Election Insights: Yarning with Senator Dorinda Cox on the 48th Federal Australian Election

With less than a week until the 48th Federal Election, I had the privilege of sitting down with Yamatji-Noongar woman and the first Indigenous woman to represent Western Australia in the Senate, Senator Dorinda Cox.

This election feels like a turning point—First Nations justice, climate, housing, and international solidarity are all on the ballot. In this candid episode, I explore Dorinda Cox’s personal journey and unprecedented path into politics, unpacking the challenges and lessons she gained from her time as a police officer. We discuss critical issues facing our mobs, from the cost of living and affordable housing to the government's lack of action on First Nations sovereignty and truth. We also delve into global solidarity with Indigenous communities and Palestine, tackling important conversations on colonisation, structural change, and the Greens' grassroots approach to these pressing matters and their election promises!

It’s important to note that I was not compensated for this taping, nor any other Yarning Up taping. Our team reached out to all Senators, including Senator Jana Stewart, Senator Malindiri McCarthy, and Senator Jacinta Price, but received no response, and in Senator Stewart’s case, a decline. It was our intention to ask the tough questions on behalf of our mob while maintaining political neutrality. We are grateful to Senator Cox for allowing us to do that.

To learn more about Senator Dorinda Cox click HERE. To learn more about what the Greens party is proposing in their election platform click HERE.

 

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a rating and review so we can elevate First Nations people and stories and don’t forget to follow the show! Follow Caroline on Instagram @blak_wattle_coaching and learn more about working with Caroline HERE

 

We would like to acknowledge Aboriginal people as Australia’s First Peoples’ who have never ceded their sovereignty. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri/Woiwurrung people of the Kulin Nation where the podcast was recorded. We pay our deepest respects to Traditional Owners across Australia and Elders past and present. And our future young generations.

 

This podcast was brought to you by On Track Studio.

www.ontrackstudio.com.au

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Podcast Unite our Voices. This podcast is brought to you
by on Track Studio. Welcome to Yarning Up, the podcast
that showcases First Nations stories and conversations to help us

(00:24):
learn and unlearn Australia's history to work towards a better future.
I'm your host, proud barber woman and founder of Black
Wattel Coaching and Consulting, Caroline cow. We acknowledge the Rundery
people and elders where this podcast is taped, but we

(00:46):
also acknowledge the lands that you are listening in from today.
It always was and always will be unseated Aboriginal and
tourist Red Islander Land. Well, with the countdown on to
one of our most defining federal elections some might say

(01:08):
in recent history, we are so honored and so privileged
to be sitting down with First Nation Senator for Western Australia,
Durin de Cox. Senator Cox, Welcome to Yanning Up. I
imagine it is so busy in the lead up to
the election, so I cannot thank you enough for being
here today.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
Thank you, Caroline, I'm so grateful that you reached out
and welcome to everyone that's joining us.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
Yeah, thank you well, as we always do with all
of our guests on the show, I'd love to start
by asking you to tell us a bit about your
mob and a little bit about your personal story.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
So I'm a Nunga Yamajee woman and I have lived
and worked on Brolly, which is the EU traditional name
our names for Perth for most of my life. I
was born in the Great Southern in the town of
kojin Up, and my parents moved up into the Big
Sticks or out of the Big Sticks into the city

(02:11):
and to raise me and my brother from a very
early age. And so my country isn't the country I
live and work on, but I am very closely connected
to my country, which is both to the south but
also to the north of Perth. And so my clan
groups are the Wadari people who are from man Augustus

(02:33):
or its traditional name is Borrengara, which is the largest
rock in Australia, not.

Speaker 3 (02:37):
Al Aru as some might believe.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
Also the Mangu people of Geraldton, so I'm a saltwater girl.
On that side, the Ewitt clan, which is connected to
my mother's country and it's the place of the New
Norseha Mission where most of my ancestors were taken to
so I have a history of five generations of the

(03:00):
stolen generation. My family and my dad's family are from
the Cannyang tribe, which is down south, which is where
coaching up is. So my connection across many, many different
areas across Western Australia are quite significant because our families
are obviously moving across country, working and caring for country

(03:22):
that whole time. So I consider my connection both as
a cultural person, as a young andjie person very close
to my heart and right alongside that is the connection
to my community and the way that I carry myself
around the first Nation's portfolio is talking about the issues,
not talking for people. And I think that we have

(03:44):
had a voice for a really, really long time and
we keep talking about those issues and it's my job
as a federal portfolio holder for the Greens to ensure
that those voices are elevated right up to the nation's Parliament.
And so it's one of the reasons that I joined
politics is I think that of elevating those voices is

(04:05):
your role and to weave your way around the country
and talk to mob about how do we fix some
of the really big systemic issues that face us are
critical when you're in the Senate.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
Wow, it's always so fascinating to hear you know, your
early beginnings and what's led to you on this pathway
to politics. And I guess how we Yeah, like you say,
we weave all of those parts of our identities and
passions and purposes into the spaces that we take up. Yeah,
multi clan woman, self order women and yeah, fierce legacy

(04:44):
of your old people. Thank you for sharing that. You know.
I'd love to maybe before I get into sort of
talking a little bit more about your political career and
I guess, yeah, of course the recent the upcoming election.
I'd love to just sort of maybe for those who
are listening who don't understand what the Senate and what
the role of say, the House of Reps and the Senator,
how would you describe that for people who might not

(05:07):
know what your role in parliament is.

