I was raised by progressive thinkers, mostly around the Northern Rivers of NSW, as part of the wave of post-Aquarius Festival settlers to the Region. They talked about ideas and issues, they read (real) newspapers and watched ABC news every night. I also experienced poverty and it’s friends in my own life and in the lives of friends and family. I suppose most of the adults and role models I had were labor voters who cared about workers’ rights and quality of life, which for us included a strong relationship with the ocean, rivers and forests. I was explicitly taught all men are born equal (yep, it was the 70’s!). My family across the ditch were also a progressive influence, working in the Union movement.
My first several protests as a kid taught me ordinary people can use their strengths, or even just their presence with others, to call for change, and even make change. I absorbed the fact that some brought their music, some their bravery in direct action, some the power of the pen, others their science and, others still, their media skills and political faces and spaces. And then in my teens I was emersed in 80’s feminism and martial arts and had some great high school teachers and other mentors, so had the good fortune to learn more about injustice, inequality and how to take action. I reached adulthood with a strong sense that the global community had some big issues, and with big feelings and questions about the resources we rely on, the different life outcomes for girls and women and people living in poverty, animal rights and a really uncomfortable knowledge that what I knew about Aboriginal people and their place in this beautiful country didn’t add up.
When I turned 18 I remember my big brother sitting me down and talking me through the voting options, what the parties stood for and heading out to vote Democrat my first time.
I headed to Sydney and studied environmental biology. One of my classmates ran for The Greens and that was my first time handing out How to Vote information at an election. It was an eyeopener. After university, I ran away and joined the NSW government. My first job as a young scientist involved lots of travel around most of the State, sampling and studying rivers and other aquatic habitats, seeing an incredible diversity of environments and meeting so many people and the places they call home. It was a dream job, but based in Sydney. A few years in I moved back to the regions and spent most of the next 2 decades working around the mid north coast (mostly still on river management) and beginning to find my feet as a volunteer, including with The Greens, but only on election days.
The birth of my first child, at age 35, took me on different journey as we entered the world of disability. My daughter was born with cerebral palsy and supporting her to live a good life in a system not designed for her participation upskilled me beyond belief. Home with kids and interacting regularly with services and the health system, I began focussing on disability advocacy and community building, mostly locally. My children and I were in the stadium at Homebush when then Prime Minister Julia Guillard announced the National Disability Insurance Scheme. With my kids I also worked on community childcare, local food, refugee rights and various environmental and social issues.
I had local politics in the back of my mind for many years, something I thought I could contribute when I was old, older, wiser. So when I was headhunted to run as a second for Bellingen Shire Council, I entered politics proper. I saw the role of local councillor as way of building strong communities and improving the lives of the most vulnerable, as well as protecting our home, locally and globally. I have been a Greens Councillor now for almost 10 years and find the role one of the most rewarding and frustrating of my life. The highs include meeting people, usually either at their best or their worst, working with community and staff on real wins and progress, and being part of the broader green movement. I love being part of democracy and grassroots movements, collaboration, education, action, care. We are the humans who happen to be here at such a crucial time in history, an unprecedented time where futures hang in the balance, and the Greens give me the framework, the evidence, the support and camaraderie to keep me fighting for equality, justice, sustainability, peace and truth telling.
