Wisdom gained from an adventurous life

Mornington Peninsula Shire’s elections in November 2020, during pandemic lockdowns, produced historic results. Voters elected eight new councillors with just three returned for another term – very unusual. Six of 11 councillors were women. A seventh woman was elected soon after when one of the men resigned after just four months and this made more history – a majority of women. In the first of an occasional series, we talk to one of the shire’s women councillors.

Debra Mar is Mornington Peninsula Shire’s deputy mayor this year. The daughter of a Goulburn Valley dairy farmer, Debra has led an adventurous life. She lived and worked in Melbourne from the age of 18 and then worked in London, backpacking solo around Europe during holidays. Back in Melbourne, she worked for a computer company and then moved to Hong Kong with “my first husband, a Hong Kong Chinese national”. She worked for a stockbroker selling shares on the Hong Kong stock exchange. The marriage ended and Debra returned to Melbourne at 29 where she studied a Bachelor of Arts in Asian culture, language, history and philosophy at La Trobe. She worked for British Airways in management with lots of travel overseas and married again “to a Polishborn Australian. We eloped to Canada to wed”.

At 40 she returned to study a Bachelor of Arts in fashion and textiles, and started her own fashion business, designing and manufacturing her own line of clothing. In 2011, Deb moved to the Peninsula and became a freelance writer and later volunteer with community radio RPP FM, producing and presenting a breakfast program and then a current affairs show, all the time writing. She quickly picked up the contours of the region by interviewing “politicians, shire councillors, business people, community leaders and stalwarts”. Standing for council was a natural progression, and she was elected in late 2020. Debra is a fiercely independent councillor with a strong belief in empowering women, and protecting and enhancing the natural environment and animals.

“To better support women, we as a society need to change structures and alter the basic framework of assumptions, principles and methods from which members of the community operate,” she said. “You can come from humble beginnings but still learn persistence, determination, curiosity and not tolerating mediocrity.

“For the environment, I’m advocating for something relatively new to mainstream society: the Rights of Nature. It’s not new to the wider environment movement. The guiding philosophy is humanity is just one member of Earth’s wider community, alongside plants, animals and living environments like mountains and rivers. We must encourage people to live a balanced, moderately paced and low-fuss life. We need less pressure on resources, ensuring sufficient trees, wildlife and open spaces to nourish and keep us healthy and happy. Maintaining the balance of nature and ecosystems starts with us.

“It can start with basics such as farmers coexisting with wildlife and treating the land with respect. And we as a society need to help pay for this change. Balance changes – what is agreed now will move again in 10, 20, 50 years. It depends on whom you talk to. What I see as balance between open spaces, tree canopy and housing will be different to, say, a developer.”

Debra said how humans treat animals “got me into the animal rights movement”. She’s written about the push on the Peninsula to rehabilitate wildlife and koala habitat, is the council’s delegate and chair for its liaison committee for Western Port Biosphere Reserve, and is a director on the Biosphere’s board.

A last word from Debra? “She took the leap and built her wings on the way down.”