#30YearsRolling – Day 13/30 – Reflections on the 30th Anniversary of my Injury

For much of my life I have felt like I was here to make a difference but I had no idea how I was going to do that.

As an idealistic twenty-something I felt that politics would be a great way to do this.

Get involved in creating and influencing policy seemed like a way to make a difference at scale.

At this point I’ll let you know that my family had never discussed politics other than me encouraging my younger brother and his mates to enrol to vote when they said they weren’t going to. I was never involved in any form of student politics – the closest I got was in Year 6 when I put my hand up for School Captain but my class didn’t vote for me because I was already the bell ringer for the school and they felt like they had to give others a go – starts young in Australia doesn’t it?!

I didn’t really follow politics but saw it was a way to make a big difference and that’s all I needed to know then.

At the time I felt the only option was to join one of the two main parties so I started reading up about them online, nothing too detailed, just enough to get a feel for where I felt most aligned.

Neither were completely screaming out at me so I went where I felt more alignment and proceeded to join the Young Liberals.

From the first meeting I went to I was highly engaged.

Before long I was Secretary of the branch, delegate to Women’s Council, Young Liberal Council among others.

I enjoyed challenging the stereotypes of who a liberal was typically perceived to be – I was a young woman, with a disability, with no tertiary education who was living in public housing in Campbelltown. Pretty much the opposite in every way to the stereotype.

I was also passionate about the social side of the party which I felt was lacking when I joined. With the neighbouring branch we organised regular social activities and made some great friends through these events.

Within a year I was asked to be a candidate for the local government elections (in 2004) and while I was too far down the ticket to have a chance of being elected, I enjoyed being involved in policy discussions and getting involved with the media around the campaign.

After getting a taste of campaigning I was hooked. It was also my first experience of handing out flyers on election day. Yes I got a few screwed up and thrown back at me but the memory that stands out most was being told I had far too much social empathy to be a liberal!

It was after this election that I had left the customer service job and while I had some time on my hands I was asked to help out full time on the federal election campaign for the local liberal member.

Even though it was a voluntary role I was excited to get deep into the guts of a big campaign.

I was tasked with managing the campaign office and logistics. I did everything from coordinate volunteers to cover around 40 polling booths, liaise with media and keep an eye on the candidates children at times!

It was a massive job and I loved the buzz around it, especially as election day drew closer.

Election day was exciting and stressful, making sure every booth was covered and that everyone was fed and watered. The night was an opportunity to get together and watch the results come in. It was a successful campaign and the climax of the win was high but the crash afterwards was even bigger.

My level of engagement was high in the years that followed and in 2006 I was asked to be the candidate for the 2007 State Election.

Given my philosophy is “say yes and figure out how later”, I went for it.

The last Friday night before I was to be publicly announced as the candidate I went for a huge night out with work colleagues and friends to the local RSL. My theory was it was the last chance to get completely smashed before the campaign started while no one knew who I was and thankfully this was before social media was really much of a thing.

When I was endorsed as the candidate the local paper came to work to take some photos and do an interview.

I thought it would be a small middle of the paper type story.

When the paper arrived the following week I unrolled it to see my face on the front page with a huge headline that said, “IMPOSSIBLE”.

Welcome to the campaign Stace.

Not long into the campaign I changed jobs again so was juggling a brand new full time job with finding my way responding to media and community enquiries.

When it came time to do the photos for the corflutes there were conflicts over my new nose ring which I was not prepared to take out (I ended up with a stud instead of the ring as a compromise).

It was pretty surreal driving around the area and seeing your face up on fences and in people’s businesses and yards.

I had no resources but managed to cobble together volunteers to cover the major polling booths on election day and I’m especially grateful to my non-political family and friends who helped out on the day.

It was an excellent experience and one I learned so much from.

Following that campaign the plan was to get elected to Campbelltown Council in 2008 then have another crack at the state seat after that.

One of the things I’m most proud of doing during that time was researching, writing and presenting a policy paper with a fellow member on getting young people out of nursing homes.

I was excited to have what felt like a career path for the first time since losing the opportunity to become a vet 17 years earlier.

The song that represents this time for me is “Elected” by Alice Cooper.

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Stacey Copas, Author of “How To Be Resilient”, helps shift the way people perceive and respond to uncertainty, change and adversity, helping them to see opportunities where they once saw only obstacles.

The world is rapidly changing, people are having to do more with less, are more stressed and have less balance in their lives.

To be fulfilled and successful in embracing the uncertain and changing world, it is essential to develop resilience to see and act on the opportunities that uncertainty and change present.

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