AS an Independent MP, you do your best to build a constructive relationship with the Government of the day, because that is the easiest route to securing attention and investment for your electorate.
Ideally, you want to have the balance of power, because that gives you automatic and guaranteed leverage.
But that was not the case when I was elected. Far from having the balance of power, I was in a Legislative Assembly with a massive Labor Government majority.
They did not need my vote. So I needed to find leverage in other ways.
I would build relationships and goodwill. I would negotiate and compromise and accept reasonable concessions. But I would not beg.
As a proud Mallee girl and our first female MP – begging wasn’t an option. I refused to beg the Premier for anything.
Because, if there was one thing our region valued more than money, it was dignity.
Fortunately, for the most part, the Government has been willing to work respectfully and constructively with me.
As a result, I have been able to secure hundreds of millions of dollars more for this region in this term than my National Party predecessor was able to secure in the previous term.
But there have been times when the Government has given a flat “no” to requests that I believed were clearly and objectively reasonable.
It was in those moments I had a choice – to beg or to defy the Andrews Government.
My protest on the steps of Parliament was an act of defiance when it refused to fix the Robinvale-Sea Lake Road.
My brief Coalition with Fiona Patten was an act of defiance when I was told we wouldn’t get a Hospital Masterplan.
If the Government was counting on me being a surrogate Labor backbencher, it was mistaken.
I am a sixth generation Mallee girl. I will never abandon my home, my family or our community. We are Victorians too. Our dignity always comes first. I came to bargain, not beg.
