Accomplished former small business owner, executive and Western Sydney community advocate, Maria Kovacic, has been preselected by Liberal Party members to fill a casual vacancy in the Senate, caused by the passing of Jim Molan AO DSC.
Maria paid tribute to the late Senator and his service to the nation, “Jim had dedicated his life to our nation, through his service in the Australian Army and as an outstanding Liberal Senator for New South Wales”.
“It is a special honour to be preselected to follow in Jim’s footsteps, to be given this special opportunity to fight for a better Australia and New South Wales.”
Maria established and ran a successful mortgage and finance business for 16 years, and sat on a number of boards including the Franchise Council of Australia and Hills Community Aid.
“As a daughter of migrants, I learned early on about aspirational values that drive our community. My parents fled communism for a better life in Australia and taught me about the importance of fighting for things that are important and working to build a better place for everyone.”
Maria has been an active community advocate, as the co-founder of Western Sydney Women and Western Sydney Executive Women and member of the Committee for Western Sydney. She has also sat on the NRLW Advisory Committee and was a member of the steering committee for Parramatta Eels’ Women@Eels.
“I have worked hard all my life to build a successful business and create financial security for my children. It was tough trying to balance the demands of a small business and family, so I understand what many in our community are going through.”
“The spiralling cost of living crisis is having a huge impact on families right across the city and the state. I intend to hold the Labor Government to account for their broken promises and bad decisions,” Ms Kovacic said. “Instead of a $275 reduction in power bills, our power bills are going up and forecast to rise by more than 30%. Labor promised cheaper mortgages, but instead Australia’s core inflation is now higher than every major advanced economy and there have been 10 interest rate rises in Labor’s first 12 months.”
“Real wages have had the largest annual fall in 25 years under this Government. With the combined impact of interest rates and inflation, a typical family is $25,000 a year worse off since the Albanese Government was elected. This is a critical time for our community, as families struggle with the spiralling costs of living and businesses are forced to confront serious economic challenges.”
“I will be focused on the needs of people across our state and keeping the Labor Government to account in the Senate – to ensure that they address they key challenges faced by our communities.”