We welcomed Dr Katrina Stratton to the podium at our recent meeting, and she outlined the history behind her election as the first Labor MLA for Nedlands, and gave us a good idea of her priorities as she represents her constituents over the next four years. Katrina is very much a local person having lived in Wembley and Nedlands for many years, and she became interested in politics after undertaking a number of years in research at Wanslea, the organisation established by Florence Hummerston in 1943 – initially as a hostel for children whose fathers were away, mostly on active service, and later as a foster care facility. Katrina found that there are many cases of grandparents having to raise their grandchildren for a variety of reasons, and there is no legal recognition of such relationships – thus leading to practical problems especially with agencies such as Centrelink. Often the carers are women over the age of 60 who are living in poverty. All this fuelled Katrina’s desire to enter politics, and she thought that she should wait until 2025 when her children Oliver and Kate would be somewhat older, but they insisted that she should go ahead immediately! Katrina’s campaign was launched six weeks before the election, but within a couple of days another Covid-19 lockdown was declared, and that brought everything to a grinding halt. Both major political parties have taken Nedlands for granted in the past, but the demographics of the area have been changing in recent times. This assisted Katrina who achieved a substantial swing and took 7 of the 9 polling booths in the electorate. During her current term Katrina will pursue the grandparent carer issues, she’ll consult appropriately on development and infill discussions, and will be active in climate discussions, local environment debates, and deliberations on underground power. Good luck Katrina, and may your aspirations for the future come to fruition.