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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-11-16 Daily Xml
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Local Government Elections

Ms CLANCY (Elder) (15:18): On the weekend, we saw the results of local government elections roll in. I want to congratulate everyone who has been elected, but especially those in the cities of Marion, Mitcham and Unley in my electorate.

Not too far from my patch is what used to be known as the City of Brighton. In 1919, Grace Benny was elected to Brighton council, becoming the first woman to be elected as a councillor in South Australia, and there is another trailblazing woman who was elected to the Brighton council some 70 or so years later, who is particularly close to me—my mum.

My mum has been in local government for as long as I can remember. On more than one occasion, when dropping me off to Somerton Park kindy in the early nineties, my dad, Tony, who is here in the gallery today, sidled up to another parent and asked if they felt like doing some letterboxing for his wife who was running for council. This was a bold move that, combined with a lot of letterboxing by him and doorknocking by mum, led to my mum, Rosemary Clancy, being elected as a councillor for the City of Brighton.

Mum served as a councillor and then Mayor of the City of Brighton. It was during her time as mayor that I remember spending a lot of time at the Brighton library and the town hall, attending citizenship ceremonies in the mayor's parlour and waiting, not so patiently, in her office during meetings. It was during those meetings that I was able to see my mum's commitment to helping others and I was able to get my hands on the soft drink and chips that were not available at home—so it was not all that bad.

It is now funny to think that I am giving a similar experience to my little one. Even as a two year old, she has been able to sit quietly in meetings and community forums and now she considers her friendship group to include people like the member for Reynell, the member for Badcoe, the Premier—and the Premier always gets referred to by his full name, for some reason—as well as the Attorney-General, her friend who works in the other place or, as she refers to it, the red room. Being exposed to community work and service early on in my life clearly had an effect on me and I am sure it will have some kind of effect on 'T', though at five years old she has already made it very clear she has no interest in being a politician; she wishes to be a surgery doctor.

Mum was mayor until 1997, when the City of Brighton amalgamated with the City of Glenelg to form what we now know as the City of Holdfast Bay. My mum was very supportive of this amalgamation, suggested by the state government, and she knew it was the right thing to do for the community. Others in a similar position may have pushed back on such a change, trying to hold on to something for their own gain, but that was never an option for Rosemary Clancy; she was always going to put her community first.

For more than 30 years, she has been serving her community as a member of these councils. When I ran for the federal seat of Boothby, I regularly had people telling me, when I knocked on their door, how my mum had helped them in the past. Our home telephone number was available to everyone for my whole life and people were regularly calling to ask for assistance, which was always given except when I was too young to correctly take down details and was a bad phone message taker.

Along with constituent work, my mum has always fought for green spaces. She fought to stop the sale of Bowker Street oval and to maintain open space at Mawson Oval and Seaforth Park. She also fought for the Brighton pump track, which is enjoyed now by so many members of the community, providing a place for people, particularly young people, to connect and be active.

After a huge storm in 1994, which had waves literally washing across the Esplanade and which took down the Brighton jetty, my mum was mayor as the new jetty was constructed. A friend of ours, Shelley, was once walking past the new jetty where there is a big rock with a plaque on it which says, 'Opened by Rosemary Clancy', and her little girl, Maddie, walked past at the time and said, 'Why didn't you tell me?' Her mum said, 'What?' She said, 'Why didn't you tell me Rosie died?' It is not a gravestone: it is to mark the opening of the new jetty back in 1997.

I am very proud of you, mamma bear, and I know not choosing to run for council this time around would have been tough. Thank you for all you have done for our community. It has been an incredible effort and you deserve to take some time now to relax. Thank you.

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