Leanne Verrier (@LeanneV)

MARYKA GROENEWALD, WEST AUS. worth watching. Rosita Díaz@RositaDaz48 2h You may not know her yet, but you will. Her name is #MarykaGroenewald. She sits on the crossbench in the WA Legislative Council. One seat. No major party behind her & she’s outworking half the Parliament. #Born in Johannesburg, South Africa. Raised by her grandparents. Moved to WA at 13 with her family & her faith. Studied Community Development & Politics at Murdoch Uni, then spent years in the places most politicians wouldn’t set foot in. #Fostercare. #Prisons. Coordinating restorative justice programs. Running the Angel Tree Christmas Project so kids with a mum or dad locked up still got a present. Advocating for women escaping trafficking & exploitation. Designing school programs that ran across WA, the NT & SA. She didn’t learn about broken communities from a briefing paper. She lived in them. Then she ran for office & lost. 2016 federal election, lost. 2017 state election, lost. 2021 state election, lost. 2022 federal election, lost. — Most people would’ve walked away. Maryka kept going. #In 2025 she won her seat, the first Australian Christians member ever elected to any state parliament in Australia. Had emergency surgery for appendicitis one week before polling day. #Still won. #From day one, she’s been a wrecking ball for accountability. She spent months pressuring the #Cookgovernment to release clinical documents on the Perth Children’s Hospital Gender Diversity Service. #They stonewalled her. She used the only crossbench motion she gets per year to force it into the open. #What came out? Puberty blockers prescribed to “very young” children. Girls under 18 referred for double mastectomies. All hidden from public view until she dragged it into the light. #She introduced the #BornEqualCare & Protection Bill, the first of its kind in WA, after uncovering that 39 babies survived termination procedures & were left without medical care. Between 1999 & 2010, 14 babies born alive. Not one received treatment. She put that on the parliamentary record & demanded it be addressed. She called out the ABC over #TheChaser mocking the assassination of #CharlieKirk. #She questioned the *Health Minister on children dying in the Kimberley. She publicly challenged Liberal leader #BasilZempilas to declare his position on puberty blockers the moment he took the job. She doesn’t care what colour jersey you wear. If you’re failing the people of this state, she’ll say it to your face in *Parliament & back it with evidence. I’ve done my research on this woman. She’s not a career politician who landed a safe seat. She came from the trenches, real community work, real people, real suffering & she brought every bit of that fire into #Parliament with her. #Her motto? “Walk the walk, do the work.” In a chamber full of empty chairs & invisible opposition, #MarykaGroenewald is leading the way. *One seat. No machine behind her & she’s making more noise than parties with 10* times the resources If you reckon we need more politicians who actually stand for something, share this & if your local member’s been missing in action, tag them & ask where they’ve been..! — What’s your thoughts…? 🇦🇺Peter Lyndon-James 🇦🇺 Can she be cloned. A few states could do with one like her! https://x.com/RositaDaz48/status/2081936022196367715