Newly minted federal MP Cassandra Fernando is the living embodiment of her South East Melbourne electorate. She’s a migrant, she’s hard working and she speaks her mind.

And the new member for Holt, the first Sri Lankan-born member of Australia’s federal parliament, says she is driven by a deep sense of social equity.

“I want to see a fairer Australia for all; where everyone is equal and treated fairly and with respect no matter what a person’s age, gender or where they come from,” Ms Fernando said.

“And I also hope to achieve for the people of Holt, a better life for now and for the future. What we do now will shape the future,” she said.

Apart from fighting for benefits for her constituents, there is broad range of issues that Ms Fernando is passionate about.

“I want to fight for better wages for Australians. I believe in a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay,” she said.

“I want to see the Uluru Statement from the Heart implemented along with an indigenous voice to parliament.

“I also want to see more done on mental health. Holt is the third youngest electorate federally in Victoria and mental health is a big issue that is high on my agenda.        

“The sort of future we leave to our children is important to me. We are at a tipping point with climate change and what we do now will impact the future,” she said.

Ms Fernando’s is a familiar migrant story. Her parents left their established lives behind and came to Australia to give their children opportunities.

“In Sri Lanka my parents had good jobs and a good life, but they decided to leave that behind for a better future for my brother Hamish and to give us opportunities we wouldn’t have had in Sri Lanka,” she said.

“I arrived in Australia in 1999 as an 11-year-old and when my brother was six. We arrived in Melbourne but then went to Quakers Hill in Sydney for about three months before coming back to Dandenong North – and we never moved again.

“If was difficult for my parents to start all over in a new country. They showed a lot of courage to leave everything they felt comfortable with behind to give us a better life,” she said.

Ms Fernando says it was not easy growing up as a migrant child in suburban Melbourne two decades ago.

“A lot of people don’t talk about racism but it exists and it’s still out there. But as a kid growing up I always loved the diversity of the place I lived,” she said.

“And it’s always been a diverse place, from the Greeks and Italians to the Ukrainians and Serbians and people from Vietnam and elsewhere in South East Asia.

“And even though people in the south east may speak different languages they are united and they look after one another.”

As a migrant kid at school, Ms Fernando was an English and Second Language (ESL) student.

“I didn’t have perfect English when I went to school so I had a teaching aide supporting me and working with me,” she said.

The experience led her to become a volunteer language tutor with migrant and refugee settlement agency AMES Australia.

After gaining qualifications in hospitality management, patisserie and commercial cookery, Ms Fernando also completed a teaching aide course.

“I did the course because I wanted to give back to the community and I wanted to do something useful with my spare time,” she said.

“And drawing on my own roots I thought what better way to do that than to help someone else to learn English. So, I volunteered with AMES Australia a Noble Park and it was a great experience.

“I never forget where I came from and the organisations and people who have helped me become a better person,” she said.

Working part-time while also studying, Ms Fernando became a union member at 15 with the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association.

“I put my hand up to be a delegate at the store where I was working and also became a health and safety representative,” she said.

“But I felt later that I could do more and help larger groups of people. So, I applied to work as a union organiser.

“I worked in the job for five years I looked after people in the south east and eastern suburbs and also in Port Melbourne, in the inner city.

“The work involved helping people with roster, disputes, bullying and harassment, WorkCover issues and basically all aspects of work-related issues.”

It was the Howard government’s 2007 ‘Work Choices’ policy that catapulted Ms Fernando into politics.

‘Work Choices’ watered down unfair dismissal laws and removed the so-called ‘no disadvantage test’ which had sought to make sure workers were not left disadvantaged by changes in legislation.

It also reduced workers’ ability to legally strike and restricted trade union activity by introducing laws that allowed workers and employers to bargain for conditions individually.

“It was a turning point for me. Work Choices meant insecure work for me and my parents. So that’s when I started getting interested in politics,” Ms Fernando said.

“As I got more involved in the union movement, I also got more involved in the ALP, which I believe is the party for the people.

“After became involved in the ALP, the opportunity came up and I put my hand up to run for Holt. I did that because I want people in the south east to have better lives. And also because I think I represent the story of the people of the south east; I’m a migrant and I’m hard working.

“And now, importantly, I’m their voice in Parliament,” Ms Fernando said.

Her electorate is one of the most diverse in the country with 40 per cent of people speaking a language other than English at home.

Among Ms Fernando’s first pieces of work as the MP for Holt was to hold a local round table event in Cranbourne to collect and document local issues around jobs and employment for the national Jobs and Skills Summit.

“I feel honoured and I love learning from the people of Holt that I meet every day. It’s the best part of my job actually,” she said.

“I love the people of Holt and I love learning about their cultures, religions and values. There are different varieties of food and music and it is just such a culturally rich environment.”