Speaker 2 (05:10):
Yeah, When when I think about politics, and when I
explain it to mob in particular, it's that the House
of the Senate or the Senate is the house of inquiry.
It is the house in which passes legislation but has
the ability to break break legislation done and to inquire
into it. It is the where we interrogate all the

(05:32):
laws or the bills that come before before the place,
and the House of Representatives is obviously all of the
different electorates is the House of the people, and so
it's essentially everyone that sits in the House is your
spokesperson on behalf of that electorate. And so what I
would see is is there's a very big difference in

(05:53):
the way that we work from the House of Representatives.
The House can be quite polarizing in their relationships and
quite often you see either side of the House, particular
in question time and then you see quite a substantial
cross bench. Now in the Senate, it's very different. There

(06:13):
are relationships that are built behind the scenes. We are
on committees together. There is a lot of negotiation and
trading they call it hot horse trading that happens behind
the scenes, and all of that negotiation is built on
a premise of we are all there to represent our
political values and our electorates. So my electorate is the

(06:33):
whole of Western Australia, which is such a huge diverse
geographical location to represent. But essentially, looking at all the
different pieces in the legislation that cross the table of
the Senate. It's important to look at them in detail
and understand what they mean for your constituents. And our

(06:54):
constituency covers all of Western Australia, but it covers the
portfolios in the Greens that I'm also given. So I
have five of those nations? Is only one of them?
I have Northern Australia, Mining and Resources, trade and tourism,
And so at any given day, I'm on a different
journey talking about a different thing, which essentially we're trying

(07:19):
to wave all of the first Nations issues into to
have a conversation around how do we decolonize the whole place,
to ensure that we're putting front of mine that this
always was and always will be Aboriginal land, and that
there's a concept of where the colonial construct of parliament
wasn't built for us, and so we have to almost

(07:40):
deconstruct that in a way to get people to understand.
And that's probably the most difficult part of my job
in the Senate is to constantly understand every committee that
holds an inquiry into a bill or into a particular
issue is getting across that to make sure that we've
got mobs voices that are at the table and that

(08:02):
are talking about the impacts them and to try and
craft it in a way that is grounded in a
whole lot of history that has happened in this country
and our experiences and across the whole of the continent.
They are so different no matter where you are, And
I always say, what happens in in a Melbourne in

(08:22):
Preston isn't the same story as in the Cape in
far North Queensland, or here in Perth.

Speaker 3 (08:29):
Or in Karratha.

Speaker 2 (08:31):
You know, we've got so much diversity across the country
that it's important and our engagement is a grassroots movement
of people telling their story and having agency of that.
I think that's the really important part of it. And
as a senator, building new pieces of legislation, building inquiries

(08:51):
to look at where the system's broken is essentially what
my job does. And so when people talk to me
about a native title, for instance, I'm a big believer
that there are things that can be improved and it's
my job to do that. So it's my job to
ask the hard questions and to ask people, if we
were able to improve this, what's doable for us, what

(09:14):
will absolutely bring a benefit for future generations. And that's
where I keep my focus is on the next five
or six generations of our children and our grandchildren great grandchildren,
because we have a once in a lifetime opportunity. And
I'm extremely privileged to be sitting in the Senate and
I don't take that for granted at all.

Speaker 1 (09:35):
Yeah, thank you so much for that context setting about
what the role of a senator is. And it's quite
interesting to hear that notion of horse trading, that there's
so much relationship building happening behind the scenes. And I
think our mob all too familiar when it comes to

(09:58):
Senate inquiries and Royal commissions. If if we think about,
I guess, the role of the political environments. You know,
many grass roots movements are often calling for those systemic
inquiries of change to be led by governments, to be
overseen by governments and then essentially handed back to the

(10:20):
communities and organizations to then implement those changes. And you know,
from the Royal Deathing Custody Report in nineteen ninety one
up until you know the more recent parliamentary inquiry which
you were really instrumental in, which was the inquiry Intermissing

(10:41):
and Murdered first Nations women and children in Australia, which
is a very important piece of work that many have
tragically had to experience that loss, and also those who
have long called for the knowledgement of our first nations women.

(11:01):
I think despite many of these findings, though Senata often
and even yourself has has criticized some of this work
as being weak and toothless and really failing to address
those systemic changes that are needed. And the wheels of
government turn notoriously slow, and I often wonder how the

(11:24):
black women in Parliament are picking themselves up, just like
the women in and our communities as well, who are
needing to often pick themselves up despite the numerous coronial
in quest and other things that they are subjected to
under the colony, the project of the colony, which you
have also mentioned. Did you ever foresee, in thinking about

(11:48):
your seventeen year old self when you step foot in
Parliament that first time, that it would lead you down
to this path of politics yourself?

Speaker 2 (12:00):
Like quite often it's funny, Caroline, you quite often do
think about, you know, if I had my seventeen year
olds who first visited Parliament House. And I think many
media outlets have reproduced that picture, and I think only
last year I went and sat in a similar chair
that I would have done on the public tour in

(12:22):
Parliament House and as a seventeen year old, and I
walked around that place, and I think I mentioned it
during my first speech around pulcating and the Redfernce statement
and the importance of understanding black representation in the Parliament
and as a seventeen year old, never never really seeing
much of what that looked like, to visit Parliament House

(12:43):
and to understand the importance of that and the importance
of the political system to make sure that it's representatives
are very clear about how they represent their constituents. But
also the Australia's got such a dark history and a
dark history that requires us to to look at it

(13:04):
in great detail and to understand what colonialism actually looks
like today and that if we are going to make change,
it is going to be our young leaders. By default,
we are a young population of people. I think the
median age is about twenty seven years old, so like

(13:25):
our young people learn from a really early age, and
I think being a black kid growing up, you're thrusted
into responsibility for a really young age. And often looking
after younger kids, your younger cousins, and you're doing things
much before your time. And I think that sense of
leadership that we foster and nurture in our own families

(13:45):
and in our own communities really plays itself out when
we're thinking about we get to that age of seventeen
or eighteen, and what are the things that I want
to do to create change. And I was really fortunate
that my dad had had a really bad experience. Not fortunate,
but my dad learnt from his experience in contact with

(14:08):
the justice system that he didn't want that he wanted
to break the cycle for his kids. And so he'd
had a lot of friends that were in the police force,
and he quite often reflected on his own journey, and
he would tell me stories about things that he would
get up to when he was younger, like all kids,

(14:29):
but he left schooling at the age of nine, and
so I think that had a really significant impact. My
dad ended up going back and being a mature student
much later in life. He also went to work in
the justice system to be a mentor for young people
in detention. So I think all of that shaped my
very early understanding of what I could do with the

(14:52):
power that I had, and so as a seventeen year old,
I had a conversation with him, with him saying, You've
got many pathways that presented to you, and this is
a really great one, and one of them was policing.
So as a cadet, I would go in and I
would learn what policing looked like from the inside, and
it was more of a community role. So I was

(15:13):
an Aboriginal police liaison officer and I would go out
into the community, engage with community and particularly young people,
and it was something that really gravitated to me. I
was a sports kid, so I played basketball and netball
from a really young age, and I had hundreds pairs
of basketball shoes and I would be at the basketball
stadium till eleven o'clock every night. I was one of

(15:36):
those kids. So this pathway that was presented to me
through my dad's friend, he really talked of the opportunity
and the change that I could be to be a
mentor for young people.

