SA’s newest Senator Lucy Gichuhi reveals why she was so inspired by Queen Adelaide
A GERMAN queen of England from two centuries ago inspires Lucy Gichuhi so much she wanted to be photographed in the Adelaide Town Hall. Who was that queen?
A GERMAN queen of England from two centuries ago inspires Lucy Gichuhi so much she wanted to be photographed in the Adelaide Town Hall’s recently refurbished Queen Adelaide room.
“I’m a woman and I’ve been brought up by a very strong woman,” she said.
“Then I came across the story of Queen Adelaide who transcended culture, a German queen who went to England and raised William’s children as her own. I identify with that idea of someone coming from another culture and really making a difference.”
Having lost her party, Ms Gichuhi is not ready to talk policy when her identity as an independent or member of the new Australian Conservatives is a story still to be written.
She fell into politics, shadowing Senator Bob Day during the election but became serious about giving it her best shot.
“It was a mental shift,” she said. “That’s when I started doing videos about my life story, I got serious.”
She sees the hand of God behind her move to Canberra after Senator Day was elected, then disqualified, with his position falling to her, an unknown with 157 first preference votes.
“We were so excited to get Bob over the line, even that was miraculous,” she said. “Anything else that happened after that, I label it the God factor. It’s not me, it’s not anybody.”
When her election looked likely, she rang her father in Kenya who encouraged her and told her she could do it, with a little help.
“I have no doubts about my ability because I trust the institution, I trust the help I am getting from the other Senators,” she said.
She won’t say who called her this week but the answer seems to be just about everybody from all political sides.
“I would say everybody starting with Cory (Bernardi),” she said.
“It seem like everybody has been reaching out, but it has been purely about offering to help.”
She will not be drawn on policy, including whether she will adopt Family First’s conservative position on issues such as gay marriage.
There is a strong hint she will not be supporting Labor’s move to reform negative gearing.
She has six investment properties, including three in Whyalla, and says she and her husband are ordinary, working class people who saved to get ahead.
“Yes, there are six houses, that is our investment vehicle,” she said. “I represent an average working family — you save your money, buy a house, use negative gearing, you go to the bank and buy another one so you have a house that has a value and it has a mortgage.”
She prizes freedom and knows what it is like to live without it, and wants to protect things that have helped her.
“My backdrop to any decision is: are we preserving and protecting what has enabled a poor farmer’s daughter from Kenya to be able to be appointed a senator?,” she said.
“I am big on freedom because I come from a background where I have experienced what lack of freedom of thought, conscience and religion can do to a society.”
She will be sworn into Parliament on May 9, which happens to be Budget Day, but even that doesn’t seem to faze her.
“I’m an accountant, you know,” she said.