Sydney
2 June 2002
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Christ’s life at heart of Virginia’s decisions - Virginia Judge, mayor and champion of the oppressed
By Sholto Macpherson
The Church is like a pair of glasses that “provides me with a way of looking at things”, says Virginia Judge, adding that she tries to make decisions based on those principles of Christ’s life.
“Christ was compassionate, tolerant,” she says. “He believed in freedom, equality and having compassion for the people that are marginalised, our poor, unemployed, drug addicts … basically all of the people who live on the fringes of society.”
The Strathfield mayor believes that part of her role is to bring society’s fringe-dwellers back into the community by supporting them and addressing their issues.
And she sees parallels between Christ’s actions of inclusion and Labor Party ideology, demonstrated in its commitment to multi-culturalism.
Virginia Judge, a photogenic, bubbling fountain of energy, has just returned, beaming with pride, from the launch of a new building requirement, the mandatory inclusion of rainwater tanks for every new house, an environmental push that even drew the Premier.
“I’ll be with you in a minute,” she says as she sails past into her office for a brief phone call. Virginia is a woman on the move.
She is upbeat and positive and she holds her convictions with revealing gravitas.
She is passionate about the environment.
Apart from the water tanks, Virginia has reduced the site ratio of homes by 10 per cent to increase the amount of gardens in the area.
Running battles with developers over the heights of high-rise developments, safe lighting and attractive urban design have marked the mayor as a tough nut unwilling to compromise her principles on planning a welcoming urban environment.
“I’m not against development,” she says. “However, I believe it should be a level playing field and I don’t keep moving the goalposts.
“So if the building [regulation] says three or four storeys it means that; it doesn’t mean four and a half or five,” she says.
The same unshakeable determination is also found in her faith.
Her parents came from large families and grew up during the Depression; her mother turned down a place at the prestigious Fort St School at 14 to bring wages home for the family.
Virginia, the eldest of four, says life was a constant struggle that drew out her parents’ resolve.
“We grew up sitting around the dinner table on the Sunday night listening to some of the stories about the hard times they had, and how in many ways it made them stronger to lead their lives later on,” she says.
Education was a priority in the family with her parents putting all their money into Catholic primary and high school fees.
The ethics of hard work, frugal living and dedication to the family fitted comfortably into Catholic custom and Labor values.
Virginia’s parents, both committed Catholics, felt that the Labor Party had policies that helped and supported working families.
Their dedication to faith and politics and her personal experience of hardship as a child gave Virginia a leaning towards Labor which she describes as “a natural evolution [that] helps me structure my political thinking”.
“I strongly believe that the true Labor philosophy is closely aligned with principles that are embodied in my faith and my personal belief in God,” she says.
“The Church has given me a very firm foundation in forming my attitudes towards family, relationships, society, and I believe politics is involved in everything we do.”
Virginia formally joined the Labor Party in 1994.
She was elected to the Strathfield council in 1995 and is in her second year as mayor.
Local government has given her an avenue to help people’s lives and to build community.
“It’s not just about roads, rates and rubbish,” she says.
“If you want to show leadership you can do more than that and those principles that I’ve been brought up with help me to see things in that way.”
Virginia’s interest in community has influenced her career in many ways. She has worked as a project officer for the non-profit Australian Foundation for the Peoples of Asia and the Pacific, delivering humidicribs, toilets and ovens to Pacific islands such as Nauru.
The phosphate-rich island is a particularly sensitive subject for the mayor, who feels passionately about its environmental and cultural destruction brought about by rapacious mining interests.
A stint at community radio station 2RDJ confirms her interest in causes ideological rather than pecuniary. “I don’t think I’m radical but I’m very strong in what I believe. If I decide I’m going to do something I put all my energy into it to make it happen.”
Community building extends beyond the boundaries of the Strathfield municipality.
Inspired by a National Geographic program about a US group called Pedals for Progress, the redoubtable mayor launched her own charity event - Bikes Assist Australia.
More than 300 second-hand bicycles were donated by people from as far away as Mittagong and shipped to East Timor in an Army container.
“That’s an example of one community helping another community,” she says proudly.
The bicycle program pales by comparison with other fundraising efforts.
Take Fr Chris Riley’s Youth Off the Streets program: Virginia decided to make a contribution by introducing a mayoral charity ball last year. The Federation-themed inaugural ball was a sell-out event in the town hall with attendees raising $25,000, which was presented to Fr Riley on the night.
Her progressive politics, environmental and community interests give her a natural empathy with youth; this year’s recipient charity is the Rev Bill Crews’ Exodus Foundation, which helps children in diff iculty at school.
“I’m very interested in supporting our youth because [they] are our future,” the Strathfield mayor says.
“The young have so much energy, and they are open and they love the environment.”
Political themes are continued in her establishment of ecological art prizes intended to form a council art collection. Virginia is visiting local schools to en
courage teachers and children to submit works for the $15,000 in prizes.
The mayor’s cheerful visage falters only when she is challenged about her party’s
current position on social justice.
The federal Labor stance on refugees is near identical to that of the Coalition - hardly an inclusive approach or one
compassionate to society’s marginalised.
However, Virginia is adamant that the party’s principles have not changed, despite the apparent conflict in practice.
“I can’t speak for other people,” she says. “I live my Labor philosophy in the way that I treat people … I just deal at the local level.” She chooses her words carefully with this uncomfortable topic. Then her happy visage returns: “I also have this incredible sense of duty that people get their money’s worth.”
Champion of the community and the oppressed she may be, but Virginia Judge also knows how to play the consummate politician.