Speaker 1 (15:48):
Wow, which I imagine would have been very confronting for
any seventeen year old to step foot into the violence
of policing.

Speaker 2 (16:04):
I was very naive to think that was the only
thing that I was going to be asked to do.
And in reflecting on that and understanding that I would
be in a uniform like every other police officer and
what that meant to my people, it was quite jarring
in the early stages, and I remember my grandmother saying
to me, my dad's mum saying, did you understand that

(16:27):
the police were the ones who removed kids? Back in
the day I had my kids removed by the police,
and I was really quite very teary and very emotionally,
you know, affected by what my grandmother had said to me.
And I remember going back to my sergeant and saying,

(16:47):
I'm not going to remove kids. I'm not going to
I don't care if you asked me to do that.
I'm just not going to do it. I'll leave if
that's what's going to happen. And during that time, I
was never asked to do that apart from one occasion,
and I found that quite confronting, you know, and that
having to be a police officer that stood by while

(17:10):
children were removed was definitely not something that I had
ever wanted to do.

Speaker 3 (17:16):
It was something that.

Speaker 2 (17:18):
I believed as a system, we could have avoided that
we got into a confrontation where parents were being told
that their children had to be removed and by police officers.
So I remember sitting in the car that night and
thinking very deeply about the choices that I'd made, and
I quite often reflect about that time and think about

(17:41):
the choices I had at the time to stop that
from happening. I quite often think about the system and
the way this system continues to perpetuate some of those
circumstances for our people, and what we have enormous power
to change. And it's the reason that I changed the
recent measuring outcomes and closing the gap, because I know

(18:04):
that the each protection and the removal rate is now
even higher than it was during the time of the
Stolen Generation. And I think that there are people who,
as young people, make some of those choices, not understanding
that there is a system much bigger than them, and
the levels of accountability don't necessary or sorry, the levels

(18:28):
of power don't necessarily lie with them. So I think
you can make all the decisions that you like as
an individual to say I won't do those things, but
in fact you have no power in some of the
bigger machinery of government and the institutions that we make
a choice to work within, and so it doesn't matter

(18:51):
if it was that seventeen year old or the person
that I am now. I'm still confronted with those situations
where I have a lack of power. I might not
be the chair of the committee, and it's not my report.
And that happened during the Missing a Murdered First Nations
Women and Children's Inquiry that it was the report of
the committee, it wasn't Senator Cox's report. So I found

(19:16):
that really jarring for me because I was so passionate
and I've been so deeply affected. I have a very
personal experience where my cousin was murdered in a regional
West Australian town, and like many many other families across
the country, I sat with them and I heard around
the horry pic trauma that's still that still follows in

(19:37):
their daily lives now, and that they still battle with
and still with missing persons, that where some of those
families are still waiting for their loved ones to come home.
And I think that they're constant reminders of your pathway
and the things that you've chosen. But I think also
that there is a great opportunity to seize everything that

(19:59):
is input in front of you and make the most
of it. And there are many many learnings I had
during my time of policing that I still hold very dear,
many leanings that have helped me shape the person that
I am and to be disciplined and to work to
a way of putting the community first. And I think
when I started my career it was always with the

(20:21):
want of being a change agent and being the person
who could think about what that next generation of kids
could actually do and what was possible. And I think
that when I reflect on that time now, I think
that I probably would have went into politics a lot
sooner than what I did, and I would have attempted

(20:42):
to probably do something that had fundamental change in a
way of youth parliaments or have engagement of young people.
And we've still got that opportunity. It's something I want
to do before I leave parliament, is to engage our
young people from a political point of view and to
understand the power that's in politics and the way that

(21:04):
we could reshape it, not just being politics that sits
in Canbra. It's such a vast difference from what we
could do at a community cabinet level where we could
hold caucus and have our kids tell us what are
the things that we could change today. And I think
that that's a really important process for us to embark on.

(21:27):
And I think, Caroline, if I can just say like
that that seventeen year old didn't know what she didn't know,
you know that being exposed to so many different experiences,
it would help me to have probably made some different choices,
or to leave earlier, or to not you know, know
that I was going to be asked to do things

(21:48):
that I knew were against my values.

Speaker 1 (21:53):
Thank you, Senator Cox. Firstly, just for the humility there
in sharing you know what it must have been like
for you to be seventeen years old and enter the
police force thinking you'd be a community facing role, only
to be subjected to, you know, the police force itself.

(22:15):
And I appreciate the humility and the lessons that have
been learned. I think many of us may have fallen
victim to that notion that we, as one black fellow,
can reckon an entire system that has been built on
hundreds of years of Eurocentric imperialism just by our sheer

(22:38):
might and will, and you know, Chelsea what Ago writes
about it in her book Another Day in the Colony
about you know that we can't outrun or outperform these
deeply entrenched issues of imperialism. And I think nothing speaks

(22:59):
to those issues that legacy of conquest, extraction, exploitation, genocide, massacres,
ob subjugation and killing of our people, like the police force,
one that continues to dehumanize and erase our peoples and
so and we see this play out, you know, from

(23:22):
early relationships with settlers, so from like the violent dispossession
of our people from our homelands to you know now
what we see is the over policing and over removal
of our mob And you know, these systems certainly are
not defined by a crisis or an accident. They are
set up to do exactly as they were intended to do.

