Tag: feature

Meet Alicia Payne, the Federal MP for Canberra.

On March 18th, Jaden Ogwayo sat down with MP for Canberra, Alicia Payne, to hear about her experiences before politics and whilst in office, and gain insight into Australia’s political future. 
JO: How did you get started in politics?
AP: The thing that’s always motivated me is social justice, I suppose. And my background before politics was in economics, because I was really interested in how we distribute income, and [I had] always been interested in public policy’s role in that. Before going into politics, I worked in research and then in the public service. 
And, I suppose, why I ultimately ended up in politics is: I like that it’s where you can bring your values into consideration of evidence, and it’s where the decisions are made that can change the lives of so many people by having good policies that create foundations for people to have the best opportunities in life. 
JO: How did you get started with Labor?
AP: I joined the Labor Party in 2006, and I say John Howard got me to join the Labor Party because I just, I always, I suppose, had progressive values. 
But what made me go and join the party was two things: at that time, John Howard […] was attacking workers’ rights; but also, my sort of ‘policy passion’ is around the Social Security system, and it was when he cut single parents’ unemployment benefit, pushing a lot of families into poverty. 
And, I thought, I want to be part of stopping this government and electing a Labor government. And so, I didn’t join because I wanted to be a politician. I joined because I wanted to be part of a movement of people — doing doorknocking and handing out flyers and all those things. 
I was really, really involved in our Labor branch here in the ACT for about 12 years before I ran in the preselection. 
JO: Who’s one current and one previous politician that inspires you? 
AP: I’m gonna say for a current one, Linda Burney. I think she’s one of the most inspiring leaders that our parliament will see. And I think the way she has really been a trailblazer: the first Indigenous woman elected to the NSW Parliament, I believe, and then the Federal Parliament, and [then] as the Indigenous Affairs Minister. 
And in that space, she’s had to often bear the brunt of some of the most ugly parts of our politics, but the way she has always risen above and the grace and the strength that she’s shown, like, for example, through the Voice Referendum — the way she dealt with the really horrible stuff that was thrown at her, and just always showed this incredible strength and never got dragged into an ugly debate with people, I think, [an] incredibly inspiring woman. 
And a past one, I will say, is Jenny Macklin. I had the privilege to be her Chief of Staff in opposition when she was Shadow Social Services Minister. And again, I’ve seen her always fight for social justice, always, bringing along the evidence and the arguments based on […] the evidence that was there, but always standing up to fight against cuts… to invest in things that matter to give people good opportunities.
DUTTON AND PARTY POLITICS
JO: What are three federal policies that make you believe that Albanese will be a better Prime Minister than Dutton?
AP: Where to begin? Just three. 
Number one: We are taking action on climate change and will continue to. And Peter Dutton, his only plan is to build nuclear reactors, which is a fantasy and is only going to delay […] if he’s elected, it will put a stop to all the good work we’ve done transitioning to renewables. The Liberal Party still doesn’t, it’s not even clear if they even [do], believe in climate change. I think that is an existential issue facing the world. And I think, first and foremost, we cannot afford another government that doesn’t believe in climate action…
Number two: The investments we’re making in health and Medicare. Even though Dutton has said that they would match our latest announcement, you can’t trust the Liberals with Medicare… They have just a history of cutting Medicare from when it was first established, and they don’t like [it]. Whereas Labor, we will always strengthen Medicare; we’re making great inroads in health with the most significant investment ever in increasing bulk billing. We’re building urgent care clinics around the country, which means people can access GPs for free in a setting that keeps if they don’t need to go to hospital for something urgent, but not super serious.
We have made medicines cheaper. We have invested significantly in women’s health across all stages of life, like putting contraception, menopause, and treatments on the PBS […] giving women more choice and lower-cost healthcare […] All of this would be put at risk [under Dutton].
The third one is… it’s really hard to only choose three; there are so many! But I will say, education, as I mentioned, from early childhood right through universities, and also TAFE — free TAFE — we want Australians to be able to access the best educational opportunities and train for the jobs of the future. So under the Liberals, the previous government, universities were just completely neglected… it was all about culture wars, and I just, I wouldn’t expect anything from them in that regard. So I think, yeah, those three.
JO: Many critics, citizens, and voters have drawn comparisons between Dutton and Trump, and are worried about a rise of a conservative American influence here in Australia. Does that concern you? Do you see those similarities? 
