Inaugural speech of Tara Cheyne MLA

First, I’d like to offer my thanks to all my colleagues – many new themselves – for the warm welcome to the Assembly and especially to Assembly staff who have had no small task in literally accommodating us all.

I am proud to be joined by so many women on all sides of the Chamber in making up the first majority female parliament in Australia, but let me put on the record, Madam Speaker, how frustrated I am that it has not happened sooner in any parliament.

To my staff Josh, Minuri, Jemma and Jordan – thank you for your support in helping me start this new chapter of my journey. I also want to thank my partner, Hamish Hansford, for his support and love. It’s a lot of fun to go through life with you and you have witnessed and been there through all the good times and all the tough times that have led to this point. You know better than anyone what it takes.

Madam Speaker, I was born an only child to small business owners in Cairns in north Queensland. My mother Deb and my father Pete ran a successful restaurant in the 1980s. By the end of that decade they upended their lives and we moved to Toowoomba.

It’s no secret that as well as being my biggest supporter, my mother is my inspiration – through her example, I’ve never known anything else other than women can do anything. As I entered grade one, my mother – who had left school at 15 – started university as a mature age student while my father drove a taxi.

In the mid-1990s we moved to mining town Moura in Central Queensland followed by Dysart and Blackwater. As I grew up, my mother went from strength to strength, holding numerous significant leadership roles in a tough, male dominated industry.

I have unashamedly copied her in many areas – if she hadn’t done it before me I expect I may not have ever thought of going to university, getting an MBA and even learning shorthand.

Madam Speaker, one of our shared qualities is our determination and that will come as no surprise to anyone who saw her camped at the Belconnen prepoll every single day of the three weeks of voting this year.

For much of the time my mother worked, my father was a stay at home dad. This was especially unusual in a mining town, even in the 1990s. He remains the cleverest person I have ever known.

There was nothing he couldn’t do with his brain or with his hands. He created a voracious reader in me and we would go the local library together twice a week for years. As an only child he was often my only company and he was the best company. Throughout his life he was a great contributor to, and volunteer in, his communities and was the biggest fan of the two ambitious women in his life.

I am deeply sad that my father was not able to be part of the journey over the last year.

I grew up quickly in a Rockhampton boarding school where I made lasting friendships and was challenged by teachers who saw the potential in me and made it attractive to want to do my very best. A lot of people laugh at the cliché that school years are the best years of your life but mine were fantastic.

It was at university in Brisbane that two very important things happened. On our very first day, I met my best friend Jane Symonds. We’re now separated by distance but she continues to be one of the single greatest influences on my life with her friendship, intelligence and for simply being a remarkable human being.

The second is that I joined the Labor Party. I didn’t necessarily come from a Labor family but I was drawn to the values of justice, fairness and opportunity. In the year I joined, Labor was returned to power federally and Anna Bligh became the first female Premier in Queensland.

Madam Speaker, it was a big deal for me to accept a graduate job in Canberra in the Commonwealth public service and move here on 17 January 2008. With no friends or family south of the Queensland border, I knew no one, and had never actually stepped foot in Canberra before I moved here. I got over some of my initial nerves by convincing myself it wasn’t permanent and that I’d last about four years – the average time I’d spent living in every other place.

In the Attorney-General’s Department, I was lucky to have a varied career and was privileged to be mentored by some incredible individuals as well as to serve as a manager and a mentor myself. I’d like to make special mention to Rachael Jackson and Matt Hall, whose trust in me opened door after door for me, as well as David Fredericks and Robyn Kruk, two extraordinary leaders who instilled in me compassion and pragmatism.

Of the many jobs I had, none left a more lasting impression on me than my work in the Defence Abuse Response Taskforce. This important Taskforce was established in November 2012 to assist complainants who had suffered sexual abuse, physical abuse, sexual harassment and workplace harassment and bullying in Defence.

It was an honour and a privilege to undertake this meaningful work, the lessons of which will stay with me for the rest of my life.

But, Madam Speaker, while I led a fulfilling public service career with some amazing individuals, something else was happening to me. My friends said I was acting peculiarly. Having moved around so much growing up, I’d never really felt like I had a home town.

But moving to Belconnen had changed that.

I finally felt like I belonged. I didn’t just like where I lived. I loved it.

Madam Speaker, when you love something you want the very best for it and you want to share that love with others. Moving here, starting life here from somewhere else is a story shared by many Canberrans and I was happy to do my part to share my story and show people why I fell in love with my home. I created a blog called In The Taratory – a portmanteau of my first name and Territory. The blog serves as a record of the fun I’ve had in the capital but I know has inspired others to get to know their city better. I am proud and humbled by its reach and influence.

