Lia Finocchiaro: Normalising women in leadership
“The more I helped, the more I wanted to help”
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.
Lia Finocchiaro is the Member for Spillett in the Northern Territory Parliament and Leader of the Opposition and Country Liberals.
Lia was born and raised in the Territory knew that service was going to be a part of her life from a young age, as a teenager she became the highest-ranking army cadet in the Northern Territory.
After studying in Adelaide, she returned to Darwin to be a lawyer.
Elected for her first term in 2012, Lia was the youngest Member in the history of the Northern Territory Parliament. Soon after this she was elevated to the ministry, and at age 28 was one of the youngest ministers in the country.
Despite a landslide facing the government, Lia faced only a small percentage swing against her.
After filling a series of shadow ministry roles, in early 2020 she became Leader of the Country Liberal Party and Leader of the Opposition.
What does gender equality mean to you?
For me, gender equality is about equal opportunity and reward for effort.
Which female politicians have inspired or encouraged you?
As a young girl I always admired Bronwyn Bishop as a trailblazer for women in politics.
Her legal background gave her a formidable political edge and I always admired the way she held her own.
What inspired you to serve your community?
I am a proud born and bred Territorian and come from a fiercely proud Territory family.
Being part of shaping the future of the very place that gave me so much growing up has always been important to me.
My legal career taught me technical and advocacy skills that helped me serve many community groups and the more I helped, the more I wanted to help. It became clear that becoming a Member of Parliament was the best way I could contribute to the Territory.
What are the most important contributions you are making in Parliament?
I take being a role model to other women, particularly young women, very seriously.
I want every Territory girl to know that I was just like them and that they too can be a future community leader.
My role as a local member allows me to support my community through a range of grassroots initiatives and as Leader of the Opposition I push the government to make better decisions for Territorians.
What is next for gender equality in politics?
In the Territory, women are well represented in our Parliament and political parties.
I’m proud of the contribution I have made to reforming our parliamentary rules to give greater procedural flexibility to breastfeeding mothers in Parliament, so that women who have their children whilst elected, like I did, don’t have to face the struggles that I did.
We need to continue to encourage our girls to aspire to leadership positions in both the public and private sector and set strong examples for them to pave their own way.
In Her Seat interviews can be accessed here