(23:47):
And you speak about this quite a bit. I guess
when you think about changing the system, you talk about colonization.
I feel like colonization and the harms of colonial ills
is a very salient political question that we are all
thinking about in modern societies right now, with a lot

(24:11):
of the rise of the far right and fascism here
and across the globe, and so I want to just
ask for those who are listening, what what exactly what
what What were the precise learnings that you took away
from that experience and how does it shape how you

(24:32):
show up now in parliament representing your constituents and of
course your people.

Speaker 2 (24:42):
I think when you understand the legacy of colonization, because
I think, in my mind colonization was an act, you know,
like it was an act that was an acted in
us on us as black people. And when we when
we sharpened that focus to what colonialism is and how
people people often refer to it covert least still being

(25:04):
in action, and I think that there's nothing covert about it,
Like there's there's very key and very instrumental things that
the governments of the day do that don't hide the
fact that they that e rasia is a is a policy, right,
Like I think that not funding self determination and human

(25:30):
rights issues across the country is a process of arasia.
If we don't fund it, if we don't if we
don't bolster it, if we don't nurture it as a
government and as an institution, then it doesn't exist and
it will disappear and essentially like it's it's not even
a COVID way in which that happens. And I think

(25:50):
policing's very similar is it has at its roots a
very old military style way in which it's an actor
and there's sort of a very deep culture that exists
in that. A lot of it's quite masculine, and so
even as a black woman on two fronts, I was
often confronted with racism but also sexism. So they're very

(26:14):
sharp swords, I want to say, and barbs that sort
of head towards you, which often if you're a young woman,
you're not prepared for. You don't have the tools to
be able to to one focus on defending yourself, but
also to shield others and to absolutely try and dismantle them.
And I think that's also true of the Parliament. And

(26:36):
I think that my time in policing, what I've been
able to do is understand and unpack what that looks like.
And when you enter into an institution, it's to understand
its culture, is to understand what its deep roots are.
And it's similar to colonization. If we look at the
deep roots of Australia, what does that represent? You know?
And quite often I've been in sessions of running cultural

(26:58):
awareness training with a frame full of non Indigenous people
and saying to them, what do you think Australia represents?
Can you give me something culturally? Can you tell me
what would be an icon that would help you to
understand what modern day Australia looks like. And people would
talk about meat pies and thongs and taranas and Holden's

(27:20):
and like they talked about most extreme things that quite
often are not iconic in the way of our culture
as Australians. And now we're a multicultural Australia, but it's
very deep roots. It's understanding how the culture of the
institution operates on a daily basis, and so from a

(27:42):
political point of view, it operates in a Westminster system.
It is a system that we borrowed politically, and so
for me, it's understanding how the systems that weren't built
for us were just adopted and given to us. Similarly
to policing and policing, as I said, has that the

(28:06):
deep roots of military and in culture. We would often
resolve conflict by getting elders to do that and to
have our own mechanisms and ways of resolving conflict in
our community, and that's generally at odds. It's deeply at
odds because the leadership for us is something that is

(28:27):
earned and it is respected, and it is not given
by an institution as such. And so I think that's
where we're at loggerheads in lots of the things that
we do. And as a young woman, and as a
young Black woman, it was all it was very confrontational
because I come from a strong matriarchal country, you know,

(28:50):
strong matriarchal roots in my family where the women, the
nanas and the aunties and the mothers had a lot
of say, had a lot of leadership and a lot
of power which was at the decision making table. And
so that's quite confrontational when you go into a very
masculine environment where you then want to express your views

(29:14):
or you want to give your opinions about how you
can improve things, and quite often there's a lot of pushback.
There's a lot of pushback. And I find that still
in the Parliament that there are a lot of women
who they would just prefer to see and not hear.
And I think that what we as black women in

(29:35):
that place have been able to do is really shake
the place up and the disruption I won't say about
the style of disruption, and the disruption is about saying
that this is not how it should be, and it's
not noise, so it's not in trouble. It shouldn't be.

(29:56):
It is a message that is quite consistent and clear
that I am here to disrupt. I'm here to disrupt
the status quo, saying that we can't continue down this path,
we can't continue to do what we do because if
we do, there will be much more harm for people
at a collective level. And I think that's constantly what

(30:19):
I reflect on when I think about the juncture that
we're at in this election, and I think that the
constant pushback for a really really long time has been
they're too loud, they're too activist, they're too you know,
out there, And I think that this long time yahn

(30:41):
we've been having is about disruption.

Speaker 1 (30:45):
Thank you, sanator Cox. I really appreciate the depths of
your reflection there and the inside and the generosity to
sort of look back at these moments and how they've
shaped your political positioning and how you show up now.
I think with the political window that we are in

(31:08):
in this sort of monumental time. That is exactly what
this moment needs, is that deeper reflection about how some
of these modern systems, contemporary systems have been shaped by
harm and to do that deeper work, to have the

(31:29):
humility it's to say that we've gotten things wrong. And also,
like you mentioned, that these systems need to be held
to such a deeper account and challenged and questioned and
disrupted and in some cases abolished because they have not

(31:52):
only not served us, but other folk as well here
in so called Australia. And it's interesting to think about,
like you say, that disruption and you know, on the
topic of over policing, I think sometimes Indigenous women are
so surveiled in this country and so policed. And it's

(32:14):
probably a whole other podcast on respectability politics and how
we're allowed to question the status quo, on how we're
allowed to disrupt. But I think about, you know, the
vast representation across all factions in Parliament, and I think
about the women and gender and queer and diverse folk
who are you know, showing up a part of movements

(32:36):
of global solidarity and organizing right now and are showing
that courage and a calling out these systems I think of,
you know, Hannah Rafazisi, Marpi Clark ripping up the Treaty
Bill in our Tuoa. These moments of courage and disrupt
disruption are so very much needed in our landscape right now,

(33:01):
to give us all something deep sense to believe in
as well, something that feels tangible, feels important for us
to keep going and to keep showing up despite all
that's being hurled at us these days, and the issues
that are being hurled at us are huge. So let's

