Former Tasmanian Labor leader Rebecca White has announced she is preparing to depart from state politics to run for a seat in the federal parliament.
White was confirmed as Labor’s candidate for the federal seat of Lyons by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese earlier this month.
During the last sitting of the Tasmanian parliament on Thursday evening, White thanked her colleagues for their support.
“What comes next for me will be decided once again by the people of Lyons, the same people who have given me the honour of standing here in this place for nearly 15 years,” she said.
“I’ve strived to meet the expectations of my community as their representative. I’ve endeavoured to act with integrity, to always show up and work hard and to follow through on the things that I’ll say I’ll do.”
“And I hope that people feel that I’ve done a fair job of that. But for me, the job’s not done.”
White said she would continue to work hard for the people of Lyons until the election.
“As I prepare to depart from this place, it’s not because I’m taking a step back from public service,” she said.
“It’s because I’m putting my hand up to take a step forward, to hopefully represent the community where I grew up and went to school, my home and the place where I’m raising my children, my electorate of Lyons in the federal parliament.”
“An election that is yet to be called, a date yet to be fixed, but I know that it’s coming soon and I give this speech to say thank you to everybody who’s helped me to get where I am today.”
She described serving in parliament as the “greatest honour” of her life.
“As I step away from this parliament, it is with both a mixture of sadness and excitement for the next challenge. I will be sad to leave a job that I’ve loved,” she said.
“I leave at a time when the tide is turning here in Tasmania and I wish the leader of the Labor Party, Dean Winter, every success as we get closer to a change of government and a return of Labor to the Treasury benches in this state.”
“It is overdue and I regret that I was unable to lead our great party to success.”
White paid tribute to Brian Mitchell, her friend for nearly two decades, who currently holds the seat of Lyons for Labor and will step down to make way for her.
“His decision is truly selfless and not something that I’ve witnessed before,” she said.
“It’s also not lost on me that just as Brian helped launch my entry into state politics, he’s done the same for my entry into federal politics. I would not be doing this if I did not have his total support.”
“Our friendship means more than politics, and I most genuinely wish Brian all the very best with whatever challenges he turns his talents to next.”
