RUBY:

There’s one question Grace Tame gets asked all the time. And her answer is always the same.

GRACE:

For the record I'm never going into politics. For the last four years, I've been asked repeatedly, to the point where I've got a t-shirt printed that just has, no I'm not going into politics written in paint over Parliament House. I'm not.

RUBY:

Like many younger Australians, she’s disillusioned with the two-party system – which she says only serves a dwindling minority of wealthy players rather than the general public. But as Australia prepares to head into an election where Gen Z and Millennials outnumber Baby Boomers for the first time, she thinks its a chance to move beyond the two-party games

GRACE:

The political system is in the state that it is because it has been corrupted by exorbitant wealth for too long. That’s the major problem and I don't think it's much deeper than that. It really is about the money.

[Theme Music Starts]

RUBY:

From Schwartz Media, I’m Ruby Jones. This is 7am.

Today, 2021 Australian of the Year and director of the Grace Tame Foundation, Grace Tame, on advocating for change outside of politics and why this election is a chance to fix democracy.

It’s Thursday, May 1.

[Theme Music Ends]

RUBY:

Grace, welcome back to 7am. Thanks for coming on the show.

GRACE:

Thanks for having me.

RUBY:

So I wanted to start by talking about the AFL Grand Final in Perth in 2021. Set the scene for me.

GRACE:

Well, the Western Bulldogs were playing Melbourne Demons. Demons hadn't been in a grand final since the 60s, I think.

Audio excerpt - Commentator:

“Melbourne fans: celebrate, relax. The curse, the drought, it’s over.”

GRACE:

And we were embracing the day. I was dressed head to toe in a demon outfit with little horns in my hair.

Audio excerpt - Commentator:

“Every heart is beating true and blue for the red and blue. After 57 long years, the demons are premiers in 2021.”

GRACE:

There were a lot of WA politicians in the room, including then-Governor Kim Beasley, leader of the Labor Party in the Howard years. And he was telling me that I should go into politics and that to be successful, I would need to join one of the major parties. And whilst the conversation that I had with him was probably about 20 minutes long and we covered a lot of different topics and he was a very nice man to me and I quite enjoyed talking to him. But I did disagree with him that to make change that you need to be aligned to one of the major parties. I think successive governments have let the people down, especially in recent years. The housing crisis, cost of living crisis, we're in a pretty dire situation and a lot of people are putting their heads in the sand and they're enabled to put their heads in the sand, I think, because we have weak leadership.

RUBY:

Okay, so Kim Beasley obviously wasn't able to convince you to enter politics, and there is obviously power in advocating for change outside of the political system. Can you tell me a little bit more about how you see your role as an advocate?

GRACE:

I see my role as an advocate is to support those who don't have a voice, and whilst I can't advocate for everyone or for particular communities, I'm an advocate of that community. You know, whether it's the survivors of child sexual abuse that I stand alongside or fellow autistic people. Advocacy is about awareness raising as well and educating people and encouraging people to do their part too, because we all have the capacity to be an advocate, I think. Whether we're just advocating for ourselves on a day-to-day basis or we're advocating for other members of the community.

RUBY:

And you mentioned all the ways in which you see the political system failing because our politicians, they are by and large, not representative of the community as a whole. So how much do you think that impacts the outcomes that we get from them?

GRACE:

Well, politicians are supposed to be representing the people, they're supposed to representing their constituents. But because there's so much power at stake in that machine, and policy and decision makers influence how big businesses are able to operate and how much revenue they're able to make, the big corporations put so much pressure on politicians and they give them money. They give them money. I mean, one of the reasons that we have so much corruption, or that the machine itself is so corruptible, is because politicians, they need money to run their election campaigns. That's a huge, huge thing. You can make or break your next government in an election campaign. So it's worth it, in politicians' eyes, to spend a lot of money targeting people who otherwise are disengaged or who are sitting on the fence and who are swing voters. And if we didn't have so much disengagement, if we didn’t have so much political apathy, it might be less of an incentive for politicians to take big sums of money from the corporations who can afford to donate it. And so really you get political parties who bend in a certain direction because that's where the money is coming from. That's… we know that, follow the money. And it therefore is also a rigged game because you've got disproportionately morbidly wealthy individuals, whether they're representatives of the coal and gas lobby, and you've got major corporations as well. And they've embedded themselves such that there is a lot to lose for political parties and I'm not excusing it, but that's just the explanation.

RUBY:

And in this particular election, for the first time, Gen Z and Millennials will outnumber Boomers as the biggest voting bloc. So talk to me a bit about what you've made of the two major parties’ campaigns and the way they've tried to appeal to young people.

GRACE:

Where to start. The policies themselves, I think, don't go far enough to address the problems at hand, whether it's cost of living or the housing crisis. The housing crisis is the result of decades upon decades of both major parties pulling the wrong levers to really benefit multiple property owners and landlords, wealthy investors, and the younger generations who had nothing to do with it are not only copping it, but we're being majorly gaslit and given these, sort of, crumbs of possible solutions like having to make a 5% deposit instead of a 20% deposit but then you've still got a whopping great mortgage and, you know, the Coalition saying that elderly women and first-home buyers can draw 50 grand from their super, which is really problematic and short-sighted and Labor continuing to expand coal and gas projects and we just can't afford to be dragging our heels on those things.