(33:22):
talk about this federal election. So in this critical moment,
our communities are calling for bold and principled leadership, leadership
that puts people and planets and our future generations first.
We have seen our government of the day, the Labor Party,
which has failed to act on urgent issues from the

(33:47):
worsening housing and cost of living crisises, the growing climate emergency,
and I guess as we have spoken about, you know,
this moral urgency of standing for Palestine and the sovereignty
of all First Nations people, and we've seen this play

(34:08):
out here at home as well. They've failed to show
any true leadership on the Voice to Parliament since the
failed referendum and They're silence on these issues has been
really deafening and really just offering symbolism without any structural change,
and it's left many first ass people feeling really abandoned

(34:31):
once again from this national conversation. Meanwhile, on the other
side of the floor, we're seeing the Liberals who are
continuing to champion austerity measures and push these punitive, tough
on crime policies that we know will punish the vulnerable

(34:52):
in trench inequality and inequity and sort of tear at
the fabric of our society which will have a particularly
damaging consequence once again on our mob And so we're
seeing the Greens offering I guess a different path this

(35:12):
federal election with some of the things which I'm going
to list off and I hope to hear from on
your election platforms, which is, you know, fully costed plan
to freeze and cut rents, the building of public and
affordable housing, making childcare and dental care free, you know,

(35:33):
to phase out coal and gas, to look at the
cost of living by taxing billionaires and big corporations. And
I guess standing firmly for justice, including the recognition of Palestine,
and I understand that if elected, the Greens will move

(35:54):
formally to recognize the state of Palestine, to call for
an immediate cease fire and push for an end to
the occupation apartheid, and also working closely to deliver real
justice for First Nations peoples and looking towards a federal
truth telling process. Can you explain to us what do

(36:17):
the Greens Party propose that they are doing to support
First Nations communities.

Speaker 2 (36:27):
Yeah, thanks, Caroline. I think one of the things I
can safely say is that this is a once in
a generation election, like for the first time ever. I
think it is that the gens Y and gen Z
out rank I suppose or outnumber the amount of baby

(36:51):
boomers that will be voting in this election. So what
that looks like is there's almost like this phasing out
of older people in Australia as the boomers as we
get a younger population who start to be predominantly and
the majority of decision makers in Australia. So I think
there is a real on the cusp once in a

(37:14):
generation of decision making that will bear the fruit for
younger people, and I think that's where we're squarely focused.
My level of disappointment is that the major parties, as
you can see their leaders out over the last few
weeks outspreaking. Their policies are built for the boomers. They're

(37:35):
not built for the gen y gen z voda who
is grappling with the fact that they aren't going to
have housing. They aren't going to ever be able to
afford a home if we are continuing to implement some
of the things that their parents and grandparents had and
the stuff around, you know, wiping student debt. I think

(37:58):
today we were out launching our wipe student debt policy
and we're talking about if Anthony Albanezi today was to
do his economics degree ever cost him about fifty thousand
dollars like that, for me, should represent whether the Prime
Minister is thinking about the gen y gen z voter

(38:22):
who is a young student who will have to think
about being qualified and actually being the person who needs
to be able to afford not just that but also
in a cost of living christ to be able to
afford food, putting food on the table and the price
gouging that's happening.

Speaker 3 (38:41):
At the.

Speaker 2 (38:43):
Checkout is just unbelievable. And the Greens are the only
party who have a bill in the nation's Parliament. We
were glad to hear that Labor said that they would
now make price gouging illegal. But that's not setting up
a task force to look at this again. This is
actually voting for the bill, like that's the thing they
can do right now. So we want, you know, the

(39:04):
thing that the Greens can do is all of those
things dental into medicare, wiping student debt, capping rents, you know,
absolutely setting up a public property developer so that we
can get a build happening that's substantial that we haven't
had in the last two decades in Australia for public
housing and making sure that renters and first home buyers

(39:27):
are the people that we prioritize in this election, and
we've been very clear about that and very very unapologetic.
So our policies are built by our party. They're built
by people who are living and walking this every day,
and they're not the big corporations or the lobbyists and
the donors that sit behind some of these political parties

(39:47):
and whisper to them. These are the things that you
can do for our benefit. These are the things that
we do that are part of our grassroots movement that
are part of listening to everyday Australians and their struggles
that they're having, and we want to make a real difference.
We want to cut through that. And I think that
what we can do by having the Greens in the

(40:08):
balance of power or power sharing or hung parliament and
minority government there's many names for that, is the Greens
will be just like we were in twenty ten in
a position to absolutely negotiate with the government. Now every
day is minority government in the Senate. We do all
of that trading. As I said right back at the

(40:28):
start of our podcast, part of this is what we
want to duplicate into the House of Representatives and being
a minority government like we were with the Gillard government.
We got dental care for kids into Medicare, like that
was quite substantial. We got the biggest investment in Queen Energy,
you know, like we were actually making moves and then

(40:50):
Tony Abbott comes in and scraps the whole lot. So
the mob I think that there is a real sense
of understanding the deep history, as I said, the deep
roots of this colony and and what Australia is in
understanding that people talk about a cost of living crisis
quite a lot. We've been in a cost of living

(41:12):
crisis for quite some time. We've been living under the breadline,
you know, and the poverty rate of our people has
been over generations. And the way that we were able
to survive that as mob and I remember from a
really early age my nana would go out and get
a sheep, you know, and get it cut up and

(41:33):
be delivering parts of that sheep to different people in community.
And I'd asked questions because I was only really young,
and why are you doing that? She would say things
like those people will pay me back next week and
they'll be able to see that I don't have food.
There was this collective way of looking after each other
and caring for each other in community. Now that the

(41:54):
rest of the nation is in a cost of living
crisis and they're struggling to pay their food, they're struggling
to pay their rent, they're trying to struggling to pay
their power bill. Lots of people who were in middle
class Australia have now moved into where we are as well.
And I think that there's a real sense of responsibility
for the next government in the forty eighth Parliament to

