Mary is the youngest of nine and was raised in Echuca.  At the age of 17, Mary moved to the outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne where she continues to live today. Mary worked several different jobs and attended TAFE to study Performing Arts. Mary also performed with a few bands in the local Melbourne music scene as a singer during the 1990s. 

In 1995 when she was just 25, Mary was diagnosed with breast cancer and needed to take 2 months off her casual call-centre job for treatment and recovery and had to rely on sickness benefits during this time. Thankfully, she made a successful recovery. Three years later Mary got married, and three years after that became mum to her son, Clancy, and later her daughter, Lily.

For a decade Mary was a single mum to her two children and in 2020 she became guardian to her great-niece, Jamilah, after the unexpected passing of her much-loved niece, Melanie.  

Mary worked as a Union Organiser with the Finance Sector Union, the Health and Community Services Union as well as the National Tertiary Education Union. She also worked for many years at the ACTU as the Marketing Officer and Partnerships Manager. Prior to entering Parliament, Mary worked at HESTA Super Fund as the Key Stakeholder Relations Specialist.

Having experienced hardships in her life, Mary knows what life can throw at people. Overcoming a health crisis so young and relying on social support, then later being a single mum juggling out-of-school-hours care and living expenses, Mary knows; she has been there and wants to create a better future for people in her local community.