McKay began her career as a journalist, eventually becoming a news anchor for NBN Television. She was among the first Australian news presenters to cover the September 11 attacks in the United States. She later entered the private sector in corporate communications and marketing. McKay also served on the Board of Hunter Medical Research Institute, the University of Newcastle Research Associates and Hunter Manufacturers' Association, prior to entering politics.
Political career
McKay was installed as Labor's candidate for Newcastle over the sitting member Bryce Gaudry, after PremierMorris Iemma intervened to ensure her selection. McKay had been lined up to become the Liberal Party candidate for Port Stephens. The subsequent election became a tight three-way contest between McKay, Gaudry, running as an independent, and the independent Newcastle Lord MayorJohn Tate, with McKay winning on Gaudry's preferences. In 2008, McKay was appointed to cabinet as the Minister for Tourism and Minister for the Hunter. She immediately distanced herself from the style of her predecessor Michael Costa, and committed to greater engagement with local government and community groups. Her appointment was welcomed by local tourism and business groups, including the Hunter Chamber of Commerce. McKay was also appointed as the Minister for Science and Medical Research, Minister assisting on Health, Minister for Commerce, Minister for Small Business, and Minister for Women. In 2011, McKay was re-installed by the party's national executive as the Labor candidate for Newcastle, although the likely winner of a rank and file pre-selection was Tim Crakanthorp. At the 2011 election, McKay recorded a 31.0% share of the primary vote, her Liberal opponent received 36.4%, Tate had 11.5% and the Greens 14.6%. On a two-party preferred basis that translated into 52.4% for the Liberal's Tim Owen and 47.6% for McKay. In April 2008, the NSW Greens were critical of McKay for failing to declare a political donation from a property developer group, Buildev, which was owned by Nathan Tinkler, to help pay for printing costs during her campaign. Buildev declared $50,000 in electoral donations to McKay, but McKay only declared a $1,000 donation from Buildev. At the time, Buildev was seeking support from the Minister for Planning, Frank Sartor, for a development at Medowie, near Newcastle Airport. McKay denied knowledge of the donation. The donation was made to Labor's New South Waleshead office. In light of the donation, McKay said she would refuse to meet the developer throughout her tenure as a member of parliament and as a minister. In 2014, McKay gave evidence before the Independent Commission Against Corruption that she was asked to accept an alleged bribe and reported the matter to the NSW Police, the ICAC and the Election Funding Authority. McKay told the Independent Commission Against Corruption that Tinkler had offered to bankroll her 2011 election campaign, in exchange for her support of $1 billion coal loader project. Ms McKay gave evidence that she reported Mr Tinkler's alleged bribe offer to police, ICAC, the Electoral Commission and the Electoral Funding Authority. McKay told him she could not accept his money because he was a banned donor. The ICAC inquiry revealed that after McKay knocked back the alleged bribe, Tinkler's Buildev company, her colleague and senior Labor MP Joe Tripodi, and former Labor staffer Ann Wills, were involved in a pamphlet smear campaign that she believed contributed to her election loss. McKay was in tears in the ICAC witness box as confirmation of what she had long suspected came to light—"they couldn't control me and they didn't want me in the seat."
Career during political hiatus
After her election defeat, McKay held an executive role with Family Planning NSW and was a non-executive director of both Australian Science Innovations and Epilepsy Action Australia. After the first ICAC hearing, McKay said she would never return to politics. However, in October 2014, McKay was installed as the Labor candidate for the seat of Strathfield for the next state election and, following her endorsement, was quoted a saying that she realised "if you want change, it has to come from within". John Faker, the likely winner of a rank and file pre-selection vote, hit out at the "faceless men" who had installed McKay as the candidate. In January 2015, although she was not a member of Parliament, Leader of the Opposition Luke Foley appointed McKay to the shadow ministry as opposition planning spokeswoman.
Return to politics
At the 2015 state election, McKay was elected as the member for Strathfield, with an 8.2% swing to Labor. In April 2015, she was appointed as the Shadow Minister for Police and Roads, Maritime and Freight. In 2016, she was promoted to Shadow Minister for Transport and Shadow Minister for Roads, Maritime and Freight. In 2017, she was preselected again as the Labor candidate for Strathfield for the 2019 state election, winning the seat with 55.1% on a two-party-preferred basis.
Leader of the Opposition
Following Labor's defeat in the 2019 election, the party leader, Michael Daley, resigned, and McKay expressed interest in running for the leadership. A leadership election was held in June 2019, and McKay was elected as the leader of the NSW Labor Party, defeating Kogarah MP Chris Minns, winning 58.0% of the Labor caucus vote, and 63.0% of rank and file party membership vote. She thereby became the 39th NSW Leader of the Opposition. It was the first time that the premier and opposition leader in New South Wales were both women. McKay revealed her shadow ministry on 3 July 2019.
