Kate Baillieu
Encyclopedia
Katharine Jean Baillieu is an Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n journalist who was born in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

 on 7 January 1946. She is the fourth of seven children of Darren and Diana Baillieu (née Knox).http://www.thepeerage.com/p6404.htm#i64038 http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,,24762011-2862,00.html She is a sister of Ted Baillieu
Ted Baillieu
Edward Norman "Ted" Baillieu MLA is an Australian politician. He is currently the Premier of Victoria and the member for the Legislative Assembly seat of Hawthorn...

, the present Premier of the State of Victoria.

Baillieu is a resident of Portsea, Victoria
Portsea, Victoria
Portsea is a resort town located across Port Phillip from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its Local Government Area is the Shire of Mornington Peninsula....

, one of Australia's most affluent suburbs, which in 2005 was reported to be "Victoria's wealthiest postcode area". In recent years, Baillieu has been Portsea anti-development activist fighting to protect the local Point Nepean area from further development.

Early life

Baillieu was educated at St Catherine's School, Toorak
St Catherine's School, Toorak
St Catherine's School is an independent, non-denominational, Christian day and boarding school for girls, located in Toorak, an inner south-eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia....

. She then became a journalist and later, a personal assistant
Personal assistant
A personal assistant or personal aide is someone who assists in daily business or personal tasks. It is common in design to have a PDA, or personal design assistant....

 to Kerry Packer
Kerry Packer
Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer, AC was an Australian media tycoon. The son of Sir Frank Packer and Gretel Bullmore, the Packer family company owned controlling interest in both the Nine television network and leading Australian publishing company Australian Consolidated Press, which were later...

. In 1977 Baillieu was awarded the Douglas Wilkie Medal
Douglas Wilkie Medal
The Douglas Wilkie Medal is an award presented to those who do the least for Australian rules football, in the best and fairest manner. An accolade presented by the Anti-Football League, it is named after Douglas Wilkie, a Sun News-Pictorial columnist who wrote for the paper during the years...

 by the Anti-Football League
Anti-Football League
The Anti-Football League is an Australian organisation that pokes fun at the obsession with Australian Rules Football. It was founded by Melbourne journalist Keith Dunstan in 1967...

. In an interview with The Australian
The Australian
The Australian is a broadsheet newspaper published in Australia from Monday to Saturday each week since 14 July 1964. The editor in chief is Chris Mitchell, the editor is Clive Mathieson and the 'editor-at-large' is Paul Kelly....

in February 2009, Baillieu revealed that she almost became a reporter for 60 Minutes
60 Minutes
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....

and said that after she resigned, her pioneering role as an investigative journalist into asbestos was "ever so delicately erased... they airbrushed me out".

Marriage and family

Baillieu married Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

n politician and businessman Julian Doyle
Julian Doyle
Julian John Doyle was an Australian lawyer, politician and civil servant. He served as a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly for the seat of Gisborne from 1967–1971.-Early life :...

 in October 1983. The marriage to Baillieu was Doyle's second marriage. They had one child together, a daughter, Amy, born in 1986.
Baillieu and Doyle had divorced some time prior to his death in 2007.

Baillieu is the older sister of Ted Baillieu
Ted Baillieu
Edward Norman "Ted" Baillieu MLA is an Australian politician. He is currently the Premier of Victoria and the member for the Legislative Assembly seat of Hawthorn...

 the Premier of Victoria.

Baillieu has refused to support her brother publicly and answered the question whether she congratulated him on his promotion to Victorian Liberal Party Leader with: "Has anyone congratulated him on being my brother?"

Public controversies

Baillieu has been involved in public controversies against development in and around Portsea. She has been described in the press as the "general for the old money
Old Money
Old money is "the inherited wealth of established upper-class families " or "a person, family, or lineage possessing inherited wealth." The term typically describes a class of the super-rich, who have been able to maintain their wealth across multiple generations.- United States :American locations...

 push" in "a struggle of old and new money" about development in the area. However, Baillieu has denied that her activism is intended to be elitist: "This is a neighbourly, peaceful place. Portsea
Portsea, Victoria
Portsea is a resort town located across Port Phillip from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its Local Government Area is the Shire of Mornington Peninsula....

 conjures up an image. But we are not exclusive. Anyone can come here."

David Deague

Baillieu unsuccessfully opposed development in Portsea by David Deague in the mid-1990s. Baillieu said of Deague: "I saw a lot of his great care and compassion for the landscape when he illegally demolished the house, destroyed the landscape and gardens and tore up the cliffside." http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/11/15/1037080914080.html

Lindsay Fox

Baillieu was described as a "dogged nemesis" of Lindsay Fox
Lindsay Fox
Lindsay Edward Fox AC is an Australian businessman. As of 2009, he was the 10th richest person in Australia, with a net worth of around 1.5 billion . He is best known as the founder and chairman of his family-owned trucking and logistics company, Linfox.- Early life :Lindsay Fox was brought up in...

 who is her Portsea neighbour. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/05/26/1053801337491.html However, Baillieu failed in a court bid to prevent him landing his helicopter at his Portsea house. During court proceedings Baillieu was forced to admit under cross examination that she had landed helicopters in Portsea when she was Kerry Packer's personal assistant. http://www.nepeanconservationgroup.org.au/news.htmhttp://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/07/03/1057179093100.html http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/04/03/1175366245583.html?from=top5

Point Nepean

In late 2002 and in 2003 it was reported that the Federal Government was considering selling or leasing part of Point Nepean and that David Deague and Lindsay Fox were among interested purchasers. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/05/30/1054177728796.html

Baillieu became an activist against the proposed redevelopment saying "We could end up with is one rich bloke building a couple of houses there. It will be a bloody tragedy, I can tell you" http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/06/01/1054406075917.html and "If this priceless heritage land falls into private hands there will undoubtedly be a local electoral backlash and I think it will be a matter of national shame, deep shame." http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/01/10/1073437512548.html

The sale of parts of Point Nepean was prevented by a very strong community campaign which eventually led to Point Nepean being declared a National Park and Heritage listed. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/12/18/1071337094546.html http://www.pointnepeantrust.org/modules/content/index.php?id=40http://www.greghunt.org/news/default.asp?action=article&ID=16
http://www.greghunt.org/news/default.asp?action=article&ID=31. In May 2010 it was announced that Point Nepean may get a luxury hotel. Greg Hunt
Greg Hunt
Gregory Andrew Hunt , an Australian politician, has been a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives since November 2001, representing the Division of Flinders, Victoria....

 said the cancellation of the coasts and climate centre, which was to be operated by the University of Melbourne, and the establishment of a commercial hotel or hostel on the site was a catastrophic outcome. http://www.theage.com.au/national/point-nepean-may-get-luxury-hotel-20100514-v4mq.html

Political ambitions

The Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...

reported in 2003 that Baillieu was considering entering politics as an independent. As yet, however, she has not made a run for public office.
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