Trish Cook: Bullwinkel MP uses first speech to honour ‘nursing hero'
In a historically-heavy speech to Parliament, Ms Cook — a former nurse herself — spoke of Lieutenant Colonel's incredible tale of survival in the 1942 Banka Island massacre.
She thanked Australia's military nurses and soldiers for their 'incredible sacrifices and services' to 'fight for democracy' Australia holds today.
Ms Cook said her aspirations to become a Federal MP came after watching the first term of the Albanese Government.
She said it had been solidified after the new seat was created in her Perth Hills area and when she heard it would be named after the 'nursing hero.'
'Suddenly, here was a brand new electorate of Bullwinkel, which encompassed my home of Darlington for 17 years and was named in honor of World War Two nursing hero, Lieutenant Colonel Vivian Bullwinkel,' she said.
'I took this optimistically as a sign of encouragement. I ignored my campaign naivety, threw my nurse's cap into the ring, and to my delight, the Labor Party embraced my candidacy.'
Prior to her candidacy, Ms Cook had been deputy Shire president of Mundaring.
In her address, Ms Cook spoke of her experience working as a nurse across remote and regional Western Australian and a stint in the Solomon Islands.
The fresh face said she wanted to fight for fairness, injustice and better health outcomes across her term.
'The professions of nursing and politics both require great commitment honesty and a great sense of wanting to help people and communities,' she said.
'As a federal Labor member, I pledge to care and advocate for the fair and equitable allocation of resources to target the social determinants of health, the factors which will improve life for those in Bullwinkel and for all Australians.'
Ms Cook also declared she wants to support Bullwinkel farmers in the wake of the live sheep export phase out, an issue which had caused her some controversy ahead of the May 3 poll.
Fifteen per cent of constituents in her electorate, stretching from Perth's metropolitan fringe out to the Wheatbelt, fall outside of the metropolitan region.
'The rural area of Bullwinkel consists of four historic Wheatbelt towns. As well as the townspeople, these rural communities include passionate farmers who produce our food and our agricultural exports,' she told Parliament.
'They see the ever changing impact of climate change, and while they have thankfully and recently got their barley markets back they are still transitioning to the ban on live sheep export by sea.'
Among those watching on was new State secretary Mark Reed in the gallery and former secretary Ellie Whiteaker on the outskirts of the chamber in her new role as WA senator.
WA Scarborough MP Stuart Aubrey and Nedlands MP Katrina Stratton were among her supporters also listening in.
After her address Ms Cook was embraced by several WA MPs, including Assistant Minister Patrick Gorman who had been her campaign director during the Federal Election.
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