KERRYN WINS

OUR AUSTRALIAN WOMEN’S WEEKLY

health expert, Professor Kerryn Phelps, has run as an independent candidate in the seat left vacant by former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in a local by-election. In a short period of time she secured an historic swing away from the government – she’s the first non-Liberal since 1944 to hold the Wentworth office. “Before I even thought about doing it, I had people stopping me in the street asking me if I’d run because they were looking for an alternative,” Kerryn says. One issue that came up constantly during the campaign was climate change, she says. Rescuing children and families trapped on Nauru is top of her agenda. “It’s such an important first order issue.”