“The most effective inaugural speeches to a parliament provide insights into personality, background and political motivation,” writes political columnist MICHAEL MOORE. 

MINISTER Rebecca Vassarotti, and first-time Greens MLA, explained in a casual conversation that writing her inaugural speech was seriously challenging. 

This is because the most effective inaugural speeches to a parliament provide insights into personality, background and political motivation.

Having grown up in Canberra with a long family history in the region, on both the Italian and Irish sides, Rebecca saw herself as “privileged”. This was despite having five siblings “one income and high interest rates”. Her family fostered “hard work, community contribution, standing up for what is right, and not shying away from leadership” as well as “a sense of social justice and a passion for getting involved to make things better for individuals and the community as a whole”.

A “transformational” experience for Ms Vassarotti came as an ACT public servant when she was part of the first ACT inquiry into poverty. This was a joint inquiry between the government and the ACT Council of Social Service. Her description of how “immensely grateful I was able to contribute to a project that changed the face of our city’s understanding of poverty and disadvantage”, reveals as much about this new minister as about the inquiry.

Her reflections included sitting “with people as they shared their experiences about being poor in a city that did not acknowledge that there was much disadvantage at all. It also included working with service providers who were fighting to access the resources”.

Her move to director of the YWCA in Canberra was a life choice that provided insights into broader issues such as guardianship, mental health, gambling and failures in health care. She engaged with political representatives who “were not bad people, but that often they were totally disconnected from the reality of most people’s lives”. 

This was her political motivation, as “we needed people in public life who were connected to the communities they serve and had been exposed to the diversity of people’s experiences beyond the small circles that we usually travel in”. 

Her appeal to the Assembly, perhaps a little naively, was to act collaboratively to deal with all of the crises facing the people of the ACT. 

A similar stance was later reiterated by fellow Greens member Johnathan Davis, who proposed “an informal Brindabella caucus in this 10th Assembly – a non-partisan effort that sees all five of us working together and meeting regularly to discuss issues of concern to our constituents”. A reflection on Mr Davis’ speech will be a matter for a later column.

Greens Minister Emma Davidson began by acknowledging the contribution made by the same party MLAs of previous Assemblies. She also identified that the MLAs do not do this work alone and acknowledged success would not be achieved “without the work of committed staff and volunteers, especially Indra Esguerra, who has been a driving force within the ACT Greens since the very beginning”.

Talking about making Canberra a better place is not enough for Ms Davidson. The approach she will be taking also seeks collaboration. “What we do, that really matters. Words without action mean nothing. Where there is common ground between what our Greens team committed to during the election campaign and what my Assembly colleagues from other parties said they wanted for our city”.

Returning to the farm area where she was raised to reflect on her election, Ms Davidson shared her background and motivation from “working in the community on housing affordability, economic inequality, women’s health and ending violence against women. I have campaigned to protect green spaces and for public education and health care”. 

An even more interesting insight comes with: “I spent so many hours analysing data about economic inequality in Canberra, but when I look at the spreadsheets I do not see numbers. What I see are women working with no job security and for low pay in aged care, child care, disability care and the community sector”.

The inaugural speeches of our newest MLAs provide a clear insight into what is driving those we have elected. There are other newly elected MLAs and in later columns I will reflect on their first speeches.