We'd get a huge revenue injection if we started by actually applying the resource rent tax and seeing these fossil fuel bludgers actually pay their fair share of tax because that's not happening. We're not doing that because there are benefits in the short term of maintaining the status quo. And the young people do actually understand it. I think we're not given as much credit for understanding it. We're sick of being told that, you know, if we just have less avocado on toast and less lattes, we'll be able to save up. It's just actually mathematically incorrect. The median house price is 12 times the median salary, where it used to be about four or five times. And you don't have to be a mathematician to understand that the cost of not only housing but the cost of living has gone up way out of proportion to wages.

RUBY:

After the break - where Grace Tame finds hope in politics.

MUSIC OUT
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Audio excerpt - Ozzy Man:

“Cheers, Prime Minister, for coming to the pub. I'm one ahead of you, but I usually am with my guests, so a little bit of catching up but no pressure.”

Audio excerpt - Anthony Albanese:

“Although this is a zero alcohol beer, so…”

Audio excerpt - Ozzy Man:

“You are on the zero, which is fine. That's becoming more socially acceptable in Australia.”

Audio excerpt - Anthony Albanese:

“It is!”

RUBY:

Grace, when you look at the election campaign, I want to know what you’ve made of the way that the major parties have attempted to connect with younger voters so far?

GRACE:

Oh, incredibly patronising.

Audio excerpt - Anthony Albanese:

“Well Mr Speaker, they are delulu with no solulu, Mr Speaker. They are completely delusional.”

GRACE:

You know, I think that obviously social media has taken on a different role and, you know, everyone gets access to each other on social media, including politicians, and there is a need to keep up with the times. However, you know, releasing diss tracks…

Audio excerpt - Reporter:

“This election campaign has officially kicked off into the next level. The Liberal party has released a diss-track. We’re going to listen to it together.”

GRACE:

And doing softball interviews…

Audio excerpt - Podcast Host:

“We’re just talking cricket in here, Prime Minister. What do you think of the ashes campaign that these ladies had?”

Audio excerpt - Anthony Albanese:

“It was absolutely awesome. To win before… three, three and one.”

GRACE:

Knowing that there's a lot of benefit in just reaching people without having to communicate information or really be strong in your messaging. And I think that's disappointing.

RUBY:

I mean, we know that historically low numbers of people now vote for the major parties, not just young people, you know, people in general, and I think both Labor and the Coalition had their lowest ever primary votes at the previous election. So if that trend does continue, I mean, how do you look at what that might mean for political outcomes?

GRACE:

I think that's a good thing because I think that if we're able to restructure the government such that we've got more independents, a better mixture of political representatives that reflect the mixture of values and priorities in our many and diverse communities that represent society as a whole. And they're able to hold the major parties to account and hopefully we would get less influence from vested interests who don't have the best interest of the public at heart, that are really interested in growing their profits. It was Robin Williams who said that, you know, people who are running for office should really have all of their donors on their clothing, like a NASCAR driver, you know, or like a V8 Supercar driver. Like, that's the major problem and I don't think it's much deeper than that. It really is about the money. There's a reason why both major parties came together to pass legislation that would limit the amount of donations that independents receive because they know that it's a threat having more diversity and more independence. They don't have as big a stronghold on the political system.

RUBY:

And we've spoken a little about how the political class isn't representative of broader Australia. Do you have thoughts on what it would take, how the political process might need to change for there to be a more representative cohort of Australians who might feel like they could or should run for office? I mean, someone like you, for example, what would it take to make that something that would be actually appealing?

GRACE:

You couldn't do anything, you couldn't force me to do it. I've been exploited enough in my life and that's not a joke. I don't need to do it.

RUBY:

I mean, I feel like perhaps I already know the answer to this question, but do you have any optimism that the political system can change, that it can become more representative of Australia and therefore, I suppose, provide better outcomes for people?

GRACE:

Yes, I think you have to be hopeful and there is hope in a minority government that has representatives from many and diverse backgrounds who can, you know, stand up for all of the different issues that are affecting the everyday Australian.

RUBY:

Grace, thank you so much for your time.

GRACE:

Thanks for having me.

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RUBY:

Also in the news today…

Economists are predicting the Reserve Bank will cut interest rates when it meets this month following the latest inflation figures.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows headline inflation has remained steady but the RBA’s preferred measure of consumer prices has fallen within the banks target band for the first time in over three years.

And,

Fewer than one in 100 full-time workers on minimum wage can afford places to rent, according to the latest rental affordability snapshot from Anglicare Australia.

Anglicare surveyed 51,000 rental listings, finding only 0.7 per cent were affordable for a person earning a full-time minimum wage, and just 0.3 per cent were affordable for a person on the age pension.

I’m Ruby Jones, this is 7am. Thanks for listening.