INVOKING the sentiments of British wartime leader Winston Churchill, Ali Cupper says she’ll fight for the region – regardless of the battlefield.
Yet the venue for those fights could be key, as while the former State MP has announced she’s seeking a place in the next Mildura Rural City Council chamber, she’s also confirmed she’ll be running for Victorian Parliament again in 2026.
“I have a unique perspective, having been a councillor for six years and a State MP for four years,” Ms Cupper said.
“One of the things that really brought home to me is the power and importance of councils having an activist culture.
“Councils’ ability to provide services at a high standard, and to keep rates manageable, is largely dependent at what happens at State and Federal level.
“I’m wired to feel things quite deeply. Where some people might go ‘yeah, that kind of sucks because we’re isolated and we don’t get much’, my blood boils about that.
“The inequity makes me very, very angry and with that anger, in a very constructive way, I use that to fuel my political work.”
As the former Member for Mildura, Ms Cupper said she stands on her record of attracting State Government money to the region, despite a public spat with then-Premier Daniel Andrews.
“I am the poster girl for collaborative politics,” she said.
“Collaborative politics is how in a parliament for four years, where Labor had a crushing majority, they did not need my vote, and I had a Premier who was hostile towards me, but I was still able to, through the power of relationships and negotiation, secure for this electorate investment the likes of which had never been seen in living memory.”
She said if elected to council, “the only thing that could stop me from competing a full term of council would be if I’m re-elected to State (Parliament)”.
However there’s still a problem for Ms Cupper’s local government candidacy, she hasn’t yet decided which ward to stand in.
With a personal, professional, and political history in Mildura, combined with the municipality’s new nine-ward structure, Ms Cupper said she had connections to many places.
“I live in the Kings Billabong Ward,” she said.
“I do all of my supermarket shopping in Irymple, I use the post office at Nichols Point, my son and his friends are mainly in the Sunset Country Ward, I lived in the Nowingi Place Ward until I was five, I lived in the Karadoc Ward from five to 13.
“The fact a candidate wouldn’t stand in the ward they live is a symptom the ward boundaries that have been drawn so artificially.”
When it comes to the focus for her council campaign, it was back to the basics on local government issues for Ms Cupper with a Mildura twist – rates, roads and … rail.
“One of the things I worked hard on in my term as a state MP was structural rate reform,” she said.
“As a councillor I had so many experiences, including abuse on the streets, about how our rates were so disproportionately high in the Mallee and that it was a scandal, and I agreed with that.
“One of the things that is critical in the most isolated municipality in the state is to have connectivity.
“We are a big, isolated, sparsely populated municipality, we need good road funding. We need decent roads. It’s a matter of safety for our families and economics for our businesses.
“At the moment, we are the only major regional city in Victoria, possibly Australia, without a passenger train connection to its capital city, and that has a very real impact.
“Our quest to have passenger rail returned to the Mallee is entirely achievable if the political will is there.”
There’s one more key issue Ms Cupper is seeking to bring to the fore during her campaign and make a key project for the next term of Mildura council – the Kittyhawk Museum.
“It’s very important we understand our history, that we are inspired by it, and that we are motivated by it,” she said.
“Our contribution to the World War II effort was exceptional.
“It’s important to not only remind ourselves of those lessons of World War II but also for us to be a place for other people to come and learn and commemorate some of those amazing contributions.
“It’s not just about having a fun museum, it’s something that can really be another community of interest and be focal point for community spirit and pride.”
Since she lost the seat of Mildura at the 2022 State Election, Ms Cupper has returned to legal practice.
She established her own boutique firm that focuses on issues relating to child protection and family law, and with a history in the space before her time in the Victorian Legislative Assembly, it’s a work she says is rewarding.
“You’re working with people when they are at their most vulnerable, when literally the nucleus of their lives is imploding, and you can help them to rebuild something worthwhile and meaningful,” Ms Cupper said.
“In a very real way you improve the trajectory of people’s lives, especially children, who are always the most vulnerable.
“It’s one of my two passions: one being Mallee politics, and the other one being family law.
“The passion comes from the same place; being passionate about people having equality of access and quality of life, and I am genuinely passionate and driven by that.”