(42:16):
really look at this, that we are now moving into
a space that this is affecting a majority of Australians
and that we cannot continue this wealth in equity in
our country because if we do, we are in serious
trouble because we have those outside influencers like Trump who
will continue to have an impact on our economy and

(42:39):
an ourgy of geopolitical peace and safety in our region.
So it puts US at a very vulnerable position. And
I think for mob, we all want to see change.
And I think for the first time what I am
seeing is younger people sort of having that sense of understanding.
They have been the ones who have been walking beside

(43:00):
many of our movements for the last few years. When
I go to a rally or a protest and I
see young non Indigenous people who are very strong allies
and just get it. You get the understanding of the
struggle that mob we've had and that use their power
to make change. I feel like there's a ground swell

(43:21):
in Australia of this cost of living crisis which is
affecting a more broad base. And I think that Green's
being a minority parliament, we will be able to absolutely
negotiate some of those key things universal childcare, dental into medicare,
more affordable housing with rental caps as well across the country,

(43:46):
and making it easier for you to own your first home.
I think they're really key in pivotal things that will
make a difference, and they'll make a difference in a
system that does need to be interrupted or disrupted. And
I think even yesterday the media or asking questions of
will this new property developer that the government are going
to set up be set up against private property investors,

(44:10):
And so even the media are now starting to see
how much sense the Green's policies actually make. And we
don't mind labor copying our homework. We've said that, we
said we don't mind them doing that. We don't want
to necessarily want to claim the win. What we want
is change. We want action, and I think we all
go into this really with eyes wide open around how

(44:33):
this can be. The equity across particularly wealth in this
country is so important. Once we start to do that,
we unlock a whole conversation. And I think that's the
work I do in our mining and resources portfolio, because
I'm talking about how we protect the sovereignty of the

(44:55):
land and the resources and the community benefit sharing and
in conversations around what treaty might look like in different
parts of the country. That's my role then to bring
in the First Nations elements of that and to actually
say this is so important that mob beat at the
table and that we're having a constant conversation around this

(45:18):
and what does what does that unlocking look like when
we are talk about power sharing not just at the
federal level in government, but also down at a grassroots level,
because that's where we've got to shift it to. And
I think the Greens is a grassroots movement and a
party of community will absolutely do that. And I think

(45:40):
our leadership have demonstrated that we want to make sure
that economic justice is achieved in climate justice right alongside
First Nations justice. So we can't have any of those
other pillars unless we actually achieve that.

Speaker 1 (45:56):
And I wonder, you know, what's the Greens response to
Dutton's nuclear push and what what is the party exactly
proposing within the context of the climate and environment. So
as I understand we're going to be the Greens are
calling to commit at least one percent of the federal
budget to environmental initiatives, which will amount to seventeen billion

(46:19):
dollars over four years and establish a federal Environment Protection
Agency to enforce environmental laws. But you know, yeah, so
what's the stance to this? And I guess what is
the Greens Party actually proposing to deliver the fast, just

(46:39):
and affordable energy transitions that we need as a country.
As you say, to think about this sort of redistribution
of wealth of these natural resources that we have in
this country, well.

Speaker 2 (46:52):
There's probably two things there, Caroline. Like one of them is,
you know, we absolutely reject having applied for nuclear in Australia.
Like what we've seen the history of this is is
what the Bungalo people and remembering what happened at Marlinga,
you know, and the impact of that. And we still
have women only recently who went to the UN and

(47:16):
talked about just one generation previously and then her dad
was blind blinded by the nuclear testing at Marlinga and
Emi Fields. And these are the things that are still
ever so present for mob around nuclear and the impact
nuclear had. And I've for a long time now talked

(47:37):
from to the traditional owners from Ranger from the Range
of Mine up in the Northern Territory in Kakado around
their experience of supplying uranium for Hiroshima, and you know
they're deep, deep regret that a resource from this country
we used to cause so much distress and death and

(48:02):
havoc in Japan. And you know that our mob feel
a sense of responsibility for all of that, and yet
they had no power to prevent that from happening. And
that's the distressing part of it is that there is
no plan for nuclear waste in this country, particularly high
grade nuclear waste. And we know that we've constantly been

(48:25):
talking about that under the Orchus arrangement that we have
with the US and with the UK at what that
will do to our communities and right here at home
in Western Australia in fact at Garden Island for Hma
or Stirling. So we reject that this is an energy plan,
like it cannot be an energy plan in a country
that has an abundance of solar sorry of sun and

(48:48):
wind solar energy and offsure wind farms are the only
way to go. It will bring the prices down for
energy in this country, it will make it much more
affordable and much cheaper, but also the benefit sharing that
we can have for mob. So One of the things
that I've been talking to the First Nation's Clean Energy
network about is how do we invest even more into

(49:13):
the clean energy network so that we can absolutely understand
how mob can choose over here we like a solar panels,
not over here because this is a traditional area, this
is a sacred site, so gives them much more control
in the way of managing heritage on country as well.

(49:37):
But also that there is a really pivotal part of
benefit sharing that is about how do we actually become
economically just on our own country. How do we start
to make money from this that anaws our community to
have a benefit. Now it's not just mob, but it's
a whole community. And what we did during the Future

(49:57):
Made in Australia negotiation is to ensure that it was
going to be green hydrogen.

Speaker 3 (50:03):
That was the end goal.

Speaker 2 (50:05):
And what we know with Peter Dutton's nuclear plan is
to keep gas in the system a lot longer. I
don't think the Liberal Party or a coalition have made
any secret that they want to keep gas in the system.
In fact, they're talking about it in an East Coast
gas reservation. They're talking about importing gas back into Australia.
Which is just phenomenal. I think that those conversations are

(50:26):
null and void and the distraction of nuclear is what
the Liberal Party is trying to do.

