History-maker Kerryanne Liddle has an eye on getting results

Businesswoman Kerrynne Liddle, who has made history by becoming South Australia’s first Indigenous federal MP, says she does not want to be pigeon-holed on the basis of her Aboriginality.

Businesswoman Kerrynne Liddle. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Brenton Edwards

Businesswoman Kerrynne Liddle, who has made history by becoming South Australia’s first Indigenous federal MP, says she does not want to be pigeon-holed on the basis of her Aboriginality but wants to make government more results-oriented amid a cost-of-living squeeze.

And while Senator Liddle supports the Uluru statement, she said the immediate challenge was to make sure that whatever proposals were put to the people were clearly explained and focused on outcomes, not gestures.

Senator Liddle’s victory in claiming the sixth and final upper house seat ahead of One Nation and UAP has caused elation among the shell-shocked SA Liberal branch, obliterated at the March 19 state election and which lost the once-safe seat of Boothby at the May 21 federal poll.

SA Liberals can boast of being the only state division to win three Senate spots amid the defeat of the Morrison government.

Senator Liddle, a former journalist and employment services executive, said she had always wanted to go into politics but was too busy working and raising her two children, and another two children whom she and her husband cared for as wards of the state. “We were a pretty busy household for a long period of time,” she said. “For me, I thought it was right to wait until my children finished school.”

She said she knew there was “a statistically interesting story about me being the first Aboriginal person to represent SA federally but that’s not the complete story of who I am.

“I’m a mother, I’ve run a small business, I have worked across a range of sectors, in corporate work, not-for-profit work,” she said. “When you wrap that together, what I am really about is making government work better and making sure government programs are focused on outcomes.”

An Arrernte woman who grew up in Alice Springs, Senator Liddle comes from a family with a strong work ethic instilled into her and her siblings by her ­education-obsessed parents.

She said she was keen to see the Albanese government’s plans for advancing the Uluru statement but more clarity was needed around its central tenet of Makarrata, which means treaty or agreement-making.