We did it Mackellar! Thank you!
It's official! At the end of last week, the Australian Electoral Commission held the declaration of the polls for Mackellar. I am so proud to have been re-elected as the Member for Mackellar with an increased margin and having won the primary vote. This is a testament to the hard work my team and I have put into serving our community over the last three years. Our community chose vision over division, ideas over ideology, and the spirit of togetherness rather than disunity.
It is a true honour to have the opportunity to continue representing the views and values of the people of Mackellar in Canberra for another three years. My team and I will continue to work hard for you, making sure that our local needs are not overlooked whilst always fighting for a more prosperous, fairer and safer future for all Australians.
An immense thank you must go to our 1500+ local volunteers who worked tirelessly over the campaign. There is no community independent without community – so thank you to every single volunteer who stepped up to make a difference. I was staggered daily by people’s commitment, and I am incredibly proud of the positive, people-powered, policy driven campaign that we ran.
In 2021 a small group of local Mackellar residents set out to ‘do politics differently’. We felt shut out of our democracy and taken for granted. We set about changing that, hosting hundreds of kitchen table conversations across the electorate to simply hear from the people of Mackellar about what issues were important to them. It was clear that many in our community felt the only way to be genuinely represented was to have an Independent MP who was wasn’t forced to toe a party line but could always put our community first.
As a Community Independent, I am answerable only to you, the people of Mackellar.
Thank you again to all the other eight candidates who ran in Mackellar. Competition only strengthens our democracy; it raises the bar. While we may not always agree on policy direction, we all share a love for our beautiful Northern Beaches community and our nation.
My team and I are already back at work, re-establishing the office, reviewing our last three years and planning for the next three. All the while we are continuing to support local residents and families with their difficulties. With so many pressing issues impacting our nation, there is no time to waste.
As the Federal Member and Community Independent I want to continue to hear from you so I can genuinely represent the views and values of our community in Canberra. To that end we will continue to create events and ways for you to hear from me and for you to be heard. And please know, my office door is always open, and I encourage you to get in touch.
Our political landscape has changed, and this parliamentary term will be different. With the Labor government holding so many seats it will be more crucial than ever for those on the crossbench to scrutinise what they do and to hold them to account. It is also an opportunity to push for more meaningful change to create a future Australia that we are proud to hand down to our children.
I will continue standing up for our community and pushing for long term serious reform. After listening and meeting thousands of you over the past few weeks, I will be starting with the issues that matter the most to you;
- Making our hospital public again
- Greater support for small business with a tax-free threshold and cutting red tape
- Fixing our broken environment laws and addressing plastic pollution
- Ensuring the State Government pull their weight in finishing Mona Vale Road
- Reducing energy bills through the roll out of home batteries
In the meantime, to keep up to date, follow me on socials and come and say hi if you see me out and about. My electorate office is operating as usual, and the team is here to help with any concerns or assistance with government services.
Here’s to another three years of having strong, fair and independent representation in Canberra,
Here’s to a sunny future,
Dr Sophie Scamps
