Hospital campaigner and North Balgowlah local Elouise Massa has thrown her hat in the ring to contest the seat of Manly, saying she has found a new sense of courage and bravery since her two-year-old son Joe died.
Massa made headlines over the past two years through her successful campaign to see the Northern Beaches Hospital transitioned into public ownership, the introduction of the landmark “Joe’s Law” which bans future public-private partnerships for acute care in NSW, and a new in-hospital escalation program, Raise It.
With a three-month old, a six-year-old and an eight-year-old, Massa has her hands full at home alongside running a small business, but says representing the community through politics was the “next logical step” for her advocacy.
Her campaign comes just days after Liberal frontbencher James Griffin announced he would retire as the member for Manly at the NSW election in March next year.
“As a mum of four, it has its challenges… my kids are so young – six and eight and a three-month-old, like absolutely insane. But at the same time, the opportunity is now. It’s not in four years’ time,” Massa tells Women’s Agenda.
“I’m just going to put one foot in front of the other and continue to figure it out along the way.”
Massa is a former broadcast journalist, the owner of a communications business and she holds a Master of Human Rights Law and Policy. But it’s her lived experience of losing her son Joe in 2024 that has really spurred her to pursue change for the local community.
She follows a number of other women, including federal MP Ali France, who have entered politics in recent years using their lived experience to push for change in parliament.
“I’m not the same person that I was before Joe died. I wouldn’t be even considering this had I not lost Joe two years ago,” she said.
“I think it’s always within us as women – we have a deep sense of energy and life force and power within us, and it’s choosing how to actually use it and make it count when we need it most.”
Massa says her son’s preventable death after a number of systemic failures at the Northern Beaches Hospital has changed her outlook on life. Sitting on the sidelines is no longer enough.
“I could either have retreated, been silent, been complacent, just said ‘I guess that’s the way the system works,’ and instead I said no. I want to find the truth and then do justice,” she said.
“It’s not until something happens in life – a life-changing event, a tragedy – that you really can dig deep and find a sense of courage and a sense of self that I never had before. “
Alongside ensuring access to public healthcare remains, Massa says she knows first-hand the pressures small businesses in the local area are facing.
“Danny and I are small business owners, so we understand the red tape that’s around small business, and we want more locals to run businesses and we want it to become more sustainable.”
Other priorities include delivering housing matched with infrastructure, and improving transport and connectivity across the electorate. She also says her values are underpinned by a commitment to the environment, equality and political integrity.
The seat of Manly has a long history of independent representation and with the retirement of Griffin, Massa says it’s time to put the seat “back into independent hands”. The seat resides alongside other northern beaches electorates of Wakehurst and Pittwater which were both recently won by independent MPs, Michael Regan and Jacqui Scruby.
It also overlaps with the seat of Warringah, held federally by Zali Steggall.
“[Independents] can really drive forward change and look at policies and put forward agendas with an evidence-based approach and not sticking to a party room line,” she said.
“We have received such an outpouring, such support over the past two years. People wanted change. They need a strong, independent voice in the community.”