I’m a lawyer, communicator, cake maker and a believer that if you have the opportunity to make change, you have to take it. My family emigrated to Australia from apartheid South Africa in the 1980s and I was brought up on two fundamental truths – that democracy cannot be taken for granted and that I won the lottery of life to live in Australia. Those truths have driven my educational and career choices, to studying at Oxford to working in political communications in London and Washington, D.C, and Canberra, to leading communications for Australia’s Workplace Gender Equality Agency.
My reasons for job-sharing are different to Bronwen’s. Having worked in Federal Parliament, I know that it’s not a working environment that brings out the best in me. Politics can be aggressive, individualistic and unfriendly. But I also know that being a politician can be a way to drive real and lasting change for people. Working with Bronwen, I want to show that we can serve Victorians while working together in a supportive and collegiate way. I believe that the challenges we face are too important not to try!