My Dad’s family moved to a pineapple farm in Caboolture in the 1950s when he was just a few years old, to provide a good life for their family.
My Dad was a small business owner and I grew up working in his small business, including while studying at university.
I saw first-hand the long hours and hard work that goes into being a small business owner.
My Mum’s family moved to the outer northern suburbs of Brisbane when she was a girl. There, they could afford to buy a home with the help of a loan provided to her father as a World War II ex-serviceman.
My Mum put herself through university by working at the Golden Circle Cannery.
She had three kids within four years, and then went back to uni when I was at primary school to get her teaching qualification.
I can remember seeing my Mum study at home and I attended some of the night lectures with her. I saw in her what hard work could achieve, and the opportunities provided by education.
My Mum became a teacher at TAFE, teaching economics and accounting.
I was born into a middle-class family, with loving and supportive parents, and opportunities of education.
Growing up, I could see that others in our community weren’t so lucky.
I knew then that I wanted to help those less fortunate to have the same opportunities that I had been lucky enough to receive.
I was also influenced by seeing how my Mum had been treated. She had been bullied at work, and I helped her in her bullying claim.
I saw first-hand how people in positions of power can abuse that power to hurt others, and I knew then that I wanted to stand up and fight for people in vulnerable situations.
So I joined the Labor Party in 2004 when I was 21 years old because it had the same values that I stood for – fighting injustice and providing a better life for working families and those less fortunate.
I’ve now been a member of the Labor Party for two decades.
The importance of public service was also instilled into my older sister and younger brother, who both became doctors and work in public hospitals.
I’ve always been passionate about making sure that everyone in our community has access to world-class health services – when and where they need them.
My working life has been focused on health and economics policy – making sure that government does its job and invests in the services and infrastructure our community relies on.
I graduated from the University of Queensland with a Bachelor of Commerce, Bachelor of Laws with Honours and a Master of Economics.
I worked with then Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan when he saved Australia from recession during the global financial crisis.
The Rudd Government took decisive action to protect jobs, livelihoods and the economy. Because that’s what Labor Governments do – keep people safe and protect our most vulnerable.
During my 5½ years working for Treasurer Wayne Swan, I helped deliver five Budgets.
These Budgets introduced important reforms like the National Disability Insurance Scheme and record increases in funding for hospitals and schools.
When Annastacia Palaszczuk proved the political commentators wrong and beat Campbell Newman in 2015, I put up my hand to help rebuild the state.
I worked as a Senior Policy Advisor for then Health Minister Cameron Dick.
It was Labor who had to rebuild our frontline after the LNP sacked 14,000 public servants, including 4,400 health workers.
We also had to fight the Federal Coalition’s cuts to health funding, when Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey tried to cut more than $50 billion of hospital funding.
I worked with then Health Minister Steven Miles as he saved lives with the pandemic response.
When Scott Morrison was failing to do his job, the Palaszczuk Government was keeping Queenslanders safe from COVID.
My focus during my years as a Senior Policy Advisor to then Health Minister Steven Miles was building new and expanded health infrastructure and delivering health services closer to home.
I was instrumental in delivering the Satellite Hospitals program, and the planning for the largest hospital building program in Queensland’s history.
This included a $10 billion capital investment for three new hospitals, 11 major hospital expansions and a new Queensland Cancer Centre.
I put up my hand to be Labor’s candidate for the federal seat of Longman in 2021 because as a Caboolture local, I understand how important it is for our area to have a Labor Government and a strong local voice fighting for us in Canberra.
I’m proud that Labor’s commitments at the 2022 election are making a real difference in our community.
I fought for the funding to re-open the Morayfield Urgent Care Clinic. The Morayfield centre has already provided urgent care for 45,000 presentations in its first 15 months since re-opening. Labor has now rolled out this model nationwide with 87 Medicare Urgent Care Clinics.
Other local election commitments include:
I took time off work to campaign full-time for 11 months at the last federal election. I doorknocked thousands of homes and held 71 listening posts, 10 community BBQs and three health forums.
I spoke at community forums, did TV interviews, and participated in the Sky News debate against Terry Young.
We saw across Queensland that we didn’t get the results we were hoping for at the 2022 federal election, with the number of Labor-held seats in Queensland falling from 6 to 5, out of 30. I increased Labor’s vote in Longman from 46,512 to 50,706, reducing the margin from 3.28% to 3.08%.
Most recently, I was Chief of Staff to the Queensland Minister for Resources and Critical Minerals, highlighting the benefits of Queensland’s progressive coal royalties and making multinational mining companies pay their fair share.
Queensland’s critical minerals like copper, vanadium and tungsten will play a crucial role in reducing emissions – providing the necessary inputs to build the wind turbines, solar panels and storage batteries needed to decarbonise.
