‘The true beauty of a woman is her brains’: Senator Lucy Gichuhi delivers maiden speech - Women's Agenda

‘The true beauty of a woman is her brains’: Senator Lucy Gichuhi delivers maiden speech

Senator Lucy Gichuhi delivered her Maiden speech in Parliament on Wednesday night, sharing stories from her childhood and her arrival in Australia from Kenya 18 years ago.

She shared how she landed in Adelaide in 1999, with her three daughters and husband, and said this country’s diversity should be embraced.

“Whoever we are, whatever we call ourselves, whatever we come from, it is this great asset of diversity that made me fall in love with Australia,” she said.

“The diversity of colour, race, cultural background and allegiance, goes towards making up what we believe it is to be Australian. We are all Australians.”

Senator Gichuhi was one of eight daughters and ten kids, and raised by her father, who was a primary school teacher. His key priority was to ensure they were educated.

Her grandmother also had an influence on her life. “She taught me the true beauty of a woman was her brains,” she said.

Senator Gichuhi trained as an accountant in Kenya, before later pursuing a law degree at 50 and being placed as in intern in the office of Bob Day, a Family First senator. He asked her to join Family First’s South Australian Senate ticket as his number two. Senator Gichuhi was named as Day’s replacement following his resignation late last year.

Senator Gichuhi looks set to take a hard line on welfare, sharing how her personal experience of receiving money she had not earned almost “fundamentally changed” who she was.

She said the family felt “terrified” after discovering welfare money in their bank account. “We were not used to receiving money for nothing,” she said.

“All I knew is that the only time you get money is when you work for it. I said to my husband, we will have to return it.”

Not wanting to fall into a “welfare trap” she said she chose to work, even if that meant going back to school and changing her career to do so.

“We were not able to resist the offers of multiple loans – a home loan, personal loans, car loans and credit cards. Soon we were stuck in the trap of paying huge amounts just to cope with these loans and the ever increasing household bills,” she said.

 

“The message was quite clear – I could choose to be a victim and receive a handout for a long time; or, I could choose the more challenging but empowering road, find a job and learn how to balance work and family life. I did not have long to decide because by the end of that Financial year, I already had a big welfare debt.”

She said she hoped to focus on a number of key things during her time in Parliament, including education, family finance and welfare, aged care, and “freedom of thought, conscience and belief.”

“I am deeply honoured to be given the privilege of serving the people of Australia as a Senator,” she said. “To all Australians, I say ‘thank you’.”

 

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