National Party's Nichole Overall is first woman to hold NSW seat of Monaro in 166 years

Cynics may suggest if she represented any party other than the Nationals, or was anything other than a white, middle-aged woman, the headlines would be rampant.

Not that Overall is concerned. She is quite comfortable in her skin. And there is steel beneath the down-to-earth demeanour of the newly minted MP. Despite her ready sense of humour, she is not one to be underestimated.

"Just being the 25th member for Monaro since 1856 is an honour and a privilege enough, but to be the first woman as well, the historic importance of it is not lost on me," she said.

When she rose to give her maiden speech in NSW Parliament on March 23, Overall referenced everyone from Banjo Paterson to Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music.

"My son Nick said, 'Mum, that speech could not have been more 'you'," she said.

The 50-year-old, mother-of-two is determined to be her authentic self in representing the people of Monaro and doing her utmost for them.

"As difficult as some of my early life experiences were, they produced in me characteristics I would not change: resilience, forthrightness, empathy, a rather pronounced streak of determination - some might say occasionally stubborn - and loyalty," she said, in her speech.

"And when I give you my word, you can be assured I will back it. What I will not do, though, is promise the world and deliver a globe, personally or professionally."

Overall was born and raised in Griffith in country NSW, the daughter of a nurse and truck driver. Her mum was barely 18; her dad just 19. Life was not easy, her home life not always harmonious. She spent a lot of time at her grandparents' farm in Hay. Her grandmother Shirley sadly died in January, aged almost 90, just missing seeing her granddaughter win Monaro.

"We'd had a big chat about [running for the seat] and I think what struck me the most is that she told me at the end of our conversation, 'I've always had faith in your darling'. So that was a nice thing to say at the time, but looking back now it feels really significant," Overall said.

She was the first person in her family to go to uni, starting a communications degree at the University of Canberra when she was 18. She lived in a flat in Queanbeyan and worked at the local newsagency to put herself through uni. In her final year, she also worked for the Tumut and Adelong Times. Overall always wanted to live in Queanbeyan rather than in Canberra.

"Queanbeyan really did remind me so much of Griffith, that country town feel," she said.

And she never left. "There's something about Queanbeyan, it gets under your skin and you just love it," she said.

She met her future husband Tim Overall at a Christmas party in 1996. She asked him to marry her. They did marry the following year and have two sons, Nick, now 24, and Alex, 22.

"So we celebrated our 25^th anniversary on the first of March, which was also when they declared the poll, so it has been quite a whirlwind year," she said.

Overall was chosen by the party membership last October to replace outgoing member and former Nationals leader and NSW deputy premier John Barilaro. Her husband Tim also retired from local government after 17 years on the Queanbeyan City, then Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional council, including 13 years as mayor.

She said the overtures for her to stand for Monaro weren't a surprise, but the timing was, with the sudden departure of Barilaro from state politics.

"To be perfectly frank, people have been floating the idea of me running for politics for quite some time now," she said.

Politics had interested her since she was young. She didn't want to consider it until her boys were older. Overall says she ran her husband's four election campaigns in local government ("So, when people say, 'Have you got much background in this?'. Well, yes, I do," she said).

She wanted to support him for as long as he was in a public role. And she was involved in plenty of community groups and was content. If anything, she had been focused on running in the 2023 NSW election.

But when her husband decided to retire from council and Barilaro also left politics, Overall decided the time was right.

"It all sort of fitted into place and it was a case of now or never," she said.

Overall says she sees herself as a representative rather than a politician. She loved the political campaign, meeting people face-to-face, and wants to get out in the electorate as much as possible. Monaro covers just over 20,000 square kilometres from Queanbeyan, Bungendore and Braidwood to Jindabyne, Thredbo, Bombala and Delegate.

It's an area that has had its fair share of natural disasters including in the bushfires of the 2019-20 summer. Overall says she does believe in man-made climate change. "It's happening, we all know that," she said. "We've had how many years of industrialisation? What about our population growth? Of course, we've had an impact."

"I personally am very progressive and proactive about all that," she said.

"The more that we can do and invest in resources and technology and practical solutions that don't negatively impact people, especially our farming communities, that's what I'm about.

"What I don't like to see is the catastrophising and undue anxiety we're creating, particularly for young people. Our role as leaders and adults is to provide solutions, not scare the wits out of people."

The other big issue for her will be education, whether it is helping to sort out the imbroglio around proposed new schools in the region or staff shortages at Queanbeyan high schools.

"It won't necessarily about always being able to achieve what everyone wants to see happen but they know I will be their voice," she said.

"The things that I commit to, I will absolutely do so they know they are being represented and advocated for."

Overall says she is not in politics for self-advancement.

"I'm not in it for career moves or what comes next. I'm doing it because I truly love our communities and want to make sure they are looked after and not overlooked," she said.

And to be clear, how do you pronounce Monaro? "It's had many iterations over the time - Maneroo, Moneroo - but it is most definitely 'Mon-air-o'," she said, with a laugh.

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