It’s the morning of her first day seated in the House of Representatives and the Wentworth Courier has been invited to follow Dr Phelps on this historic event for her, and for the electorate.

Within the hour she will be sworn in and this afternoon she will give her maiden speech. It will define who she is and what she stands for to the community that elected her as our representative and to the nation.

But first: the phones.

A smiling woman from Parliament’s IT department bustles in to connect to the world the lines at her office, which is located on the second floor of the labyrinthine Parliament House.

And once the phones start ringing, they do not stop. (Later the IT guru will return to show staff how to place calls on hold — such is the volume pouring in).

With Dr Phelps off having talks with Scott Morrison and staff deployed elsewhere, a representative from the Table Office pokes his head in the door with important documents for the new MP.

“I’m looking for Kerryn Phelps,” he says, seemingly unaware that so is every other inhabitant of the House. So, left alone in the office, the Wentworth Courier can be found signing for Dr Phelps’s deliveries.

It’s a surreal moment but it’s over before there’s another knock on the door. It’s James Catchpole the Serjeant-at-Arms, beaming in his well-cut black and white suit.

He has no time to wait for Dr Phelps to return to issue his instructions, to wit: she must (I am told) be at the door to the chamber by five minutes to 10. Don’t be late, and make sure someone shows her the way.

This is good advice. Dr Phelps is still the new kid, and this place is a maze — although at least there’s a friendly face next door should she become lost, with Rebekha Sharkie, Independent for South Australia’s Mayo, in the neighbouring office. With her planned 15 minute audience at 9am with the Prime Minister stretching to half an hour, all of a sudden it’s time to go.

Dr Phelps makes for the chamber. Her family, including a brother-in-law sporting rainbow striped socks, and supporters head to the public gallery.

Walking the history-steeped halls of Parliament House, past the oil paintings and other relics, Dr Phelps’ wife, Jackie Stricker-Phelps voices what everyone is thinking. This moment is huge. The times are changing: “she’s the first woman to be elected in Wentworth, the first non-Liberal to hold the seat and the first Jewish woman in Parliament.

“She’s got a trifecta of firsts.”

As we file into the public gallery of the House of Representatives daughter Gabi Stricker-Phelps whispers: “this is the same place we were sitting a year ago for marriage equality”. The enormity of the past year is not lost on the teenager.

As is convention for new MPs she is walked into the chamber flanked by colleagues: Sharkie and Cathy McGowan, Independent member for Victoria’s Indi.

Dr Phelps takes her seat next to McGowan — a spot once occupied by eccentric Queensland billionaire mining magnate Clive Palmer.

A stronger contrast is scarcely found in politics.

The absence of most of the Liberal Party was conspicuous with the Government benches almost empty. The sight caused angry mutters of ‘where is the Prime Minister?’ emanating from the Labor side of the chamber.

Dr Phelps chooses to take her oath on the bible, and at the conclusion is swamped by a tide of formal handshakes (Christopher Pyne) and exuberant hugs (Tanya Plibersek, Julie Bishop) then a bear-like cuddle from Warren Entsch — a close ally in her marriage equality cause — which almost swept her off her feet.

Dr Phelps blows kisses to her loved ones and rushes off. The rest of the morning is packed.

A 10.15am meeting with Opposition Leader Bill Shorten. A joint crossbench press conference at 11am on the national integrity commission. Back to the office. With Parliament in full swing, the live stream of the chamber is on in the background.

IN OTHER NEWS

People come and go and the cacophony of noise from the phones is relentless. Dr Phelps makes it back to the near empty chamber in time to complete her first official act as a parliamentarian and support a motion to consider a federal Independent Commission Against Corruption, a bill put up by McGowan. It doesn’t pass but the government supports the motion to consider it, arguably due to crossbench pressure, bolstered by Dr Phelps’ presence.

She is jubilant at the outcome:

A fiery Question Time as Mr Shorten and Anthony Albanese hound Mr Morrison about the fate of Malcolm Turnbull before his successor, Dr Phelps rises to deliver her maiden speech.

She has been working on the document for weeks, knowing that for years to come it will be referred to as her manifesto. “Extraordinary events, personal and political, have coalesced to bring me here to take my seat in the House of Representatives at a unique time in Australian political history”, she will say, retelling her family’s origins in the western suburbs, her first marriage at age 22 and her decision to convert to Judaism.

