Ms McBain told Parliament she is "determined to make a difference", thanking voters and Labor leader Anthony Albanese for taking a "gamble" on her winning the by-election to become the electorate's first female MP in its 119 year history.

The first from her family to attend university, the Tura Beach resident became the youngest elected Bega Valley councillor in 2012, before quickly becoming only its second female mayor in 2016.

She used her maiden speech to highlight what she called a "climate in crisis" and its contribution to this year's bushfire devastation, as well as calling for greater understanding and respect for traditional custodians and the need to reverse the erosion of jobs in regional areas.

"Our Indigenous leaders are showing the way," Ms McBain said.

Ms McBain began by outlining her plan to create a consultancy or advisory group consisting of traditional custodians from clans across the electorate.

She said action on climate change is "long overdue", and pleaded to the government to listen to science and industry in creating policy around achieving net zero carbon dioxide emissions by the year 2050.

With a winning campaign based on her work through the recent bushfires, Ms McBain describing her and the community's experiences through the fire she called an "angry spirit or a wild animal that couldn't be tamed".

READ ALSO

"There is not a person, industry or business that hasn't been impacted by our 'Black Summer'," she said.

Ms McBain told Parliament her friends and family still wake up at night with "deep and lasting trauma", and promised to "supercharge" the response to bushfire recovery.

"We lost lives and homes on that night," she said.

She described planning some "precious time" with her family before "fuel ran out", "supermarkets were empty", stock were without food and communication infrastructure was downed.

"Tears are still flowing today, and nightmares still wake us at night," she said.

Ms McBain called for a strengthening of local supply chains, at a time when an environmental crisis was followed by a health crisis and an economic crisis.

Partisan politics, "won't just cut it into the future", she said, as she discussed the "importance of leadership".

"Leaders show up. Leaders walk with their communities," she said.

She thanked her "Labor family' idols Kim Beazley, who she said inspired her to join the party while studying law and journalism in Canberra, and Julia Gillard, Australia's first female Prime Minister.

"Bringing people together is the legacy I look to build as the member for Eden-Monaro," she said.