education in 1989.
In 1991, Broad was promoted to Head of the Premier's Office under Joan Kirner. This tenure was to be short-lived, as the Kirner government was defeated the following year, but she re-emerged as the party's Assistant National Secretary in 1993. While in this position, she had considerable influence over the creation of federal ALP policy, and campaigned for the rights of women in the party. To this end, Broad played a significant role in the 1994 introduction of the ALP's affirmative action scheme, aiming to have women pre-selected in 35 percent of winnable seats. She was also heavily involved in the creation in 1996 of Emily's List Australia, the support network for ALP women.
In the months before the 1999 state election, Caroline Hogg, the sitting member for the very safe Labor Legislative Council seat of Melbourne North Province, announced that she would resign only halfway through her term. This meant that a by-election for her seat would be held alongside the regular election, and Broad won Labor pre-selection to fill the vacancy.
First term (1999–2002) The election saw Broad easily defeat her Liberal rival, and also saw the ALP, under new leader Steve Bracks, regain power after seven years. The widely unexpected victory meant that several first-time MPs were promoted to the ministry, and Broad was appointed Minister for Energy and Resources, Minister for Ports, and Minister Assisting the Minister for State and Regional Development. In this new portfolio, Broad was forced to deal with a number of major issues, particularly those surrounding the state's power supplies and natural resources.
One of Broad's first challenges as an incoming minister was to deal with the fate of the Snowy River, which had diminished to a trickle as a result of being dammed for various purposes. Though it had been an environmental issue for many years, it became of particular concern to the Bracks government, as the issue was central to the support of independent Craig Ingram, who they relied on to retain a majority in parliament. It fell to Broad, as the relevant minister, to handle negotiations on the issue with both the federal and New South Wales state governments. Despite the involvement of a number of conflicting interests, a major agreement was reached between the three parties in October 2000. This saw A$160 million put towards regenerating the river, with the intention of increasing its water flow to 28% of its original capacity.
Broad was also faced with the problem of balancing the need to promote environmentally sustainable sources of energy against the need to maintain a cheap and reliable electricity supply across the state. She publicly supported the Kyoto Protocol, and oversaw the introduction of the Victorian Greenhouse Strategy, which introduced a range of reforms, such as mandated five-star efficiency standards for new houses, and which, according to the government, would save "about five to eight million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year".