Speaker, I rise to address the Governor's Speech and to begin what I hope will be a long and productive service to the community that has elected me.

I want to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet — the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation — and pay my respects to Elders past and present. I make that acknowledgement not as a formality but as a promise: that in representing this place, I will work to better understand and honour the First Peoples whose country the electorate of Sunbury has always been.

Why I'm here

In November 2014 the people of Sunbury did me the honour of electing me as their inaugural State Member. To represent the community I have called home my whole life is a privilege and an honour that I will never take for granted. I promise to be a strong and consistent voice for Sunbury and surrounds, for the services we need and the people we love.

I stand here today because of two women whose names will be familiar to this House: Liz Beattie and Jo Duncan. Liz took a chance on a local kid on work experience all those years ago, and Jo picked up the torch with grace and decency when Liz retired. Both served this community with everything they had. I thank them for their service and for their mentorship, and I am acutely aware of the shoes I have to fill.

The story of this place

Sunbury's history is older than Victoria itself. Emu Bottom Homestead, built in 1836, is the oldest surviving homestead in the colony. George Evans took up this land; Samuel and William Jackson followed. But long before any of them, this was Wurundjeri country — country whose stories and sacred places continue to be cared for by their descendants.

The cricket ground at Rupertswood is where, in 1882, a small terracotta urn was presented to the English captain Ivo Bligh — a joke between friends that somehow became the Ashes, and with it a rivalry that has now lasted nearly a century and a half. There is something fitting about a seat whose origins are bound up in the idea of a friendly but fierce contest. Sunbury is a community that knows its own mind, and is not shy about saying so.

To those who got me here

I stand in this place because of an extraordinary number of people who believed in me before I had any business asking them to. I want to thank Noah Carroll, Kosmos Samaras, Casey Nunn, Paul Caruso, and the Hon. Rob Mitchell MP, for the guidance they gave me through my preselection and campaign. I want to thank the members of my campaign team who knocked on doors, stuffed envelopes and stood at pre-polling in the heat of a Sunbury summer — in particular Peter Hendrickson, Renee Pope-Munro, Jarrod, Michaela and Adam.

I want to thank my parents, Ian and Lesley Bull, who raised me in Sunbury and who still live there today. My dad has spent his working life in industries that have shaped the north — and my mum worked for more than a decade as an integration aide, supporting children with disabilities in local schools. The work she did, and the families she supported, shaped much of what I believe about what government is for.

To my brother David and my sister Kirstin — thank you for putting up with me, and for always being there when it counts.

And finally, to Jasmine — who agreed to marry me last Sunday — thank you. Your patience, your kindness, and your belief in what we're trying to do have been the best thing in my life. To Jasmine's family, and in particular to the memory of her grandfather William, who would have loved to have been here today — I hope I do right by all of you.

What I'll fight for

Nelson Mandela said that education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world. I believe that. I was a teacher before I was a member of this place, and I will always fight for great state schools.

I will fight for disability services, because I saw first-hand through my mother's work how much a good integration aide, a proper therapist, and a well-funded school can change the trajectory of a family's life.

I will fight for young people's mental health — because too many Victorian families know the cost of not acting, and because the stigma that kept earlier generations silent must not keep this one silent too.

I will fight for suicide prevention — in our schools, in our clubs, and among the tradies and farmers and returned veterans of this electorate.

I will fight the ice epidemic that has scarred too many communities in the north and west.

And I will fight for the specific, local commitments made to my community during this campaign: the three million dollars for the Sunbury College science wing; the ten million dollars for the Gowanbrae noise barriers; the Melbourne Metro that will transform the way Sunbury commuters get to work. These are not abstractions. These are the things that were promised, and they are the things I will work every day to deliver.

A closing word

This is a remarkable country, with a remarkable democratic history. From the gold rush to Eureka, from the 1856 Electoral Act that gave Victoria the secret ballot and the eight-hour day, through to the Parliament we sit in now — the story of this state has been one of ordinary people deciding that the rules should serve them rather than the other way around. I take my seat in this Parliament with a deep sense of the privilege of that inheritance, and a determination to be worthy of it.

Thank you, Speaker. Thank you to the people of Sunbury. Let's get to work.

"To be elected to represent the community I have called home my whole life is a privilege and an honour that I will never take for granted. I promise to be a strong and consistent voice for Sunbury and surrounds, for the services we need and the people we love."

Delivered in the Legislative Assembly, February 2015. Full Hansard record available through the Parliament of Victoria.