1.  When and why did you decide to become a politician?
I decided to become a politician in August this year at the age of 46

For four years I had been studying the statistics of the developed world, and had quickly seen that equal representation of men and women in politics produced better outcomes in a range of areas. I saw Australian women being grossly under-represented, and I saw it affecting our society. I endeavoured to pass this on but had trouble tapping into women’s political networks.

Amongst many variables, I had seen that gestational outcomes for women (fertility, abortion, breastfeeding) were very poor in nuclear power populations. I also had strong views on the inadequacy of early childhood care recommended by institutions. While trawling through Google for women’s attitudes on nuclear power I found the party What Women Want (Australia).

I immediately connected with all of its positions. I felt very strongly that the party had a very positive contribution to make to Australian society – a contribution I could fully embody and support. I was very content as an at-home researching mother, but I felt that these issues needed representation, and felt a very strong obligation to engage myself in the process.

The nature of the political world was not entirely foreign. I grew up in a political household – we had Labor party lunches every fourth Sunday for a while – my father stood in the State election once when the endorsed candidate withdrew. As a 12 year old I found the life very stimulating, and wanted my father to continue, but he said four weeks of politics had ruined his health forever, and suggested I do it instead. It hadn’t been in my plans though.

2.  What do you think are the issues that matter to young people?
I think the issues are different for all young people, for all sexes, but affirmation, belonging, trust, love, acceptance, friendship, power, sexuality, spirituality are probably generic. For many there will be serious issues of unhelpful early life experiences to cope with in a time of increasing independence, but some will be flying already and using all the global community has to offer.

In the traditional political areas it will be important for young people to be able to access the education services they need at the appropriate time, and they will want to know that they can be employed in their field of choice when they finish. They may need access to money for ventures, and good advice from mentors experienced in their field. The environment, the preservation of the planet, retaining pristine areas is important.  They want these values taken seriously.

Family experience can be very limiting, and some broadening education on accessing services in the wider world would be helpful for many I think.

3.  How do you plan to address these issues?
Perhaps it would be too much, but my greatest wish right now is to hear the stories of 5 million Victorians.

If elected to the senate I would review with a particular focus on the social justice aspects of Australia, and vote on legislation accordingly. With the increasing focus on Australia as an economy, rather than as a society, I would expect to see an increasing need for examination of the broad implications of social outcomes of legislation. As a senator I would expect to have greater access to media to bring attention to issues of social concern, such as those faced by youth.

4.  How do you engage with young people to find out what issues matter to them?
I haven’t done anything formally lately but would welcome the opportunity. I’m a trained secondary teacher and feel some competence in engagement. I hear a great deal of information through the mother network and talk on the street as it arises – my 15 nieces and nephews of varying ages probably help a bit – the general media and other electronic sources and attachment to sporting groups provides some information.

5.  What did you care about when you were a young voter?
As an 18 year old voter I was probably still lost in the clouds of growing up. I don’t remember there being anything that I thought a political party could do for me at all.  I was struggling with my issues, pursuing my dreams, and it hadn’t occurred to me at all that a political party or a representative might be able to help.

However, I loved forests…I did a lot of orienteering as a sport – I loved wild places – the beauty of nature, and felt a lot of peace in these places.  The first political consciousness probably came with the NO DAMS issue with the Tasmanian Franklin River in the Bob Hawke election of 1983.

6.  What is your opinion of young people in Australia?
I see everybody as a distinct person. Every person is different, skills, attitudes, history, needs, personality; most have had troubles which have challenged them and many are still suffering from them.  All through my day I see and talk to people of a very wide variety of ages, from newborn to very old, and everyone tells me very interesting stories about their lives as though we are the same age – there’s no age barrier to hearing a story. I don’t really see people in a state boxed in by age.

If really pressed, I sense an increasing world connectedness for young people, albeit electronic, but perhaps a little more stimulated and thus relaxed for it.

7.  How do you think our political system can better engage with younger voters?
This is interesting. Visiting schools is an idea, but as a year 12 student I remember Don Chipp coming to my school. He’d just formed a new party – the Democrats – he was on TV all the time. He was a celebrity, apparently with charisma, but I didn’t really understand anything he was talking about – it didn’t connect with me – he just seemed a bit weird.

The way the system works at the moment, there’s a responsibility on young people to state their case out loud. If they do, it seems to me that they have quite a good chance of being responded to.