Again the Liberal Party had largely cleared out of the chamber. “I thought it was a bit shabby and disrespectful but if that’s what they want to do,” Dr Phelps says later. “That was really what my speech was in part about — the maneuverings of party politics.

“The people of Wentworth spoke loud and clear about … not wanting to hear or see this kind of politicking and game playing.”

Retired Liberal politicians do, however, sit in the public gallery including former Member for Wentworth Dr John Hewson and former speaker Bronwyn Bishop.

What those absent missed was a fairly even handed walloping of the policies of both sides the house.

The Liberal Party copped it for the children on Nauru and Labor was under fire for their proposed changes to superannuation.

She gave an account of having her sexuality revealed in the media two decades ago. “We could have chosen to hide, to wait for it to blow over, but that is not in either of our DNA. “Instead, we resolutely began our long battle for marriage equality. We sacrificed our personal privacy, and Jackie her teaching career, for the cause. We became accidental activists.”

Whether they bothered to turn up for her speech or not, both sides were certainly interested in Dr Phelps. Her staff say they received “at least a dozen” inquiries on Dr Phelps’ first day to find out how she will vote on upcoming bills — among them were representatives of Peter Dutton and Tony Burke.

It is not until 4pm Dr Phelps has time to have a quick cup of tea and to thank the crowd of around 30 friends and family who had been faithfully watching on from the public gallery throughout the day.

“It’s been a whirlwind as I’m sure you have observed,” Dr Phelps says at the little gathering, (which curiously included Julia Banks in what would emerge that night as a prelude to the Liberal Victorian MP resigning to the crossbench). “I like to make sure I’m as well prepared as I possibly can be so obviously there’s weeks of preparation that have gone into today … the speech and the planning for the legislative timetable.”

The theme of Dr Phelps’ maiden speech clearly mirrored her campaign promise of “politics done differently”. “There is an unmistakeable mood in Australia that framed the Wentworth by-election result”, she told the Chamber. “A mood for change”.

As the sun sets on the nation’s capital — the day still not over for the freshly-minted MP who has an evening appearance on Sky — change is certainly in the air.

Richo’s verdict: A thorn in the PM’s side

by Graham Richardson

Phelps has been doing extraordinary things for most of her life. Maybe that is why she was in the right place at the right time to become the member for Wentworth.

When the Federal Liberal Party determined to implode when it ousted Malcolm Turnbull, the Liberals owned Wentworth and had forever.

When you lead by almost 17 per cent and the biggest by-election swing since Federation had been 14 per cent you don’t expect to lose. My own view was that the Liberal candidate, Dave Sharma, would get over the line narrowly.

Normally that is what would have, maybe even should have happened. I reckoned without considering that an outstanding independent could whip up an army of volunteers in a few days.

The Liberals were stunned but Kerryn has been stunning people for decades. I watched her maiden speech and discovered even more startling facts about what has undoubtedly been an interesting and eventful life. We might have thousands of doctors but it was our Kerryn who became President of the Australian Medical Association.

She had already been noticed as an early pioneer of the move to allow doctors to talk on television. I remember her early forays into the media and recall her profession’s resistance to it.

As usual Phelps held sway and now the AMA Chair will practically always be available for interviews on health issues.

My one criticism is that she is a tad disingenuous when she speaks of her fondness for Medicare. When she was closely aligned with the late Dr Bruce Shepherd her love of Medicare was never on display.

She has been consistent in her criticism of Australia’s policy of keeping refugees in Nauru or Manus Island.

In a Parliament in which the government does not have a majority, she could still prove to be a thorn in Scott Morrison’s side. Her very presence in the chamber is a daily reminder to the government of how low they have sunk in terms of public feeling and how Everest must be climbed in a few short months.

Until this speech I did not know that Phelps had converted to Judaism twenty years ago.

It is when you add this to the fact that for more than two decades, she has run a very successful practice within the electorate at Double Bay, the seat of Wentworth just had to fall.

As an independent you can’t expect big things to come from her election but big things tend to follow her. She oozes leadership and charisma is hers in big chunks.

Methinks the Eastern Suburbs will be well served.