Lisa Chesters plans to use her style of "megaphone diplomacy" to push for more GPs to bulk bill and secure greater funding for childcare in the Bendigo region.
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The Bendigo federal parliamentarian, after a decade in office, has used it to get funding for the Bendigo RSL redevelopments and upgrades to Bendigo airport and the Gurri Wanyarra wellbeing centre.
She passed a decade in federal politics in the Bendigo region recently and has set her sights on tackling the healthcare and housing problems everyday people are battling.
First elected in 2013 by just 1200 votes, Ms Chester went on to win the the next three successive elections comfortably.
A Labor member since she was 19, she stepped into the political fray after seeing the way contract workers were being treated in the region and believing more women needed to put their hand up to run for seats.
"Julia Gillard was getting a really rough run being the first Prime Minister," she said.
"I thought we need more women to put their hand up otherwise misogyny wins ... I thought it was time we had a woman represent us here in Bendigo.
"We'd never had a woman in our history and at the same time workers were doing it really tough."
Ms Chesters is also the first woman to hold the federal seat of Bendigo.
Health care shouldn't 'be about your income'
Health care - something she sees as a "primary entitlement" - is a focus for her.
Ms Chesters said no Bendigonian should be forced to deny themselves access to a doctor because of their financial position.
She said the running down of the Medicare system during Labor's time in opposition was a frustration.
The MP said her party was now going to great efforts to increase the number of GPs that bulk bill rather than privately bill their patients.
"I think some frustrations were, it is the slow train-wreck of what happened to Medicare, when we left office (in 2013) bulk billing were really high but then the Liberal Government froze the Medicare rebate," she said.
"That slowly starved GPs which then more of them switched to that private billing model and then we saw the collapse of bulk-billing.
"Going to the GP shouldn't be about your income, it is a primary entitlement in my view."
However, Ms Chesters said it was a challenge to get GPs to move away from private billing.
She said much of her time and energy was also spent pushing for funding to strengthen childcare options, which was vital regional communities.
Housing crisis and cost of living
The other major crisis point for Bendigo was high interest rates and skyrocketing food prices, according to Ms Chesters.
During Labor's time in power there have been many calls for government relief to help ease cost of living pressures.
Housing availability and cost was a major call-out.
"We have been hearing from people for a long time that there weren't enough rentals and that rentals were getting very expensive," she said.
Ms Chesters said that many of the problems Australia faced could have been better prepared for by the previous Federal Government.
Family support
After 10 years in the job, Ms Chesters said she is nowhere near slowing down.
She said the support from home helped motivate her to continue.
She also thanked Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan and Victorian MP Maree Edwards for their support over the last decade.
"Premier Jacinta Allan and Maree Edwards are wonderful mentors and friends," she said.
"My partner Matt and two amazing children, Daisy and Charlie are fantastic and help provide prospective and clarity about what matters most."
