Liberal Party candidate for Macquarie, Sarah Richards, began her connection with the electorate when she was just 10-years-old and her father was posted to Richmond RAAF Base.
Although she was born in Ipswich, Queensland, Ms Richards has spent most of her life living in the Hawkesbury area, attending primary school at St Matthew's in Windsor and high school at Bede Polding College in South Windsor.
Her three children - Jasmine (14), Lucy (11), and Max (10) - now attend the same schools she did growing up.
A Hawkesbury City councillor since 2016, Ms Richards has lived in Wilberforce, Glossodia, Freemans Reach, Windsor, North Richmond and Richmond over the last three decades.
Her mother is a teacher and she has three sisters and one brother.
Ms Richards studied at the University of Western Sydney, obtaining a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism). She also completed a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice and was admitted to the NSW Supreme Court roll of solicitors in early 2007.
"I always wanted to be a rugby league journalist and during high school, even completed an external journalism course to prepare for it. However, when I received the marks in my HSC to also study law (90.3 UAI), I fell in love with law and politics," she told the Gazette.
"It was constitutional law that made me really interested in the governance of the nation and by chance, my public relations lecturer in my other degree also worked for a local Federal MP, so I started to volunteer my time in her office. I soon after joined the Liberal Party and was a Hawkesbury local councillor candidate and federal candidate very soon after joining. These experiences cemented my passion for politics - not as a career, but as a vehicle to bring about positive change in my local community."
Ms Richards worked for almost two years at the law firm Dooley and Associates in North Parramatta but stopped working after having children.
"However, my passion for my community did not cease and I soon found myself joining local service clubs and being on local boards to continue to give back. I joined the Rotary Club of Hawkesbury and became president not long after, bringing two children along to meetings, whilst pregnant with the third. Multi-tasking 101!" she said.
Ms Richards is a member of the Rotary Club of Kurrajong/North Richmond, Hawkesbury Communications Brigade, secretary of the Kurrajong Country Women's Association and a director of Windsor RSL. She is also on the board of the Hawkesbury Hospital Community Board of Advice.
In the time since she was elected as a councillor, Ms Richards has seen the community endure drought, bushfires, multiple floods and a pandemic.
"I wanted to help my community so much in these crises, that I came up with my own initiatives, outside of politics, to assist. After the 2019/2020 bushfires, I created the 'Back to Bilpin' tourism campaign, reaching over one million people with its launch... I am a firm believer that political intervention is not the answer to everything and that as an advocate, you need to have your own ideas, outside of the political realm, to help people. During this time, I also created the additional tourism campaign 'Meet Me @ The Blue Mountains' for the same reason."
Ms Richards also created the #ShopSmall Facebook group, which now has more than 16,000 members.
"This group allowed businesses to advertise every day in the group and gave them an online platform to buy, sell and promote... This is now a highly successful group, with between 40-50 businesses a day still advertising," she said.
Ms Richards said she was inspired to run for politics to deliver "outcomes - seeing a need and then having the ability to solve it".
She was inspired to join the Liberal Party because she believed in its values.
"The Liberal party will give you 'hand up', whilst the Labor Party will give you a 'hand out'. I firmly believe in ensuring we have the Liberal Party govern our nation. The Liberal Party is the party for small business, for lower taxes, for creating jobs, investing in vital infrastructure, for investment in health and education and is the only party committed to a strong defence force. Keeping Labor out of governing Australia is also a prime inspiration," she said.
When asked what are the biggest issues facing the Blue Mountains ahead of the federal election, Ms Richards replied: "Disaster response, relief and recovery and resilience are key for our community, given what we have been through over the last three years. It is my mission to ensure that residents have the support they need to navigate these trying times. I also believe cost of living is a day-to-day concern, as well as safer roads. There is no doubt that our roads have been hammered with the latest storms and floods, so fixing and improving them is paramount."
Ms Richards said the Blue Mountains community is also "very environmentally aware and I am pleased that the government has committed to a net zero 2050 policy, which is a measured, sensible and targeted approach to achieving net zero through technology, not taxes, and through an ability to retain jobs and keep electricity affordable and reliable".
"I know that cost of living is an issue, as is home ownership and access to jobs. As part of Western Sydney, I know that the Blue Mountains community will be able to enjoy the benefits of the Western Sydney Airport, as well as an improved road and rail network that comes with that."
Ms Richards said she will be a "positive advocate" if elected on May 21.
"I have made it my mantra to be as accessible to people as possible, handing out my personal phone number without concern. I want people to know that they can contact me night and day, and I will do my best to respond personally. Obtaining outcomes for people and showing them that I will be there and be present when times are tough is what it is all about," she said.
After losing the 2019 election by a narrow margin (Macquarie is the most marginal federal seat in the country), Ms Richards she learnt that all the electorate's diverse views are important.
"Balancing those views is the priority of any elected representative and it was very humbling to know that in my first attempt at the seat, basically half of the electorate did want me as their MP. Whilst it is obvious that we have a compulsory preferential voting system, I was proud to know that on first preferences, I was over 6000 votes ahead of any other candidate," she said.
"What I also learnt in the process, is how much I love Macquarie - how much I absolutely love the Blue Mountains and the Hawkesbury and how I want to change the narrative from one of division, to one of unity. We are not two different communities, we have to start thinking of ourselves as one electorate, no matter where we live within it."
The Blue Mountains Gazette will run a series of profiles on the candidates for Macquarie in the lead up to the federal election.
