Nedlands and Churchlands female MLAs lay bare their experiences over the past six months

From solving issues in the United Nations and now the ones in her backyard, Churchlands MLA Christine Tonkin has looked back on the six months after her surprising win in the traditional Liberal seat.

Ms Tonkin won by 408 votes over Liberal incumbent Sean L’Estrange, who held the seat since 2013, in March.

The Wembley resident said her decision to run for Parliament stemmed from being home-bound after decades of international work, including being recruited to the United Nations development program.

“I’ve been in Papua New Guinea working in government procurement for six months when COVID hit and I had to come back to Perth because a state of emergency was declared there,” she said.

“Wembley’s been my home base since 1987 but I was always coming and going.

“Being home for six months, I decided I really want to do something and I wanted to put my hand up to run.

“There were a whole lot of issues where I felt effectively disfranchised so I thought I better stand so I can represent the interests of people like me, and there’s lots of us, in this electorate.”

Ms Tonkin’s career in public procurement and reform was largely based internationally, with her last contract before the election being a project in Bangladesh.

“Much of my work over the past 25 years or so has been about public procurement reform. This work involves change management,” she said.

“It is the lessons from this experience that I draw upon most extensively in my work as an MP.”

She said her experience led to working groups being established to tackle issues on mental health, aging and the local wetlands and bushland.

“Prior to my election I listened to the members of my community and identified a number of priorities that I would pursue with their support and engagement,” she said.

“If there is a problem or issue to be addressed then identifying, gathering the perspectives and engaging with those with different perspectives on the nature of the problem or issue and its resolution is the best way to manage change.”

Ms Tonkin said she didn’t think anyone expected her to win until the margin was about 50 votes in her favour on the last days of counting.

“Nobody expected the Labor candidate for Churchlands to win, least of all the incumbent,” she said.

“It was a surprise for the Labor party, certainly, but now I need to work very, very hard to hold the seat.”

Ms Tonkin said her fate at the next election was “on her shoulders”.

“I turned 65 on the Monday after the election, so in theory I should have been retiring,” she said.

Another surprising win which emerged from the western suburbs was Nedlands MLA Katrina Stratton, who won the seat from Liberal incumbent Bill Marmion.

Mr Marmion held the once-safe Liberal seat since 2008.

“People are still on a weekly basis dropping on the office saying congratulations and they have lived in this electorate their whole lives and they never thought they’d have a Labor member,” Ms Stratton said.

“In the 2017 election there was a 10.7 per cent swing towards us and the demographics of the electorates have changed.

“I think to be fair this electorate was largely ignored prior to this, so that’s why our focus on community outreach and engagement is important.”

Ms Stratton said she definitely thought the seat was “winnable next time”.

“There is a changing demographic here,” she said.

“We knew the demographic of Nedlands had changed a lot over the past 10 years with a lot of families moving here so their children could go to Shenton College, so families wanting to access high quality public education and the sustainability and growth of those schools have been an issue that’s come up.”