Sonny Stephens is the Federal Labor Candidate for Gippsland.
Sonny Stephens has spent her whole life a Gippslander. She was born, raised, educated and has worked on Gunaikurnai country, only spending three years elsewhere.
Sonny left high school to follow in the footsteps of her parents, who both served during World War 2, serving our nation in the defence force for three years. Her years in the Army taught her a strong work ethic, discipline, timeliness, organisational ability and a sense of duty and service, that is still a key part of who she is today.
After leaving the Army, a Whitlam Labor Government initiative allowed Sonny to pursue a tertiary qualification, free of charge. This experience taught her how important educational opportunities are for all Australians, no matter where they live.
Sonny spent 20 years working in the public and private health, welfare and social support sectors across Gippsland, including five years with a General Practitioner organisation in East Gippsland, where she learnt first-hand the issues facing both doctors and patients in rural and remote locations.
Sonny, like many Gippslanders, has directly faced natural disasters with her rural property impacted by both fire and floods over the years. Her lived experience was invaluable when she worked in disaster recovery with Government Departments and Local Government following three major disasters in Gippsland. This included the Great Divide fire of 2006/7, the 2007 major flood affecting most river systems and the 2009 Black Saturday fires affecting the Strzelecki Ranges. Her lived experience combined with her recovery work has given Sonny a deep commitment to disaster preparedness, ways to mitigate impacts on people and the environment, and the urgent need for action on climate change.
For the last 20 years Sonny has been devoted to agriculture; firstly, with a beef enterprise then lucerne and crop growing and finally as the Manager of an Agricultural Contracting Service to other farmers in the mid Gippsland and Macalister Irrigation Districts. She knows and has lived the pressures faced by farmers and farming communities and how much hard work and sacrifice is needed to sustain a small business in Gippsland. She knows and understands how crucial small businesses are in local communities, both as employers and participants in the community.
Sonny has two daughters and lives in Cowwarr with her youngest who is a Disability Pensioner with complex chronic medical conditions. Sonny was raised by a physically disabled mother and is acutely aware of what it is like for 5.5 million Australians with a disability.
Sonny’s great passion is gardening, supplying the family with fruit and vegetables and revegetating her property creating habitat for birds and mammals and protecting against erosion, in between Melbourne Storm matches, that is.
As a life member of the Australian Labor Party, Sonny has demonstrated a deep commitment to Labor values that put people first. She is an advocate for people like herself who choose to live, raise their families and work in regional, rural and remote locations in Gippsland.
Sonny has lived most of her life in small country towns giving her a strong sense of community. She has been and always will be a true Gippslander.
