2026-07-24
I am here for the fights that matter
By Senator Vanessa Bleyer
A first speech is one of the rare moments in politics where you get to explain not just what you believe, but why. Why certain fights matter to you. Why you have chosen to spend your life on them. Why you are here.
I started with a statement that I am here for nature.
Then, in explaining why I am so passionate about fighting for all species on Earth, I spoke about my mum.
When she was dying earlier this year, one of the things we did together was pay her bills. I would sit beside her hospital bed with my laptop, working through them one by one. It made her happy to know things were in order.
I was with Mum when she died. Her last words to me were: “Have we paid all the bills?”
Yes, Mum. We had.
I chose that story because those words have stayed with me. They were about more than bills. They were about responsibility.
About looking after the people and things entrusted to us.
That is something my life has taught me in many different ways.
When I was in high school, my dad went away on business and didn’t come back. My mum, my brother and I worked as hard as we could to keep our family afloat. I had after-school and weekend jobs. Mum worked nights as a theater nurse. One of us was always home to care for my sister, who has Down syndrome.
Eventually, we couldn’t keep up with the mortgage. We were evicted on 48 hours’ notice, and I studied for my year 12 exams sitting on boxes.
I also grew up with family violence. For years, it was something that stayed inside the walls of our home.
These experiences shaped me. They showed me what happens when the systems that should protect people fail them, and why secure housing, a strong NDIS and support for people experiencing family violence matter so deeply to me.
They also shaped the lawyer I became.
For more than 20 years, I used the law to protect people and our planet. I won victories in the courts, ranging from stopping unlawful evictions to stopping unlawful native forest logging. Eventually, though, I realised that interpreting and enforcing laws was not enough for me. I wanted to help make better ones.
I am here for people who need a secure home. For disabled people who rely on strong public services. For women and children who deserve to live free from violence. For animals who cannot speak for themselves. And for our forests, oceans, threatened species and the extraordinary places we have inherited.
I know not every fight will be won, but I will not turn my back on them and I will fight all the way.
Because all of us inherit obligations: to each other, to those who come after us, and to the places we are fortunate enough to call home.
We do not get to leave those obligations unpaid.