Kristy McBain: With local communities
“We need to keep working so that every child grows up with the same opportunities and standing in our community”
Almost 100 years ago, Edith Cowan became the first woman elected to an Australian parliament, in March 1921.
In Her Seat is asking as many currently serving female politicians as we can how they view gender equality, politics and their impact.
This is a non-partisan project that is soliciting contributions from women in all parties, or none at all, in every parliament.
Kristy McBain is the Member for Eden-Monaro in the Federal Parliament, a position she won in a by-election in July 2020.
Kristy came to national attention during the summer bushfires across New South Wales in late-2019 — early-2020, as the Mayor of Bega Valley Shire.
Kristy had served in local government since 2012, and this has focused her on her community, both with the bushfires and the ongoing drought.
After growing up in the electorate, she went to Canberra to study law and quickly moved back when she could. She became a senior lawyer while serving on Council.
In a contested election with national focus, Kristy prevailed and now she is the first woman to serve as the Member for Eden-Monaro.
What does gender equality mean to you?
There is something about that question and the need to ask it that points to the work ahead — even in 2020.
Equality is not a privilege, it’s a right.
But we sadly see that right challenged in Australia every day — whether it’s the gender pay gap or the lack of gender balance in Parliament or our business community.
We need to keep working so that every child grows up with the same opportunities and standing in our community — the outcomes of each life shouldn’t be determined by gender.
We all benefit when both sexes stand on equal footing, side by side, and can contribute to society in an equal capacity. We will be a far richer nation for it.
When gender equality is the given, is the norm, is the day to day — when the need to ask this question disappears, we will have achieved gender equality.
Which female politicians have inspired or encouraged you?
In my First Speech, given just a few weeks ago, I singled out two incredibly special female politicians.
Julia Gillard — for being the first female Prime Minister.
For being the first woman to take on the job and disrupt the idea of who can be Prime Minister. I knew it was significant at the time, and I knew it even more standing in that vast chamber delivering my First Speech.
The former Prime Minister and I share a desire to stand up for what is right each and every time, a desire to bring the conversation back to the people we serve, and advance women in leadership.
The other I mentioned is a mentor who has always shown great faith in me and pushed me to do more and to be more — Kate Lundy.
Kate has been a terrific sounding board over the years, and I am lucky to call her a friend.
Looking around the chamber on that day I was proud to be part of the Australian Labor Party — a party that takes equal and diverse representation seriously.
We must continue to encourage more diversity to the party and parliament.
What inspired you to serve your community?
Fresh in my mind is the experience of last summer where the community in which I live, and others like it across Eden Monaro, were subject to the most intense and destructive bushfires ever experienced.
Standing with my community on those days of such distress and alarm, the importance of local leadership rang loudly.
Leadership that provides comfort and confidence and brings people together for a common goal.
People and places in Eden Monaro are hurting. Local communities are planning for renewal, they are seeing the opportunity that comes from adversity and wake each morning with a spark that inspires action.
I stand with those local leaders, ready to make sure the voices of our community are heard in Canberra.
What are the most important contributions you are making in Parliament?
It is very early days in my parliamentary career, October will only be my second sitting, but I am determined to do politics differently.
The partisan politics of the last decade or more just doesn’t cut it anymore, people want and expect their leaders to work together for the common good.
A reset button has been pushed by the horrific Black Summer bushfires — and I want to be part of a new style of leadership that respects different ideas and discussion, gives people a sense of fairness and creates a plan that we can all get behind.
We face many challenges and regional communities are at the coal face — the only way we will rise to those challenges is by working together — that’s what people expect.
What is next for gender equality in politics?
As frustrating and exhausting as 2020 may be for women and our quest for gender equality — we need to keep pushing, keep leading by example, and keep challenging the stereotypes that threaten to hold our daughters and grand-daughters back in the future.
Every generation of women has played their part in gender equality, things are changing, and this generation of women need to see it through and continue to be the change we want to see.
There is also a role for our men to play — the men of now.
They are our allies in this change, it will happen faster and be more effective if you play your part too.
In Her Seat interviews can be accessed here
