Honoured: Former state Member for Shepparton and community stalwart Jeanette Powell in her final days in office. She has received an Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday honours list.
Photo by
Holly Curtis
When Jeanette Powell received a message from the committee in charge of the Queen’s Birthday Honours List, the former councillor, MP and community stalwart did not think it would be significant.
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“I’ve been a reference for so many other people (who were getting awards) that I thought it was the same thing,” she said.
“It was a big surprise to find it was for me.”
Mrs Powell has been made a member of the Order of Australia, receiving an AM as part of the Queen’s Birthday honours for “significant service to the people and Parliament of Victoria and to the community”.
Mrs Powell came across from England with her family as a 10-year-old in 1958 as a ‘Ten Pound Pom’. After eight months in a migrant camp in Preston, the family moved to Shepparton.
She spent 10 years living in social housing in Shepparton, leaving only when she married her husband, Ian, at 21.
“Country MPs go back to their flats and apartments while Melbourne MPs can go home to have dinner with their families. It got pretty lonely sometimes.”
She left Shepparton Girls’ School at 16 for a job as a darkroom technician, leaving after three or four years when colour photos came in vogue.
After a brief stint as a receptionist, she and her husband set up an auto electric business, which she managed for more than 18 years, a period which included having her two children.
Then politics came calling.
During the 1990 council election, Mrs Powell put her hand up to be the only woman running in the region and was elected as the only female representative across the former Shire of Shepparton and Rodney Shire.
It would be reflected years down the track, after a stint as a council commissioner during amalgamations, when she was asked to stand for the Nationals in the Victorian upper house.
Taking it in: Jeanette Powell in her backyard this year. Photo: Supplied
She became the first woman to represent the Nationals in the upper house, there from 1996 to 2002.
She then stepped into Don Kilgour’s shoes to become the first female Nationals member in the lower house when she took on the seat of Shepparton in 2010.
“I remember thinking, as I walked into parliament for the first time I was thinking how special it was that I could do that despite coming over as a Ten Pound Pom,” Mrs Powell said.
“When I was first in parliament I didn’t realise I was first (Nationals woman), it was only when the media picked up on it it got some attention.”
She said she did not receive any adverse treatment, experiencing none of the sexism which caused outcry in Victorian and Federal parliaments during the past few years.
“To have it happen during the Queen’s platinum jubilee year is so special for me.“
“I never had any of that from my Nationals colleagues, Liberal colleagues, Labor colleagues, any side of politics,’ Mrs Powell said.
“I didn’t suffer any of it. I don’t want to dismiss what people in Canberra or Melbourne are going through now, but I was fortunate.’’
It was, however, an incredibly difficult time for her.
“We went down to Melbourne and stayed there,” Mrs Powell said.
“Country MPs go back to their flats and apartments while Melbourne MPs can go home to have dinner with their families. It got pretty lonely sometimes.
“In politics, you don’t do it for yourself. Ian, my husband, was such an incredible supporter and gave up so much, as did my sons Corey and Nathan.”
Stepping aside: Jeanette Powell just after she announced she would be stepping down from politics.
Photo by
Julie Mercer
Mrs Powell helped blaze a trail and said she was excited by the prospect of at least two women competing for Shepparton’s seat in November, with current independent member for Shepparton Suzanna Sheed yet to officially recommit to standing.
When Mrs Powell left parliament in 2014 to spend more time with her family, several organisations came knocking at her door.
Her list of community involvements is as long as her arm, including being on committees for People Supporting People, the Shepparton Men’s Shed, Christmas for those Alone, Friends of the Shepparton Library and the art gallery, and helping with the Commonwealth Games bid, but the two she’s best known for are GV Hospice Care and Shepparton Villages.
“I’d been involved at hospice for 28 years, I saw the work they did and heard people speak about what hospice means to them,” Mrs Powell said.
“When I was asked by John Heatherington to join the board I couldn’t have said yes fast enough.
“It’s a really unique service which a lot of places aren’t lucky enough to have.
“We’re funded for 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday but most people use our services outside that time.”
She was also passionate about aged care and ensuring people had the best care possible as they entered the twilight of their lives, making Shepparton Villages a natural fit.
The past three years in both roles have been difficult.
Dedicated to her roles: GV Regional Library Corporation mobile library being officially launched by Jeanette Powell
Photo by
Simon Bingham
“We faced a lot of challenges with workers and families and residents a chance to bring the virus into the village,” Mrs Powell said.
“It was a very confusing time for a lot of residents who didn’t always understand why they were being locked down, especially some of the dementia patients.
“It was a stressful time for nurses and workers but also families and residents. It was stressful for everyone involved.”
Hospice care was also difficult, with those requiring the service some of the most vulnerable to coronavirus, meaning nurses and volunteers had to take every precaution possible.
She said while she was still busy, she had succeeded in the promise she made to spend more time with family since retiring in 2014, helping make up — she said — for the nearly two decades of sacrifices they made for her work.
And now, after being the referee for so many Queen’s Birthday honours, it’s her turn to accept the award — an honour made extra sweet by happening just after Queen Elizabeth’s platinum jubilee.
