It might’ve been an unexpected victory for Robyn Clarke, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have a plan.
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The newly installed Labor member for Murray-Wellington has promised to hit the ground running, pledging a number of called-for proposals and policy changes, including movement on a community-based rural fire service, within the year.
Ms Clarke, who was elected as the new member of the regional electorate after a surprise win against incumbent Liberal member Murray Cowper in March, said she has spent the time since building a new political foundation from scratch.
Now she has lined up a range of issues she hopes to tackle in her first time as an elected member, and they are all sure to be major challenges.
“When we came into the election, honestly, I wasn’t expected to win,” she said.
“The previous member was the favourite, like he had been at the previous elections. So there was very little money behind either major party in the electorate. My time since then has largely been spent communicating between the local communities and the party, and making sure I am secure in going ahead with the things I want to do.”
Ms Clarke came into the seat on a largely community-based, grassroots-driven platform, pledging to solve a range of endemic problems in the Murray-Wellington electorate, such as unemployment, a lack of infrastructure including mobile and internet service and health issues such as a lack of primary healthcare options and a growing obesity rate.
It’s a daring list of proposals from a first-time politician, but Ms Clarke has confidence she will have support from both the community of Murray-Wellington and state caucus.
“We had no money to campaign, so our campaign was making phone calls,” Ms Clarke said.
“We made 15,000 phone calls within the electorate in that time.
“Out of that, I heard the issues. Transport, jobs, fracking, the roads, the mining, the rural fire service.
“We found out pretty quickly that each town, each neighbourhood across the entire electorate had different issues. Transport was a major issue that was around most of the electorate.”
Ms Clarke said she was astonished by the lack of response shires, community groups and individual residents had received from the state political level.
“Now that I am elected, one of the things I've found astonishing was that there's been absolutely no contact with the school principals, or with the councils.
“Waroona Shire told me it took them 19 months for any action to be taken by the electorate's representative. That's simply not good enough."
Ms Clarke said building strong communication with the local community, namely with schools, shires and other local organisations was key to reversing these issues.
“I know from being a small business owner, and being involved in the electorate for a time through mine and my husband’s work, how important the local schools are in a community aspect, and how much support they need,” she said.
“We all know the state is broke, we’re borrowing money to pay mortgages on mortgages at this stage. But we need to work out solutions to issues facing the electorate.
“St Joseph’s [Primary School] and Pinjarra High School are both facing serious issues with overcrowding at the moment, on top of receiving very little funding. The school is in a situation, and has been for years, where they have to rent out the Murray Leisure Centre for assemblies. The students have to carry their chairs over before every assembly. These are issues we could fix if we were just to come together and agree on something.”
Ms Clarke is also hoping to extend her platform to identify and resolve Murray-Wellington’s health issues, with the labeling of Pinjarra as “Australia’s Fattest Town” and the apparent cancellation of the Mobile Health Service having a strong impact on the area’s identity.
Ms Clarke said she was prepared to tackle the issue with a range of programs aimed at raising fitness.
“We know that we have to start giving the right information in schools, because it’s in childhood that these bad habits form,” she said.
“And we need to increase people’s access to exercise. It’s simple, but it’s something that hasn’t really been put in place in Murray.
“We have plans to run fitness courses on Saturdays or Sundays. There’s a lot we can do, it just has to be put into motion.”
Ms Clarke’s electoral office is now open at Shop 1, Pinjarra Junction Shopping Centre.
The official opening of the office and smoking ceremony will be held on Sunday May 28 from 1.30pm. You can RSVP to the event form Ms Clarke’s Facebook event page.
