Senator Perin Davey


About Perin

From driving Army trucks to cooking buffalo while on safari in Africa, it sometimes feels like Perin Davey has done it all.

Perin grew up in Canberra chose to make her home Billabong Creek near Deniliquin —  between the Murray and Murrumbidgee Rivers in the key irrigation areas of the Murray-Darling Basin — raising her two daughters with husband John.

“I love it out here and I want to protect what we’ve got.”

Unlike some of the big-city politicians, Perin spent most of her life working for a living; she ran her own hospitality company on the safari trail in Botswana, trained as a journalist and served Australia as an Army reservist.

Eventually, a desire to work for the common good and a background in media led Perin into political advisory roles and later, work with irrigation groups.

“I’ve been appalled by how minority groups try to influence from a distance what can and can’t be done on a person’s soil.”

Perin has worked with Murray Irrigation as a water policy officer since the Murray Darling Basin Plan was released.

As someone who is married to a farmer and lives in rural NSW, Perin understands how important it is for our regional communities to have a strong voice in parliament and fight against inner-city interests that threaten our country way of life.

“Really, this should be about common sense, but it’s easy to get lost in jargon and numbers. One of my biggest passions is the right to farm and I’ve been appalled by how minority groups try to influence from a distance what can and can’t be done on a person’s soil.”

It would be easy to stereotype Perin Davey as a tough, no-nonsense country woman, but her years with The Nationals have taught her a basic principle that so many seem to have forgotten: Respect.

“Our Party has a broad and diverse range of concerns and opinions, and that’s a good thing,” she said.

“We put the regional lens over policy in Government and ask if there’s common sense in the decision; you know a ring road in Sydney might be good for country people too if it improves their access to ports or freight. I want see politics go back to what I viewed it as when I grew up; you can disagree on issues but never make it personal, I think it’s become too personal and I want to bring that respect back.”

Perin’s priorities

  1. Protect our country way of life from minority interest groups;
  2. Improved mental health support for all regional Australians, with a strong focus on our youth;
  3. Make sure our landowners have the right to farm and that their families and employees can feel safe on their property;
  4. Reducing unemployment and creating good local job opportunities for our kids so they can stay and be employed in the regions;
  5. Continue to build mobile phone towers in an effort to be mobile blackspot free; and
  6. A fair go for all Australians. 

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