Speaker 1 (50:34):
Yeah, it it feels, it feels tongue in teak because
it all comes back to what we're well, we've already outlined,
isn't it is that first Asians communities whose countries are
being mined and fracked and extracted, rarely the ones raping
the benefits financially, and in many cases are just left
with you know this this environmental damage and cultural and

(50:59):
heritage loss, and it sort of sounds like, you know,
they reframing of how we've always done things here in Australia,
which is to extract and exploit, and particularly how we
sell off our natural resources like our gas, our water,
our minerals and iron ore and luthium, and you know
how we think about the tax and royalty system, so

(51:24):
that if we can, we really want to redistribute wealth
in this country. I think we have an opportunity to
do that by bringing it back to our country and
not foreign ownership and making it really difficult for us
to get ahead. But particularly you know, thinking about the

(51:47):
broader return back to traditional owners who lands is being destroyed.
So yeah, thank you, thank you for sharing that. My
final question, I'm very conscious of time, I guess speaking about,
you know, what's happening with the current government of the
day and the coalition. There's one area that I really

(52:07):
do want to touch on, which is the failed referendum.
Would be remiss of me to not discuss the failed referendum.
And it was interesting. You know, we've spoken a lot,
Senator Cox throughout this episode around the longstanding and entrench
impacts of colonization. And in October the fourteenth, twenty twenty three,

(52:33):
the Australian nation state failed to accept a really generous
invitation of the Ulary Statement of the Heart and they
rejected the voice to Parliament through the National Referendum. And
this rejection, I guess, while devastating for many of us,

(52:56):
was not surprising for many First Nations people as well,
who intimately know the ongoing structures of colonial violence and
racism that exist here, structures that silence race and deny
indigenous sovereignty and truths. And we saw just days prior

(53:19):
to this, on October the seventh, you know, the world
bore witness to this escalation of colonial violence in Palestine,
which you know led to the killing of tens of
thousands of men, innocent men, women and children. And I

(53:41):
guess many Indigenous people globally watched with broken hearts and
a deep understanding. And I think this thread really ties
the two moments together. Under settled colonialism, these systems which
we've discussed today, which you know, seek land and resources

(54:02):
and power at the cost of Indigenous life, and I
think for many of us we felt that those moments
were not isolated. They are part of this global pattern.
And so my question to you, Senator is, should the
Greens get elected, what do they propose to do to

(54:27):
continue to elevate rightful conversations about indigenous land, sovereignty and
truth which were also very key fundamental elements to the
Ularu Statement of the Heart which called for Treaty Macarata,
truth telling and the voice which the Labor Party our

(54:48):
government of the day have been noticeably silent on since
the failed referendum. So what are the Greens proposing to
do should they be elected on this topic?

Speaker 2 (55:05):
Yeah, I think firstly, I want to address the fact
that there is global genocide that's happening. There's genocide happening
in Palestine, and these are these are not the determinations
of the Greens, the International the International Court of Justice.
Actually we're the ones who determine this and defined it

(55:30):
as genocide. I think what happens in Australia is the
media sort of jump on the bandwagon and want to
cast the Greens as the people who have made those determinations.
And that's not true. But it's also another in other states,
you know, I say member states in the UN language
or the International language who also have had their fair

(55:53):
share of genocide and or invasion in their traditional lands
and particularly for their indigenous peoples. I think this is
a real problem that presents itself and I think what
we've done as the Greens is always stick up for
the underdog. You know, we're always of people saying why

(56:14):
is it that human rights abuses across the world are
not taken into consideration with the people who we joined
hands with, whether it's in trade, whether it's in inviting
the president to come to this country. Like, we are
constantly calling out and holding people to account around their
stands and their beliefs, around the standing with their allies internationally.

(56:40):
And I think that's the first part of that, and
I think our position on Palestine has been very strong.
I think our position in relation to understanding what grassroots
democracy looks like and to understand the participation in grassroots
democracy and the impact that on that globally and particularly

(57:00):
as marginalized verse people's and indigenous peoples from across the globe,
the impact that has We have lots of Palestinians here
in Australia, we also have lots of Ukrainians, and so
standing with Ukraine was a really a big moment here
in Australia, and I think that we continue to call

(57:23):
for sanctions, we continue to encourage the government to have
a stronger stance and to do more in relation to
calling for the sief's fire. You'll remember the work that
we did in the Parliament and having a permanencyase fire,
but also protecting the rights of people to protest in
this country. You know that there has been an escalated

(57:45):
level in which the governments have tried to criminalize protests
and silence it in some of the ways that deeply
divided Australians in the way that they say not just
us as the Greens, but also anybody who wants to
stand up for the in hum main way in which

(58:05):
people are being treated in Palestine.

Speaker 3 (58:08):
And I think that.

Speaker 2 (58:10):
What that does when it comes from very very political
leaders across the country but also across the world, is
says to people, pick aside, pick aside around what your
definition is of justice. And sometimes that's about people not
having all the information being presented to them. And I
think this is exactly what galvanized during the referendum for us,

(58:35):
is that people didn't have any depth of knowledge around
what is the history of Australia when it was invaded colonized,
and so people then had this deeply big divide of
yes and no in that moment, and we kept saying,
let people understand the historical aspects and the impacts of

(58:57):
that that was so important to First Nations people here
in Australia, and let there be an education piece to that.
The backdrop should have been a campaign led by information
and education to the broader public. I would have loved
to have seen that campaign actually take more time to

(59:17):
do that, and what I think we would have got
is the thirty percent of people who walked into a
polling booth during referendum actually be much more informed about
what they were voting for, and I think that thirty
percent who were unsure about what it meant then if
they didn't know, voted no. And I think the vote

(59:38):
the no campaign had that down to a tee around
harnessing and gathering those people who just didn't know. And
I think that for us it was a very disappointing moment.
And as a Green's policy, we will continue to pursue
what is macarata in the way of a true federal

(01:00:00):
truth telling and Treaty Commission. We make no secret of that.
And our truth Federal Truth and Justice Commission Bill is well.
It was in committee, so it was in the Joint
Standing Committee on Indigenous Affairs chaired by the Victorian Senator
Janna Stewart, and we held sever hearings across the country