AP: Absolutely, that concerns me, and I think quite often we see Dutton [using] ‘the Trump playbook’… what you can definitely see from Dutton is his strategy is always to divide Australians. He loves to get involved in a culture war, he loves to use an issue to create division.
He has opposed every — just about everything — we’ve brought into parliament; certainly, all our cost-of-living measures. And you can also see him making some announcements that are definitely driven by politics more than the actual substance of the policy. 
And I think a good example of that that’s very relevant to Canberra is his plan to cut 36,000 public servants. Now we have, in our three years in government, been trying to rebuild the public service after they [the previous Liberal government] hollowed it out (…and spent more on consultants than on keeping those skills in-house). And this will all just happen again. He knows that. But that policy just plays to people outside of Canberra; it’s Canberra bashing again. It’s just politics. It’s not actually based on what will actually deliver for Australians.
Yeah, so I think, I think it’s very concerning, and I think you can see some of the Trump strategies that he’s trying to echo. And we don’t want to go down that path.
JO: What’s something you would say to an undecided voter to convince them to vote Labor?
AP: Well, I would say that, that in just under three years of government, the Albanese Labor Government has achieved a great amount in a wide range of policy areas to build a better future for Australia, to rebuild our relationships with other countries, and as I mentioned, really importantly, taking key action on climate. We want to keep doing that important work.
A Dutton government, as I said, will, first of all, put a lot of that good work to waste and there’s no plan to deliver for Australians. If you’re looking at minor parties or independents, I would say that I’m a member of the Labor party because I want to be a voice within a party of government. Because it is ultimately governments that deliver policies and Labor governments, historically, have been governments that have delivered the big reforms and made a big difference. So, I want to continue as a voice for Canberra and the issues that matter to Canberra within that Labor government. 
JO: There has been a perception that the Liberals may be anti-immigration. Given your direct and recent experience with Australian immigration, first-hand with citizenship ceremonies, what do you make of this?
AP: Citizenship ceremonies are one of my favourite things I get to do as a Member of Parliament because it’s really very moving to participate in a day that is so special for people and seeing people committing to becoming Australian citizens and building their life here.
I believe that multiculturalism is a great strength of our community, and it’s about celebrating the diversity that people bring from other cultures all around the world and melding those in with ours. It’s about people continuing to celebrate and practice their cultures and language and bringing that to be part of our community. I think we still can always be a more inclusive community and we still do see racism in our country, and it’s important that we all have a responsibility to say ‘No’ to that and stamp that out. 
So, it’s disappointing when you see immigration issues continue to be politicised, particularly by the Leader of the Opposition in this country. We, the Labor Party, recognise that multiculturalism is a great strength of our nation and something that we will always support. 
ON CANBERRA
JO: How do you think that spending so much of your life in Canberra informs your politics and your policies?
AP: Canberra is a really progressive, altruistic, caring community and a very engaged community, and I think that does inform my views on things, and has shaped my views on things, and I feel it keeps me in touch with what many of my voters are thinking.
But it’s always evolving. And I think as the Member, my fundamental role is to be listening and engaging with Canberrans constantly. But I think it’s also [about] understanding our city, and I think there [are] still attitudes, nationally, about our city that aren’t deserved […] Canberra bashing and things like that. 
We can have a laugh about it. But it also does affect, investment in our city [and] affect[s] the discussions that are had in Parliament […] having grown up here and really loving and understanding our city just encourages me to really make two points in the parliament: to let people know that we are a real community with the same challenges and opportunities that other communities have (like we’re not a bubble — that’s a common misconception), but it’s also about making the case for our national capital being loved and respected by the rest of the country, because it does actually belong to all Australians, and we want them all to be proud of it.
JO: What are some issues with education, either tertiary or childhood, that you’d like to address if reelected? 
AP: I do think education policy is one of the most important policy areas, because it is such a driver of opportunity and giving everyone the best chance. So I’m really proud that we’ve invested in… The Better and Fairer Schools Agreement, which is about all schools, public schools, receiving the needs-based funding standard, where we’re focusing on education at all levels. 
Starting with early childhood, we’re making sure that early childhood education is accessible and affordable, and then through to universities, I would say that something I’ve always been really proud of is that we’ve been wiping the HECS debt. I do feel that a barrier to people studying at university is actually the cost of living while a student.
And I think that, I hope that, …something that I will always advocate for is looking at Youth Allowance as becoming a more adequate support for people to live while studying, including, people who have to move to capital cities to study or move to bigger cities where [it] can be really expensive, [students] needing to work so much that they can’t focus on their study, it becomes too hard. I think looking at that is a really important part of making university study accessible to everyone. 