However, one has to make a massive shift to break through ‘family obedience’, ‘institutional obedience’, and ‘societal obedience’ entrained by years, to actually think that oneself, as an individual, has a right then to suddenly step forward and state one’s case. It could be sped along though…

At the age of 18 one receives the keys to the car (in Victoria), and being the driver in a car is usually a symbol for being able to determine your own course. Up to 18 one learns how groups stay groups, and sometimes repression and obedience to core values (imposed) of the group is a part of that. One statement “Even though most of your individual wishes and needs have been repressed for 18 years, as an adult our democratic system actually allows you to state your case and make a demand for recognition or change”. One good TV campaign could do it.

8.  What are the key long-term challenges facing Australia?
There are a lot of very important things to keep abreast of, but these five are actually troubling me the most right now:

• Sharing of resources, particularly water at this present time (I live in rural Victoria). 
• The unexplored impact of nuclear power on the global environment (particularly to women) and the threat of nuclear power and waste in Australia. 
• The willingness of our country’s businesses and power bases to accept change to reduce our carbon footprint – to my mind Australia’s population is fantastic on this, but the power bases are having trouble accepting change.
• The increasing and unnecessary medicalisation of birth and the decline in the capacity of mothers to care personally for their children for various reasons.
• I don’t think Australia can move on anywhere until we completely address the Indigenous issues – these will forever lead us to fear invasion, as ‘we’ once invaded, and to persist with growth at an unmanageable pace so we are big enough to defend against invasion.

9.  If you could change one thing about Australia what would it be?
I think Australia is emotionally unwell and needs to consume to feel happy, and I think this stems from birth and very early childhood experiences. I take the view that the baby “ANZACS” were the last universally well-cared-for generation in Australia.

I would make seismic alterations to the institutional advice, practices and support given to new mothers, so the mothers can return to the position of being able to look after their babies in the relaxed manner intended by their genetic coding.

From there, I am absolutely sure, all good will follow. I see this as the major driving force to help Australia and other western nations back from the brink of excessive use of resources and planetary disaster.

10.  Describe a time when your political opinion was challenged or changed.
With an early Labor history like mine, and a tendency for the young to vote as their parents voted, it may be difficult to expect a seismic shift.

In the late 1980’s or 90’s my mother popped the idea into my head of voting for the Democrats (or other alternative parties) in the senate. I think balance of this kind, and a variety of opinion and full representation is vital in the house of review. I also began to vote for women before men in parties I felt sympathetic with to balance the male-female representation.

In the 1990’s I had embraced Paul Keating’s vision of Indigenous reconciliation with an enormous sense of relief that at last something would be done. When Howard came in reconciliation went publicly off the agenda. I expected a huge outraged response from the Labor party but it didn’t come. I can’t remember all of the moments but it seemed to happen time and again that I felt strong statements were required on various issues but they weren’t made. I saw Kim Beazely being completely ineffective, I had very bad feelings about Simon Crean, and have been continually upset by Kevin Rudd’s “Me too” on many issues.

My perception of Labor’s ineptitude coincided with my own increasing activism to correct institutional practices with long term negative consequences for Australian society. So here I am today, standing for What Women Want (Australia) on issues the traditional parties are unable to grasp, for their own inter-party competitive reasons.

However, Labor will get my own personal major party preference, if only for its relative stance against nuclear power, and for its historical (if not present) concern for issues of social justice.

11.  What’s your favourite thing about your electorate?
Victoria? Big electorate! I love its variety. I went to Gippsland from Benalla (home town) to ‘meet and greet on the street’. I began on flat agricultural plains, got into the mountain valleys with pristine water, drove up over Hotham and met people skiing, down through Omeo and all the burnt forests, and down to the beautiful beach and boats of Lake Entrance. On the way home I drove through the power La Trobe Valley, through the Melbourne suburbs, right through the city and back home. It was pretty special to see so much in two short days.

12. What do you do to relax?
I haven’t really relaxed in 12 years of motherhood – finding a few moments of quiet to find sanity is the best I’ve been able to do. Most of my time is spent serving the never-ceasing needs of children and my local community in between intense study of pretty much everything in Australia and on many similar topics around the globe. I play the piano (not well), talk a lot with other women, spend time when I can in quiet places in the bush by pristine water, and play with numbers and statistics. I have a long term goal of trying to find the missing geomagnetic history of Australia which is regarded as a ‘treasure’ by world climate scientists.