Tuesday, 16 August 2022

Shirley Penny

Ms CUPPER (Mildura) (13:06): Mildura has lost a local icon in the late great Shirley Penny. She was a gracious, kind, smart woman with a passion for our community. Her style was inimitable, from her trademark updo to her pastel-coloured suits and her jaw-droppingly fabulous 1970s-era home decor. She was a firebrand of local government politics, making her mark as a councillor and mayor. We loved her stories of sister city trips, where the men would all scurry away for secret men’s business while she would do all the work of an international attaché, making connections, strengthening relationships and having the time of her life.

Shirley’s success was assisted by the enduring support of her husband, Bert. At a time when many husbands were actively embracing the perks of male privilege, Bert was not. For many children of the era, gender inequality permeated every aspect of home life, but to the Penny kids it was a completely foreign concept. Bert and Shirley were equal partners: they were equal in power inside the home, and they were equal in opportunity outside it. Against the prevailing cultural current of the mid-century, Bert respected Shirley, and against that same cultural current Shirley respected herself.

If you can see it, you can be it, and for many of the local women councillors and MPs that have followed Shirley Penny was what we saw. Her politics were more conservative than mine, causing one person to ask why I chose Shirley, of all people, to be my marriage celebrant. My reason was simple: she is a legend and an inspiration. Vale, Shirley. Your legacy will live on.