In Conversation with Her Excellency, The Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC, Governor of New South Wales

We were honoured to be joined in the studio by Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC, Governor of New South Wales. Her Excellency was visiting the New England area this week and has been engaging with people across the region. In conversation with TuneFM, Her Excellency spoke on the importance of community and why she believes that engagement is key to fostering a healthy community.

“It really is my very strong belief that the more engaged a person is with something in the community, the happier they are.”

“They feel much more connected, and much more part of the community. So, to me, it doesn’t matter whether engagement is playing croquet or it’s doing the sausage sizzle at the PCYC. It doesn’t matter what it is. Engagement, I think, is absolutely key to having a really cohesive community.”

Particularly for regional areas, Her Excellency believes that engaging with the community is key to learning more about what they need, and to understand the challenges faced by those communities.

“When I meet with students, when I might be at a graduation ceremony, when I might be talking to Year 12 students, I can talk to them about the wonderful careers that they’re obviously going to have in their future. Maybe just think outside their own bubble and think of practicing, going to the community, to the regions for two or three years.”

“And I can talk to them about why they’ll love it and why they may even stay. You might never know. And so in that way, you can sort of just get this, some people call it soft power, just working through the community. Which wouldn’t happen if I wasn’t out [there] myself understanding what are the problems or the challenges in the communities.”

TuneFM is very grateful to Her Excellency for making the time to squeeze us in for a conversation on our airwaves! Her Excellency and Ben spoke about her visit to Armidale and the New England area, UNE’s natural beauty, the importance of visiting regional areas, and the benefits of community engagement.