Carol Berry is excited about the opportunity to represent Whitlam.

“I spoke to the prime minister last night, and we're just so thrilled that that vision and that program of work – which is about fairness and equal opportunity – has got such strong buy-in from the Australian public,” she told The Illawarra Flame after Labor's landslide victory at the polls.

The electorate's first new MP in 15 years, Carol will replace Stephen Jones, who is retiring after serving as Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services in the first Albanese Government.

Her first political appointment comes after a community-focused career that has included being CEO of the Disability Trust, CEO of the Illawarra Women’s Health Centre, a lawyer for the Public Interest Advocacy Centre and working on the roll-out of the NDIS. Carol and her husband, Calum, have lived in the Illawarra for more than 25 years, raising a family and volunteering for various organisations, from P&Cs to sporting clubs. Outside of work, she enjoys yoga and swimming, and is learning to surf – but for the past few weeks, exercise has been all about walking around Whitlam, the division taking in Shellharbour, Wingecarribee and part of Wollongong.

“I did a lot of door knocking,” she says, laughing.

Fresh from resigning from her role at the Disability Trust and receiving a congratulatory call from Anthony Albanese, Carol sat down with The Illawarra Flame to discuss everything from her start in politics to her first term priorities.

What’s the first thing your new electorate should know about you?

Primarily I am someone who's very motivated by compassion. I come from humble beginnings, so I'm a very grounded person, and I'm just very motivated by improving people's lives. I've tended throughout my career to really pursue those things that I'm very passionate about, and so this has been a lovely culmination to have this opportunity to represent the local electorate in Parliament – after everything I've learned throughout my career, it is a really great opportunity.”

Fundamentally, I'm a very community-focused person. I always have been. I think the real magic happens at the grassroots, so working with other leaders within the community who are driving priorities, I look forward to that. I really love that kind of work, and so people will find in me a very approachable, very grounded person, and who's just hard working.

When did you first get involved in politics?

I did join the Greens when I was in my 20s, and I was involved for about three and a half years, and then I joined the Labor Party in 2005 and I've been a member of the Labor Party ever since.

What appealed to you about the Labor Party?

Having humble beginnings, I think, really did inform my politics. My mum was raised in Housing Commission and so I spent a lot of my childhood at my grandparents' house, which was in a Housing Commission area in [Sydney’s] Western Suburbs. I come from a Labor family, if you like, and I'm interested in a broad array of issues, but I have quite moderate politics. Whilst I'm very passionate about the environment, and that's what attracted me about the Greens at the time, I have a much broader perspective and quite a moderate perspective. So that's why the Labor Party appealed to me.

There was quite a bit of negative advertising around you – how do you feel about the campaign now?

We worked really hard to run a very positive campaign. I think people are tired of the kind of negative back and forth between parties. I think people are interested in, what are you going to do? For me? What's your positive perspective? Actually on the booths, it was largely positive as well. I developed good relationships with the other candidates and their teams, because that's important to me, so we just tried to rise above it. To be honest, it was a real relief to get the result.

Where were you when you found out?

We had our party at the Oak Flats Bowling Club. The result for Labor obviously came in quite early, so the room was very elated at that result. We waited a little longer for the Whitlam result, but we were just all really so pleased that that very positive vision of the future… clearly got the buy-in from the Australian people.

There was a swing against Labor in Whitlam, what do you put that down to?

To be honest, we expected a larger swing in the seat because of the redistribution. Also when you're changing from someone who's held a seat for 15 years to someone new, there's always a swing.

How do you feel about stepping into Stephen Jones’s shoes?

Stephen is a really impressive man. He is also very humble. So he's been saying: 'You’re going to have your own style, you're going to have your own areas of focus – just keep being genuine, have that focus on your compassion, your humanitarianism, keep going.'

And what’s been your family’s response?

They’ve been very supportive. I've got three kids and my husband, and they've been amazing about it. I think they see that this is something that I feel very strongly about, and a great opportunity to make a difference. So they have absolutely backed me.

Do you think it’s become easier for women to enter politics?

I do. Certainly Labor's had that very strong commitment to gender equality, and there's a lot of strong women in this area as well.

It's still a juggle, though, and I think a lot of that juggle still rests with women if you've got kids, but certainly my partner's incredibly supportive, and we've worked hard to kind of have an equal distribution of work in the house, and that makes a difference.

You don’t argue about the dishes?

Occasionally, we still argue about the dishes. [Laughs.] But no, he's been very, very supportive. He's a good man and I think a lot of families work really hard to make things as equal as possible, which is one of the great things about raising kids in the modern era.

How old are your kids and are they interested in politics?

I’ve got a stepdaughter who's 20, and I've got a 15-year-old and a 14-year-old. My daughters are very interested in politics … certainly my youngest daughter has just been soaking it all in, which is wonderful.

We had quite a lot of young people working on the campaign. There's just this level of engagement – they're coming into it a little bit more worldly wise than than I would have, back in my day, but they also are so passionate and so interested and so wanting to make a difference. I found that really encouraging.

I think this next generation coming through are fantastic.

What do you think is driving their interest in politics?

Climate change and housing, I think they're the two big ones, and a real interest in equality, so a real concern around homelessness, and just ensuring that everybody in the community is looked after – so very compassionate, very engaged, forward-thinking generation coming through.

I think this next generation will change the world.

We've got to make sure that we are doing, as much as we can, particularly on climate change, I think that that's really a very pressing concern.

Do you see the election as a mandate for climate action?

I do. I think the last one was as well. But I think it'll be a test on health, housing, education and the environment. We need to ensure that the program of activity matches those commitments we've made, and I feel confident we'll do that.

Could we see an end to the wind wars?

Probably not. But as we continue to transition to more renewable energy, I think it's really important that we get that social licence. We were at a crossroads in terms of our energy future, so I'm pleased that we've come down on the side of renewable energy. We’ve got a window to really make a difference. And it's clear that the majority of the Australian people want to see us make that difference.

How would you improve community consultation?

I think really, getting back to that ‘old school’ community hall discussion is probably the way forward, where there's an opportunity to really talk about the facts. There'll always be a part of the community that's just opposed to wind farms. I understand that, and I respect that, but I think … we need to bring people with us with more facts.

On principle, I think we have to be fast tracking electrification as much as we can. Because moving forward, that process of electrification leads to much better outcomes for the environment.

What are three items on your immediate to do list?

Shellharbour Urgent Care Clinic is one which will be at the top of my agenda.

Also, we committed some funding to get the south-facing ramps on the M1 to shovel-ready status.

We also made some commitments in the Southern Highlands around lighting for sports grounds, and to upgrade one of the parks in Robertson, so I'll be following through on those, and also the upgrades with Yellow Rock Road in Tullimbah.

But my priorities will be healthcare, housing, education, renewable energy. They're the things that I will be focusing on during my time.

I also look forward to working with different levels of government and meeting with all of the state MPs, and also all of the local councillors.

It is really exciting. You know, I just got a call from [Foreign minister, Senator] Penny Wong, which was amazing – all of these luminaries who I've admired for so long, I look forward to working alongside them. I'll just be pinching myself really – so very keen to get started.