From there I joined the Belconnen Community Council and the Belconnen Arts Centre board – organisations that are committed to people. One of my proudest achievements as part of these organisations was encouraging as many people as possible to have their say on the Belconnen Town Centre Master Plan so that it best reflected community needs and desires.

Having achieved numerous community ambitions, I knew I wanted to and could do more for the city that had become my home. I knew the best way to make the biggest difference was here, in the Assembly.

I know that in addition to caring deeply about their electorate, members should be energetic and hard-working. That’s the kind of member I want to be and I knew I had those qualities to help me contribute in my way to developing a positive vision for this city, as part of a progressive Barr government.

Madam Speaker, I was also – and still am – inspired by those who sit beside me and those who came before me, but none more so than former MLA for Ginninderra Mary Porter. Mary set the standard for being an effective member and, I was determined that if I was lucky enough to be preselected as a candidate by my party, that I would attempt to do her enormous legacy justice.

I am indebted to the Belconnen Labor members who put their trust in me to be an effective candidate for the Labor Party. I committed to each of them that I would work my hardest to ensure that Labor would retain three seats in Ginninderra and I’m pleased to have done that. I offer them my sincere thanks and am grateful for their ongoing friendship and support.

My campaign was powered by people, ideas and conversations. This is significant because I ran my campaign in the way I wish to be an MLA.

I surrounded myself with a fantastic team. I wouldn’t be here if not for all the people who believed in me, who gave up their time to support and campaign with me – people who joined me before preselection, and well as those who literally joined me on the final day.

I regret that I can’t mention all the volunteers but I would like to make particular mention of Nicholas Argy, Damien Haas, Mark Nelson, Hamish, Greg Lloyd, Kim Angove and Deb. Each of these persons gave me their unconditional support. I also want to thank Elizabeth, Michael, Eleanor and Mary Porter for going on the record with their support.

My campaign, and Labor’s campaign, was marked by positive vision and I am proud to continue that in the Assembly. From innovative health services to an integrated, world class public transport system, there was and is an awful lot to talk about. But the people of Ginninderra had taught me local matters, too. It’s why I campaigned so hard for things like a bulky waste kerbside pickup service and green bins to households – policies that aren’t terribly sexy but will make a real difference to everyday Canberrans – and I am proud these are now Labor commitments.

We’re also a growing population and an ageing population. Like in the campaign, I look forward to participating in ideas debates to ensure we continue to invest in the right infrastructure to support us to ensure that we remain, and grow as, a community that’s connected both physically and socially. The completion of the Belconnen Arts Centre and the implementation of the Belconnen Town Centre Master Plan policies, as well as developments like at the University of Canberra and the West Belconnen site of Ginninderry are just a few examples of local opportunities to achieve this.

Madam Speaker, the most important part of my campaign – and now as an MLA – is the conversations.

Over the last year, I’ve had thousands of positive conversations. In the dead dark of winter I stood at Jamison shops. On days of wind and rain I knocked on doors. These were tough points throughout the campaign that I would ask myself, “What would Mary Porter do?” and the answer was always clear – get out there and keep talking to people, no matter what. I have the same attitude as an MLA. I’ve held five shopping centre stalls since my election and met with over a dozen local businesses – and I’m only just getting started.

I’ve always believed that we get the best outcomes for our community when our community’s voice is heard and I will be that voice. I am committed to being an MLA who is present, available and accessible. You can never over-explain something, especially when you have 54,000 people to reach.

In my role here I promise I will be curious and seek to understand before making myself understood. Much has been made of my social media presence and that presence will continue – it is our job as representatives to employ as many channels as possible to have conversations with as many people as possible.

Before I conclude, Madam Speaker, I’d like to acknowledge what a hardworking Labor team we have, and none moreso than in the Ginninderra Labor team. I give special mention to my colleagues Minister Berry and Minister Ramsay, but also Kim Fischer and former MLA and Minister Chris Bourke. Due to Hare-Clark and preference flows I have benefited from their hard work and I promise I will not forget that over the next four years.

Madam Speaker, politics is about people and I’ve mentioned a lot of people in this speech who have shaped who I am and have contributed to me being here. I’d like to finish by thanking the people who have had the greatest hand in that. That’s the people of Ginninderra.

Thank you for your trust in me, your support of me and for sharing your stories with me – now and in the future. Your stories have and will become part of me. Madam Speaker, by being elected I will be bringing their stories and their voice with me every day to this Assembly. It is an honour and a privilege to do that.

I am a long way from that daunting plane flight on 17 January 2008. It is enormously humbling to be a representative of the home I love so much, in the city I love so much.