Wendy Lovell bids farewell to politics after 24 years

By then, she will have spent 24 years in politics.

When she was first elected in 2002, Ms Lovell was the Member for North East Province, a position she held for four years.

Electorate boundaries changed after that, and at the next election she became a Member for Northern Victoria — a position she has held ever since.

Now, the time has come for Ms Lovell to retire.

“It was the most difficult decision I’ve made,” she said.

“I truly love this job and representing the community.”

Ms Lovell made her decision in January to not re-contest her seat, with pre-selection nominations needed by the Liberal Party early in the year.

“It meant it was a commitment for five more years. I just thought that might be a bit too long,” Ms Lovell said.

Ms Lovell was 42 when she was first elected to parliament, but never did she dream she would continue in the position for so many years.

Ms Lovell has several highs she looks back on as standout moments in her political career.

“Getting elected and representing my community was number one,” she said.

“Becoming a minister and having the opportunity to make decisions” is another thing she looks back on with fondness.

One of the things she remembers with a lot of pride is introducing Education First Youth Foyers — a policy she wrote as a shadow minister.

It supplied subsidised accommodation for young people who can’t live at home on the proviso that they continue with their education.

“It means they can finish their education and become employed,” Ms Lovell said.

New hospitals in Numurkah, Echuca and Rochester have also been high on her priority list.

“I’m really proud we were able to deliver the (new) Echuca hospital while we were in government,” she said.

She also remembers being in opposition and helping run a campaign to the government that saw Rochester Hospital go from possibly being closed down to getting a whole new facility, complete with operating theatres.

Getting more funding for the Echuca-Moama bridge and being able to see the project through to fruition decades after it was originally announced was also a highlight for Ms Lovell.

“I started advocating for it when I was first elected,” she said.

“When we got into government we decided the (final) route.”

Ms Lovell said she also advocated for those in border communities such as Echuca, Cobram and Yarrawonga during COVID-19 border lockdowns to allow concessions for workers who lived in one state but worked in another.

While she had pride in the big projects she had had some involvement in advocating for, or introducing, Ms Lovell said it was often the work that she was able to do for individuals that left a lasting impression on her.

“It’s extremely rewarding. When I have a win for the community or an individual, I am blown away,” she said.

The hardest thing during her time has been seeing her electorate go through natural disasters, including the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires where the most deaths were in her electorate, as well as other large fires, including the ones in January in several parts of the electorate.

There have also been floods in four different years, including the 2011 and 2022 floods that devastated Rochester, with the 2022 floods also severely impacting parts of Echuca.

“In the midst of that, if there hasn’t been bushfires or floods, we’ve had storms where we’ve lost major fruit crops,” she said.

As for her biggest disappointment after so many years in the role, Ms Lovell said it was that she spent the majority of the time with her party in opposition.

“You can do so many things when you are in government,” she said.

“You can also do things in opposition, but it is a different thing when you have to convince someone else to do things for your community.”

In her retirement, Ms Lovell is looking forward to having some downtime; however, while she will not be a politician any more, she envisages still taking on roles to help the region.

“I’m not the sort of person who does nothing,” she said.

Her final words were to those she has represented for so long.

“I’d like to say thank you to the community,” she said.

“It’s been the biggest privilege of my life to represent northern Victoria and to be a voice in parliament, and I will be forever grateful I’ve had this opportunity.”