It’s all Tony’s fault, really.
It was the eve of the 2013 election and I was lying on the floor screaming at the TV, horrified that that man was about to become Prime Minister. “He’s a bloody idiot” I yelled, wine glass in hand, long-suffering boyfriend by my side. Tolerance stretched to the limit, he said, “ Well shut up and f***ng do something about it!”
So I did.
I joined The Greens that night. Got an email the next day. Marched myself down to the local group meeting before the end of the week: “How can I help?”
I grew up in Lake Macquarie where mum raised my brother and I by herself while she juggled a job and uni. We didn’t always have enough to make ends meet. There were nights where she wouldn’t eat because we didn’t have enough to pay the rent, where the heater didn’t get switched on because we couldn’t afford the bills. And I remember knowing that was wrong. That someone who cared as much as she did, who worked as hard as she did, should have enough to raise her kids, to be able to afford the things you need to live a good life.
When I moved to Sydney my experiences of poverty only became more acute as I struggled in much the same way. Often I found myself stealing groceries, jumping the turnstile at the train station, or telling friends I was busy when in reality I couldn’t afford to hang out.
Those experiences of poverty are why The Greens were always my obvious political home. They are the bedrock of all that I do now as a Councillor.
I’ve been elected to the City of Sydney for two years now, alongside my friend and comrade Sylvie Ellsmore. Our work is relentlessly focused on making Sydney a place everyone can afford to live a good life.
In the past two years we’ve delivered hundreds of millions in funding to build rent-controlled homes, protected older, more affordable flats from being demolished to make way for fewer, more expensive luxury apartments, and worked with local communities to stop the sell-off of public housing. We’ve stood alongside families to protect early childhood centres from being privatised, backed in frontline workers at local community orgs to ensure food support is delivered for those in need, and to make our Council owned spaces are free and accessible to artists and community groups.
Alongside that we’ve pushed the conversation forward: we’ve led the campaign to ban investor AirBNBs and return thousands of houses as homes for people to live in, to use the City’s wealth and resources to once again build and deliver rent-controlled, Council owned housing.
Because Sydney should be a city that everyone can afford. And I believe it is my job to push every button, pull every lever I have in reach – and even ones that I don’t – to make that a reality.
Nowadays I’m in a much better place. I have a wonderful supportive partner, food on the table and a roof over my head. Things worked out for me. And I know because of that I’m one of the lucky ones.
I say it’s all Tony’s fault, and in many ways it is. And everytime we win a big change I send him my thanks. I’m sure he’d be delighted to know his ascension to Prime Minister inspired this queer socialist to change the world.
But ultimately it’s my mum who got me here.
She was the one who instilled these values in me. Who raised me to be kind even when the world was unkind. Who taught me to care when no one cared. Who taught me to remember those who are forgotten. She is my guiding star on a dark night, the beacon for me to sail towards when the seas are stormy and the course uncertain.
Being a Greens Councillor is the privilege of a lifetime. I owe it all to her.