Wednesday, 21 September 2022

 Ms CUPPER (Mildura) (09:58): Some girls rock the boat. I do it; it is in my nature, to my Mallee dad’s horror. From a young age I was cautioned against it. Obviously it backfired badly. I have rocked the boat this term, sometimes unwittingly by wearing black jeans in Parliament, and sometimes deliberately by continuing to wear black jeans in Parliament. Rocking the boat was Dad’s metaphor for disruption, and wearing black jeans in Parliament is mine. I am so fortunate in my life to be surrounded by women who have the guts, tenacity and wherewithal to wear black jeans in Parliament because this is the only way that change happens. It always starts there.

For me the essence of leadership is risk. Everything else is management. Kim O’Reilly wore black jeans in Parliament. She shone a light on the culture of toxic masculinity that enables and encourages gender inequality. She urged clubs to step up and own the problem, and she lobbied the government to support them. Fiona Patten wore black jeans in Parliament. She has been variously described as ‘Australia’s most effective legislator’ and ‘the hardest working member of the Victorian Parliament’. Her leadership has been transformative, and for the next couple of months she will be fighting on an additional front. As a patient, just as a parliamentarian, she will be a formidable fighter and without doubt also the best dressed.

I want to acknowledge all the Mallee girls back home who wear black jeans in Parliament, including rising stars like Ella Beard and Eva Berry, and I dedicate this, my last speech of the 59th Parliament, to Jude Cupper-Stevens, my mum, from whom I inherited the gene for black jeans.