I thank you and I thank my parliamentary colleagues on both sides of the house for welcoming me to this place. It is a place that I am still in awe of and will be for some time. As I begin, I would like to congratulate Joe Szakacs as the new member for Cheltenham and wish him well as we start this journey together.
The most important thing for me to do today is to express my absolute gratitude and appreciation that I am now the member for Enfield and part of this great place. So my first thankyou is to the people of Enfield for putting their trust and faith in me. I look forward to working with them to improve services to the communities that make up the electorate of Enfield. I thank those very diverse community members in Enfield for taking the time to discuss with me what is important to them, much of which aligns with the issues I will touch on today and which are also important to me.
There are many people who in many different ways contributed to my being here. Obviously, they are the people who assisted me in my campaign, but my journey started long before that fateful day of preselection on 14 December last year. I could not possibly mention everyone who has had an influence on me over my life, but there are key people and key experiences that have shaped me.
My parents and my brothers, Tony and Michael, and my sons, are at the core of that. My dad is no longer with us, and I am not entirely sure how he would have taken to my new occupation, but I hope he might have been a tiny bit proud that his daughter had the courage of her convictions and has been elected to this place in an attempt to make a difference. My family has taught me a lot, but perhaps the most important thing they have taught me is that no matter what gets thrown at you, you pick yourself up and dust yourself off and keep working hard for what you believe in.
I was not actually born when my family faced its toughest challenge. In 1974, like many others, they lost their home during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. They fled to become refugees. My brothers lost their toys; my parents lost their property and treasured possessions. Perhaps worst of all, by the time we made it to Adelaide we had left all our extended family behind which, for me, meant I did not know my grandparents and I did not have my cousins to play with.
But I did have parents who both worked incredibly hard seven days a week to rebuild by making a new beginning in a new country, my mother especially. Whenever I get tired and think I might need to cut back, I think of her and what she went through, working with my father in the factory all day and heading off to the Clipsal factory at night for a shift. All the while, there was a home-cooked meal and clean clothes for us for school. My mother is the reason I will never complain that I am too busy.
When we arrived in Adelaide in 1976, there was a new language to learn and a new city to become familiar with. I still wonder how scary that would have been for my parents when I was just a baby and for my brothers who were so young. What I find quite surreal is how I have gone from living in a shed in Enfield to being the member for Enfield.
Although we were warmly welcomed and supported by so many people in our new home, it was not universally the case, and I still feel it should have been. It is something that sits with me that I hope to be able to influence in some way; that is, how we as a society treat our new migrants, whether they be refugees or skilled migrants. We should cherish the richness of new cultures and give these families every opportunity to feel at home and succeed in this great state.
My schooling years were critical and, may I say, they were quite positive. For that, I will always be grateful. I was lucky enough to have teachers who encouraged me to do my best. Yes, I was a nerd, but perhaps in different circumstances I may not have been such a high academic achiever. I recall my year 7 teacher at Kilkenny Primary, Mrs Krashos, giving me a card at graduation which had red poppies on the front.
She wrote that she knew whatever I chose to do I would do well, but she also said something that stuck with me. She said to never let anyone cut a tall poppy down. We need teachers in our schools to do what Mrs Krashos did: to see the best in our children and to help them be the best they can be, no matter how much money their parents make or what suburb they live in. Again, that is something I hope to be able to influence, and I thank all my teachers from Kilkenny Primary School, St Aloysius College and St Peter's Girls.
I knew when I was five years old that I was going to be a lawyer. My career options were presented to me as medicine or law. I could not stand blood and guts, so I studied law and commerce at Flinders University, which gave me the best start I could have hoped for in my career progression. I must say that there was still a view then that being female, and being an ethnic female at that, would limit my career options. I believed that skill and ability would win out and, looking back now, I can say that it did, but I will come back to that issue.
Next month will mark 20 years since I was first admitted to the Supreme Court of South Australia. It has been an honour to be a member of a profession that does such good work protecting some of the most vulnerable members of our community, protecting the rule of law and promoting justice and equality. I thank my numerous colleagues and in particular those senior practitioners who mentored and guided me, and the newer practitioners who have allowed me the honour of mentoring them in the early stages of their careers. I also wish to acknowledge the privilege bestowed on me to hold leadership roles in the Law Society in recent years, and I know that the profession is in good hands.
