By KATRINA BRANDON
LEADERSHIP often comes from unexpected places.
After years on Latrobe City Council, fighting to change legislation for firefighters health, and volunteering her time at Morwell Neighbourhood House, Tracie Lund is heading for a leadership position with more punch.
Ms Lund officially launched her campaign as the Labor candidate for Morwell last week.
Close to 100 people attended last Wednesday night’s event at MOMO Traralgon.
The theme of the night was ‘Leading with heart’.
Every good event has a good moderator and emcee, and for the campaign launch, it was Gippsland Climate Change Network Chief Executive, Darren McCubbin.
“(Tonight) we’re going to hear some stories; the good bits, the hard bits, what makes people step up, what keeps them going, and perhaps half of the topics that communities don’t talk about,” he said.
“Tracie’s story didn’t start with politics. For more than a decade, she has been right in the thick of the community, working alongside people, listening, asking the hard questions, and often challenging the way things have always been done.
“Her own experience has shaped that influence, chasing … what it feels like to experience disadvantage and to feel like you don’t have any power, and that has driven a previous belief that people deserve to be heard, treated with dignity and included in the decisions that affect their lives.”
Mr McCubbin went on to talk about Ms Lund’s advocacy following the death of her husband, Simon. Mr Lund died from esophageal cancer caused by occupational exposure while working with the CFA. Tracie and Simon fought for change to presumptive rights legislation, which would see all frontline workers, regardless of job title, given the same compensation rights.
Ms Lund has continued that fight, and said it inspired part of her decision to run in this election.
As her late husband would say whenever she was in doubt as to whether or not she could do something: “Of course you bloody can!”.
“Leadership often comes from unexpected places,” she said.
“It doesn’t always come from the person with the loudest voice. We never set out to become leaders; we never think we’re anything particularly special, but we’ve seen something that needed to be done, someone who needed support, something that wasn’t shared, or something in our community that needed someone to step up.”
During her speech, Ms Lund said she stands for a safe and secure community; women’s health; pride in locals (such as the LGBTQIA+ community); investment in Latrobe healthcare, energy, transportation, SEC and housing supply.
Mr McCubbin recalled a story of Ms Lund going out of her way to help someone in need, providing them with support from the local foodbank and Morwell Neighbourhood House.
Special guests at the campaign launch included retiring Labor Member for Eastern Victoria, Harriet Shing, and fellow upper house MP, Member for Northern Metropolitan, Sheena Watt.
Ms Shing spoke about creating space for women in leadership, and shared her experience as the first upper house woman of Chinese-Australian descent.
Other guests were EMILY’s List Australia Chief Executive, Pamela Anderson, United Muslim Sisters of Latrobe Valley President Afra Khan, and local OAM recipient Maree McPherson, who dedicated her life to supporting women in Gippsland.
Ms Shing, the Member for Eastern Victoria, is stepping down after 12 years in parliament.
Speaking on leadership, Ms Shing spoke about creating space for women in leadership, and shared her experience as the first upper house Victorian politicians of Chinese-Australian descent, and the first openly lesbian member of state parliament.
With parliament moving toward a more diverse cabinet, she said that a push had to come to make things more inclusive, not just for herself, but for other women to step up in years to come.
The push for inclusiveness wasn’t just about facilities appropriate for all genders, but also about the language used. She highlighted that women are often called hysterical, and joked that she would occasionally turn it around by calling men hysterical too (respectfully), making a broader point about inclusive leadership.
Ms Shing also talked about the multiculturalism part of her experience, where people label migration as “good” or “bad” migrants.
“I think that the question of migration is something that is being weaponised to talk about a fundamental shortfall and an unmet demand in services and in housing and in access to intergenerational wealth,” Ms Shing said.
“You look at the recent reports on forecast growth to the population by the 2040s. Without migration, our population will be going backwards, and the aging population and demographic means that we actually need people in those sectors to be working to provide everything from healthcare to education, early childcare, aged care.”
Ms Shing highlighted the need to open up the conversation on migration inclusiveness and breaking stereotypes about migrants.
Ms Lund noted conversations on mental health and supporting others also needs to be brought forward, as the cost-of-living gets increasingly difficult, and to break other stereotypes such as those on welfare gambling money away. She said that rather than let assumptions grow, lending a hand or offering support would be more productive.
Ms Shing talked about her time in office and her experience as someone who grew up in Warragul and overcame challenges from life to her career.
When she was elected in 2014, she said she deliberately chose to have her office in Morwell, because she felt there was a distinct leadership absence.
She recalled walking down the streets in 2014, when smoke from the Hazelwood mine fire settled over Morwell. She said people could only walk 15 minutes without getting headaches from the smoke, so they stopped at local businesses for a break. She said the Liberal government at the time responded by telling the community to go to a holiday house elsewhere rather than fix the immediate problem.
And that was when the Latrobe Valley Health Innovation Zone was declared, bringing funding and health policies to the area, which later led to the creation of Latrobe Health Assembly.
Fellow upper house MP, Sheena Watt was also present at Ms Lund’s campaign launch.
As an Aboriginal Australian in parliament, Ms Watt said leadership meant letting people know you’re in the room and making sure your voice is heard, which can help make a difference. Growing up disadvantaged, she found that speaking up at school helped her push her way into different opportunities.
EMILY’s List Australia Chief Executive, Pamela Anderson, shared part of the panel discussion with the MPs.
Ms Anderson’s main message for the night is that leadership isn’t just about holding a position, but showing up and making room for others.
Ms Anderson highlighted her connection to the Gippsland area, mentioning her father was born in Orbost, and her nanna gave birth to her children at Lake Tyers.
She also highlighted that she only wanted to talk about one thing: women supporting women.
“That’s what leadership is really about for us,” Ms Anderson said.
“It’s not just telling women that they can do something, but it’s actually standing beside them, picking up the phone, supporting them, making a call, giving them an opportunity, and sometimes it is simply saying, ‘I believe in you’.”
Ms Anderson said that just by supporting someone is how you can create change.
Looking at women supporting women, Ms Anderson told a story about the Victorian Labor Movement and the Victorian Women’s Policy Committee, which looked around Parliament almost 30 years ago at a chamber filled with only male voices.
She also mentioned Leonie Morgan, a passionate advocate for equal representation of women in political decision-making, and said changes were needed. She also mentioned a few who believed in her vision and helped create Emily’s List Australia.
“They understood something really important: getting women elected wasn’t just about changing the rules; it was also about changing the culture,” Ms Anderson said.
“Emily List has supported more than 700 Labor women candidates, with 380 having been through federal parliament – 380 women supporting women.”
Because of Emily’s List Australia, Ms Anderson said women’s voices have been heard more and more on women’s health and gender-related issues than ever before.
Linking in leadership in supporting others, she highlighted that good leadership can change multiple generations. Leadership doesn’t stop with the person who leads; it continues to flow on.
“Leadership is about leaving the community a little better than how you found it,” Ms Anderson said.
“It is about giving something of yourself to make the life of someone else better.
“Don’t underestimate the importance of putting your hand up. You might think you’re just putting your hand up, but you don’t know who’s watching. You don’t know a young woman may be looking at you thinking, ‘maybe I can do that too’.”
Local leaders Arfa Sarfaraz Khan and Maree McPherson OAM also spoke.
Ms Khan’s touched on her move from Pakistan to the Latrobe Valley, leading local multicultural events and groups.
Ms McPherson (from Traralgon) has spent 40 years connecting with the local community as a coach, leadership advisor and author.
