The move to Wodonga has taken longer than Senator Bridget McKenzie would have liked, but she was celebrating on Tuesday when her High Street office was officially opened.
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Although the front door stays closed to cope with the sound of roadworks outside, Senator McKenzie said being part of the city's growth was exciting.
“Having the physical presence here in main street, Wodonga means that people can drop in and get assistance with any federal issue that they need from my very helpful staff,” she said.
She has also moved into a new home two minutes from the office, officially living back in the North East for the first time since she moved away from Benalla as a child.
“I’ve been away since I was 15. The smell of the air is different, the dryness - I just adore this place and space,” Senator McKenzie said.
“I’m looking forward to being a part of the community for many, many years to come.
"I’m looking forward to getting out and finding a netball team for old ladies.”
The building contains multiple offices for staff, plus the senator's office which features pictures of her children, a portrait of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip on the wall, A Wodonga Bulldogs scarf and the - now stuffed - first pheasant she ever shot.
Her bookshelf includes five copies of Ninety Not Out: The Nationals, 1920–2010; Women Who Changed the World; Stealing from a Child: The Injustice of 'Marriage Equality by David Van Gend; and And So It Went, the Bob Ellis book looking at the early days after Kevin Rudd was first elected prime minister.
The office will serve as Senator McKenzie's electorate and ministerial base, which she said was a good example of government decentralisation.
"If you have those public servants, who are responsible for a policy area that affects people in communities like ours, then they should be a part of us so they understand the implications of their decisions,” she said.
Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack made the short trip down from Wagga for the opening.
Asked if having both Nationals leader so close should make the Border and Riverina a stronghold for the party, Mr McCormack said “it is a Nationals stronghold and (Indi candidate) Mark Byatt’s going to prove just that”.
“You’ve got a minister who’s not frightened to have her say - let me tell you she has her say," he said.
"My WhatsApp and my mobile phone just continue to buzz from Bridget with ideas.
"Some of them are fantastic, some of them I just think ‘I’ll just worry about that tomorrow when she might have forgotten about that’.
"I love Bridgey, she’s in there and she’s fighting hard.”
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