Karissa Subedi is passionate about regional health care, community and family. Photo: Supplied.
Long before being elected to council in 2024, Karissa Subedi was a nurse in the Philippines. She came to Australia in 2010 and began working as a cashier and employee at a flower shop before she became a registered nurse.
She moved to Wagga in 2019 and her passion for healthcare, community and family drove her to run for council.
Region caught up with her to discuss how she’s balancing her duties as a nurse educator and a councillor, her view on the migration policy and the recent abortion debate and her advice for other young women wanting to be part of local government.
What’s a day like for you when you’re not busy being a councillor?
Aside from looking after two beautiful children — well, one beautiful and one handsome, I manage the nursing college that we own here, so I’m here most of the time teaching nursing students. So these are future nurses that can also actually help us in crisis of healthcare workers.
Because I’m from the Philippines, I’m really attached to the Filipino community here, and my husband is Nepalese as well, so we have really good connections with the Nepalese community.
If there’s one thing you could achieve for Wagga, what would it be?
I think it’s the health and healthcare workforce. I really want to, you know, listen to Wagga where they say, like, we don’t need healthcare workers anymore because they’re all filled up.
So I think it’s just really looking into the crisis of healthcare workforce, because I think that’s where I blend in with my bread and butter, where we train and grow our own and then be able to help in the workforce.
What other ambitions do you have more generally?
Thriving small businesses, I think, is also very important. I think there are a lot of brave community members in Wagga who put their hand up and establish a business, and to be able to support them and set them up for success is something that I’m really passionate about.
What’s your view on the recent bill to improve access to abortion in regional NSW?
I do understand where [Wagga MP] Dr Joe McGirr is coming from [in opposing the bill], and I also believe that with more experience, you get more concept of what the real world is in nursing.
I think it’s we’re giving time to transition for new nurses and midwives in their own role, before actually making a decision. Specifically, it’s a life-changing decision for a woman, right?
I think the same as nursing and any other role you have to navigate, and you still need to learn a lot of things, so it’s not undermining the experience or the profession. I think it’s more of getting that concept and really understanding your role before you are able to make decisions like prescribe abortion medications.
As someone who migrated to Australia yourself, what do you think about the reduction in permanent migrations?
I understand where the government is coming from. As you know, in Australia we need skilled workers.
For example, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency [AHPRA] has released a statement [in 2023] about how many nurses are here at the moment. And I think in that release, it says there that nurses who are 60 years or above, there’s about 40,000 nurses.
I read somewhere that there’s only 20,000 university graduates produced in Australia here. I mean 20,000 can cover half of [40,000]. But where do you get the rest of the 20,000?
When you talk about migration, there should be a specific [requirement] and I think that’s what the government is actually doing. They have skills in demand, and they’re controlling that, which is, you know, I do understand with the housing crisis, and there’s just no place to stay for new migrants, but again, we need skilled workers to actually work in Australia.
What advice would you give to another young woman considering running for council?
Go for it. I think opportunity is there to those who really want to go through local government. It takes courage to do it.
So if they can find a mentor that can actually help them to set them up for success, I think it’s a very good opportunity.