For the past four years I have had the opportunity to run my own business. I often refer to NDA Law as my third baby. It has provided me with opportunities I never would have imagined and with challenges that many other small business owners face. I thank my staff for their loyalty, commitment and patience, especially Lisa Christo, Cara Grigg and Thea Birss, and of course our clients, but I thank three people who helped me to believe I could achieve success in this new business venture: Nick Bolkus, Iain Evans and Donny Walford, who volunteered on my advisory board when NDA commenced.
Watching any baby grow, one is filled with amazement and nervous anticipation. To all those incredible small businesses and family businesses who are the backbone of the South Australian economy, I want to acknowledge your hard work and bravery in doing what you do, just as my father did in starting his own business and I did in taking the opportunity to follow suit. It is critical to this state that all sides of politics do all that we can to support our strong economy for our businesses to thrive, for employment opportunities to grow and for the ability of government to make the best of that strong economy, to help those members of our society who need our support.
It was pointed out to me by a journalist on the day after the by-election that I am the first female member for Enfield and its predecessor, the seat of Ross Smith. I am grateful for that privilege but, in all honesty, it was not something that had occurred to me during the campaign. I am, however, grateful to be making this speech during the 125th anniversary year of the right to vote being given to women in this state.
South Australia was at the forefront of the suffragette movement and has led the way in many respects in gender equality. I myself have been inspired by some of the most influential women in this state, whether by a simple handshake with Dame Roma Mitchell when I was young, the leadership shown in two of my educational institutions by Sister Deidre Jordan, or a friendship formed with the Hon. Robyn Layton. These amongst many other brave and inspiring women have helped forge the path that I continue on proudly today.
To be inspiring and guiding, and providing opportunities to actively promote diversity in all its forms, is something that I believe we have a responsibility to do. For my part in the legal profession, it has involved demonstrating that systems and structures, and an accepted way of doing things, can and should be challenged to enable a more valued and valuable contribution for female participation. Do not be surprised if I throw up ideas to do the same here. My core beliefs come down to something very simple: fairness, opportunity and giving back—values at the core of the Australian Labor Party.
To the Hon. Paul Keating, who inspired me with his brilliant tax policies and who has the title of being the first person to make me cry on an election night; the South Australian branch of the ALP, Reggie Martin, Aemon Bourke and the team; Sonia Romeo, Josh Peak and other leaders of our great union movement; David Gray, Bob Harris and the Enfield sub-branch; Young Labor and the Labor Women's Network; every single person who gave up an hour of their precious time to volunteer in my campaign; each and every Labor parliamentarian, state and federal, who supported me through the campaign; and those who were friends well before that, in particular the Hon. Tom Koutsantonis: thank you.
To the person I could not possibly thank enough, James Agness, and to the incredible leadership team of Peter Malinauskas and Susan Close: thank you. I am truly excited to be joining the team, and I hope I can make a valuable contribution on behalf of the people of Enfield and the South Australian Labor Party. Peter, in particular, I thank you and your team for taking me under your wing. I also wish to thank two former members and our former leadership team, Jay Weatherill and John Rau, for their significant contributions to the state and to the party during their terms. In particular, I thank John Rau for his mentorship and guidance, and I thank him on behalf of the people of Enfield for his dedication to the electorate that I now have the privilege of serving.
Lastly, but always most importantly, my children, Sebastian and Charlie: I want you to know that you are and always will be the most important people in the world to me and that every decision I have ever made since the day I became a mother has been with the filter for doing what is best for you, including this decision to enter parliament. Although this decision may bring us some short-term challenges, I hope that it has longer term benefits in my being able to make a contribution to South Australia for a more tolerant society and a more giving society with better government services, a better health and education system and a stronger economy with job prospects for you, your cousins and your friends. Perhaps this is an extreme effort to keep you home in Adelaide when you grow up.
Sebastian and Charlie, if I can drill one thing into you it is to be grateful in life. Although you have already faced some difficult life experiences, you have also been incredibly privileged. Gratitude will help you both to live your lives with optimism, to grab on to every opportunity and take on every challenge head-on. It will make sure you never forget that there are people less privileged than you we have a duty to help. If I can teach you that, I have done something useful.
I end with a final expression of gratitude for being a mother and a daughter; a sister, an aunty and a friend; a student and a teacher; a worker and a boss; and now a parliamentarian in this great place. I hope I do not let anybody down.
