IN HER first speech to the Australian Parliament on Tuesday this week, new Member for Monash, Mary Aldred, honoured the past, acknowledged the present and committed herself to a future.
Following in the footsteps of her late father, Ken Aldred, she said it was almost exactly 50 years since he gave his first address in Old Parliament House, after being elected in the post-dismissal period of December 1975.
“I am the 1246th Australian elected to this place since Federation. My dad, Ken Aldred, was the 660th.”
The influence of her school-teacher mother Margie, she said, was equally important, going on to pay tribute to her predecessor Russell Broadbent’s 34-year career in politics, supported by his wife Bronwyn.
“While we spent the last two years as opponents, the fact is that we were good friends for 20, and it was a privilege to support him over that time.”
For “my life’s greatest privilege to rise as the member for Monash”, Ms Aldred acknowledged the people of Gippsland.
“I know that I am visiting this place by the grace and goodwill of the people of Monash. Monash is part of the great Gippsland region, where Australia's richest soil meets sea adjoining the world's best beaches.
“In Monash, it's calloused hands and boots, not suits, that build national progress brick by brick. From dredge to boiler room, paddock to milking shed, harvester to timber yard, workshop to shopfront; I honour these great Australians. Our national success rides on their shoulders.”
She went further to say Victoria and Australia could not do without the people and industries of Monash
“Families and businesses depend on us to turn on the lights, run water through their taps and put food on the table,” she said.
And she thanked those who helped get her there by name, including the Honourable Alan Brown of Inverloch, the Cantwells of Korumburra, Cara Carter of Leongatha, who now works on her staff, former MPs Phillip Davis and Gary Blackwood, and local Liberal Party members including Jeremy Curtis.
Looking to the future, she said there were many local priorities but she only listed a few, chief among them being to deliver a new West Gippsland Regional Hospital for that fast-growing region.
The coastal erosion at Inverloch and Phillip Island was second on her list.
“During the last few years, I've worked with local communities in Inverloch and Phillip Island who are staring down the barrel of coastal inundation. They cannot afford to wait years for mitigation; their homes will disappear.
“They face a problem which many other coastal communities are grappling with, which is why I believe we need a national framework to address coastal inundation across Australia.”
And the poor state of infrastructure in regional areas, especially roads, got a big shout out.
“It's about levelling up opportunities for manufacturers and primary producers who depend on getting their products to market competitively.”
She also committed herself to improving the lot of service personnel and veterans.
“I'm not a veteran, but I am passionately committed to improving the lives of those who are. Local veterans, led by Bill and including Ben and Lindsay, Lyn, Bob and Christine, have taken the time to share their experiences with me, to my profound gratitude. We must properly address the care and sufficient repatriation to civilian life of those who sign up and are forever changed by that call to serve.”
Her free-flowing address, which featured the world-class attributes of Monash and its generous, hard-working people, and a promise to work every day to improve the lives of all in her electorate, Ms Aldred did not miss a beat even when a loud clatter arose from the Speaker’s Chair, of all places, as a stack of files hit the floor mid-sentence.
Delivered shortly after question time on Tuesday, July 29, when the House of Representatives traditionally empties following the main set piece of a sitting day, there were still eight Coalition frontbenches in attendance, including her Gippsland neighbour Darren Chester, the Shadow Minister for Veterans Affairs, Member for Casey to the west Aaron Violi, and 22 Coalition members.
There were also a dozen Labor MPs, who would have been gratified by the tribute she paid to the Hon. Martin Ferguson “for his ongoing commitment to the Gippsland region” and a couple of independents, one of whom, Dr Helen Haines, enveloped her in a warm embrace afterwards.
In the public gallery were family members, including her mother Margie Tudge, local Monash Liberal Party members, and a number of former MPs including former Senator for Victoria, Judith Troeth, who vividly remembered delivering her own maiden speech, on Wednesday, August 18, 1993.
A trailblazer for women in the parliament, Senator Troeth recognised the vital role played by women in rural Australia from the outset.
“I am also proud to represent rural women, a group of whom I have been part since my marriage to a farmer 27 years ago. Most rural women do not feature in employment statistics, yet many of them are among the hardest workers in this country. As the level of paid employment on farms has fallen, along with farm incomes, many women now work alongside their partners in the demanding physical work on the farm. This is often in addition to domestic work, volunteer community work, the office work of farm management and work in full-time or part-time employment off the farm to produce a second income.”
It was a theme that Ms Aldred also embraced saying that she initially left school at age 15 to work fulltime on the farm and while she later returned to complete her studies, she declared that she learned more about life carting hay in 40 degree heat, feeding out in the freezing rain and taking care of other chores around the farm and in the community than she did completing three degrees at uni.
She spoke about “Australia's greatest-ever citizen, General Sir John Monash”, the first person knighted on the battlefield, recording the role he played as the inaugural chairman of the SEC, in setting up the powerhouse of manufacturing in Victoria, going on to honour the Latrobe Valley power station workers and their families for the contribution they have made over many years.
And she painted a picture of surviving a tough election campaign, traversing the region in a minibus called ‘The Monash Express’ with her Jack Russell, Larry, riding shotgun.
It was a fine start to what could easily be a long career representing the people of Monash in the Federal Parliament and also advocating for the issues that arrive on a daily basis, something she has already proved capable of doing as founding CEO of the Committee for Gippsland.
At a reception for Ms Aldred in the Opposition Party Room afterwards, her leader Sussan Ley, who visited the Monash electorate regularly during the campaign, recognised Ms Aldred as an up and comer in Canberra.
Ms Aldred has already been appointed to several roles in the parliament including the following:
- Member of the Standing Committee on Appropriations and Administration
- Menber of the Standing Committee on Communications, the Arts and Sport
- Member of the Publications Committee
- Member of the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit
Ms Aldred concluded her remarks as follows:
“I recognise that each day I spend in this place is a day closer to when I will leave. I plan to make each day count by advancing the cause for which I am here, a passionate belief in the purpose and potential of the people of Monash. To my electorate, I asked for your trust and confidence. You have given me the opportunity of a lifetime. I will work my heart out for you. I thank the House.”
By delivering her first speech to parliament, Ms Aldred is now able to ask questions, participate in debate and speak on matters of importance to the people of South Gippsland, West Gippsland and Bass Coast.