JO: What are three achievements of yours in the past six years that you’re the most proud of? 
AP: I’m really proud that I have stood up for issues that matter to Canberrans, particularly climate change and the environment. These are some of the issues that Canberrans raised with me more than any other [issues], and I’ve been very vocal on those in Parliament and within our Labor caucus, the party members of government, to push for the strongest action we can take on climate change and protecting our environment. I was very proud to have co-sponsored the private members’ bill that restored our territory rights…
Another thing, I ran something called the Canberra Forum, which was a deliberative democracy process, and it was an Australian first which was run for me by a group called Democracy Co.
Basically, [it] brought together 40 randomly selected Canberrans to work with me over a period of about six months, and they could choose a topic that they wanted to deliberate on and make recommendations for me that I then published and talked about in Parliament, and the topic they chose was housing. 
So I was proud of that, because deliberative democracy is about looking at different ways in which we can more meaningfully engage voters in decision-making. And so as a Member, I was really pleased to be able to actually deliver an opportunity like that for my electorate, and
to participate in that was really a very inspiring and eye-opening experience as well.
ON YOUNG PEOPLE
JO: What advice would you have for a young person keen to follow in your political footsteps?
AP: I would just say: get involved! As I said, I was heavily involved in our branch at the grassroots level for many years, and being part of that movement got me to realise that politics was what I really wanted to do.
But also I have worked with so many wonderful people as a volunteer across all kinds of areas of party life […] [like] campaigning, obviously, but also working on policy formation and policy committees […] like our admin committee, which is sort of like the board of the party. So there are lots of different ways you can be involved, but I definitely think people should not be afraid to get involved in politics. 
I think when I was at university, while I was involved in activism, I would go to protests and rallies and letter-writing and things like that. I didn’t get involved in Young Labor because I was a little bit, I guess I sort of was, felt a bit shy and didn’t have the confidence and I just sometimes wish I’d got involved earlier. So I would just encourage people to get involved and not be afraid to join a party.
JO: Earlier, you mentioned the youth of this electorate, specifically. Your Liberal opponent is an ANU student, and the Greens have also put forward a UC student in Fenner, a nearby electorate; a shift in age that has received a mix of both hope for a fresh face and concerns over inexperience. What do you make of other parties having younger candidates compared to Labor’s incumbents?
AP: Yeah, well, I think what you’ve got to look at is the policies. So for Will Roche, the challenge is trying to sell a Dutton government to Canberra. I don’t believe that a Dutton government has anything to offer our city and a lot for us to be worried about. 
Like cuts to the public service, like the fact that Liberal governments traditionally, not only have they cut the public service, which is a key employer in our city, with implications for the whole country, but they don’t invest in our city. They don’t value our city. They do write us off as a ‘bubble’ and not a real community… I think that will be the biggest challenge for him… I don’t know that he will have a lot of good news for Canberra in the things that he’s promising. 
JO: Many are predicting a swing to the left in how Australia votes this year, especially since this is our first election where Gen Z and Y outnumber boomers. What do you make of this shift in age and potentially in politics? 
AP: This electorate is actually one of the youngest electorates in the country as well. And I like that, you know? I like to hear that people are thinking more progressively, and that’s really good. So I think this is a positive thing for our politics, that young people are showing that trend.
JO: This is the first federal election for many to be voting in, myself included. Give us some reasons why a young person who may not be the most politically oriented (but nonetheless has this duty to vote) should be excited about voting, and potentially voting for Labor?
AP: They should definitely be excited about voting because, well I was taught from a really young age that your right to vote is so important — like, you should always value it. Don’t waste it. 
I think we have a problem in Australia with disengagement. When I’m talking to voters, I’d rather hear someone have a strong view either way than someone who says, “I’m not interested in politics” because politics is ultimately the process by which so many decisions that affect your lives are made. So, you should take that responsibility and that opportunity really seriously and try [to] find out as much as you can about all of the candidates and what they stand for and what they can deliver. 
In terms of voting for Labor, I would encourage young voters to vote for Labor because we are concerned about your future. We are delivering the climate action that we need, taking that challenge seriously. We are creating educational opportunities for young people, be it through free TAFE… wiping HECS debt… we want young people to have opportunities.
We are a party that is looking to the future and to build the brightest one possible for young Australians. 
Jaden Ogwayo is not a member of, donor to, or recipient of funds from any political party.

Jaden Ogwayo