They were “the real movers and shakers” and Ms Hughes was impressed.

While she described herself as just a “first-time delegate with kids”, who didn’t know if she could step up, the seed had been planted.

“I was just really taken with just the whole idea of everyone being together and there actually being a lobby group that represents kids who don’t have reasonable access sometimes to their education,” Ms Hughes said.

It was when she attended the 2011 conference that she thought she could take something on a state council level.

Ms Hughes was the Queensland ICPA vice-president for the past three years before elected up at Thursday’s annual general meeting.

Affordability is an issue Ms Hughes will continue to back as she takes on her new role.

The mother-of-three will send her last child from their home at Harrogate Station, near Richmond, to join the others away at boarding school in Townsville next year. 

It’s a harrowing task for any parent who’s faced the expense. 

Though the group “very much appreciate” the remote tuition allowance increases pledged by the past two education ministers, Ms Hughes said “we still have a long way to go to close the gap” with the unprecedented drought.

“We’ll keep moving to make sure boarding education is affordable for those families that have no other option,” she said.