(01:00:24):
to hear from mob around the importance of a bill
like this. Once the Parliament obviously laps and we're in
an election period now, all of those bills almost sort
of dissolve from the committee process or being voted on
the floor. But in the forty eighth Parliament we'll bring
that bill back and have that voted on. So we'll

(01:00:44):
reintroduce the bill and there's two parts to that. We
want to hear from people the importance of having truth telling,
local truth telling, state based truth telling, but also federal
truth telling. And we have the jurisdiction to look at
the federal basis of that, because not everything fits into
a state based or a local government in relation to

(01:01:07):
legislation or regulation. So I know from the URUK process
I visited Urrook and spoke to the commissioners in particular
around land and resources for example, isn't and the impact
of native title in Victoria isn't something that they could
deal with at the Euroup level. And so these are

(01:01:29):
really key in the way of how we get reform,
how we get a better understanding of what native title
means in the future, and the way in which we
can capture all of the experiences of mob around the country.
And I think that enabling a federal Truth and Justice

(01:01:52):
Commission is also around the pre colonial history. So our
bill is very prescriptive in the way that it says,
how do we tell people what was here before and
what the colonial your process did to us in the
way of eradicating and continuing to oppress what we had

(01:02:12):
in relation to traditional culture. The way in which our
history is even told, whether it's from a historical point
of view that is a historian or an anthropologist versus
a traditional owner or a Casnodian that has that information.
All of that is really pivotal in the way that
we educate the future generations of kids and the ones

(01:02:36):
that are here now and who see themselves as great
actors in the way of change or agents of change.
In educating, I think one of the most powerful things
that we did during the referendum process was to have
dinner table conversations, because that where it starts at home,

(01:02:58):
it starts with educating your children, it starts with the
table at work, the lunch table. You can have those
really informal conversations around what is the benefit but also,
as I said, the mutual benefit of progressing a country
that continues to see such harrowing disparity in its outcomes.

(01:03:24):
And when you look at the Closing the Gap agenda,
that's just one example of that that there's six hundred
people who've lost their lives since the Royal Commission on
distinc Custody. There are now twenty thousand odd kids that
are in care of the governments across the country.

Speaker 3 (01:03:43):
We still are.

Speaker 2 (01:03:44):
Forty percent behind the developmental level and milestones of our
children starting school. These are all very very significant issues,
not to mention the mental health and suicide rate, which
in places like the Kimberley are some of the highest
the world. Like so we have to accept responsibility as

(01:04:10):
a nation, and I've led that inquiry in measuring outcomes
to understand the data sets that we're dealing with, but
also understand the structure in which the National Partnership Agreement
was established and what's wrong with it in the way
of why those four targets in particular heading backwards. Because

(01:04:31):
I think what we can all agree and I say
this not to speak for my colleagues, but what I've
observed is that the Black senators and members of the House,
we're sick and tired of producing a closing the gap
speech every year that says the same thing. And I

(01:04:51):
think we've all said it in our different ways of
we can't just keep talking about what's wrong. We have
to talk about solutions, and we have to talk about
how we're going to fix it. And I think that
collective we have an understanding that getting to the heart
of the problem is getting someone who is not wedded
to a policy position from the major parties who've each

(01:05:13):
had a part in this. And that's why being the
Greens spokesperson and portfolio holder for First Nations but also
the chair of that committee has been pivotal in saying,
you know, this is a ten year legacy or fifteen
year legacy we've been in the game. Let's now look
at how we look at positive and solution focused outcomes

(01:05:41):
for this area and actually look at how we ensure
that people who have power are actually accountable for the
decisions that they make and the funding and the resourcing
that they received, and are we putting all of that
in the right places based on the data that we've
currently got. And I think that this is where the

(01:06:03):
Green is really shine at this moment, is that we're
offering something different. We don't have any skin in the game.
We absolutely want to just get in there and fix this,
but also that we're grounded in a collective opportunity and
responsibility for the future generations of children and grandchildren and

(01:06:23):
all Australians to ensure that we are actually getting the
progress that we say we wanted deliver in the future.
Because we can't keep going out and marching across bridges.
We can't keep being at the forefront of every invasion
day rally saying the same thing if we have no

(01:06:44):
power to change that. And I think that's the beauty
of having one of the positive over representations of black
parliamentarians at the moment. It's the only place I'm really
grateful for our overrepresentation is in that place that we
can actually make change, and that we're making change. I

(01:07:06):
think that is so wide reaching in the way of
people seeing us, embracing us and working with us to
absolutely address some of the issues. But a lot of
that is based in the policy and the policies that
we take forward. So the Green's policy is about truth telling,

(01:07:27):
is about understanding how if every Australia knew that there
were massacres and there were poisoning of water holes, and
that there was systemic removal of children in every state
and territory in this country, something they should already know.
But how do we educate our young people and how

(01:07:47):
do we if we truly meant the word sorry, that
we would absolutely prevent this from happening from the next
generation and successive generations of children in this country. And
it is our mutual respect that we hold to understand
and to tell those stories, but also to make legislative

(01:08:09):
change to stop it from happening.

Speaker 1 (01:08:16):
Yeah, I'm going to just try my best to paraphrase
to some of those key points for our listeners, which
is I'm hearing that if the Australian Greens Party form
a majority government, that they will continue to take that
very firm and vocal stance in advocating for Palestinian rights and.

Speaker 3 (01:08:39):
Policy changes in the.

Speaker 1 (01:08:43):
In what we're seeing in Gaza, you know, the end
to the occupation sanctions and legal accountability, the recognition of
Palestinian statehoods. Secondly, you know, if we get a majority government,
which I understand you correct me if I'm wrong, but
you've got to get seventy six seats. It's that right,
seventy six seats to form a.

Speaker 3 (01:09:01):
Majority government.

Speaker 1 (01:09:04):
That in the forty eighth election, one of our most
important elections of our time, especially for all our young
fellows who are listening, you know, who might be casting
their first to have a ballot, and with such responsibility
that the Greens will commit to a reigniting the bill
to look at a federal truth telling process. Because I

(01:09:26):
think if there was any galvanizing moment with the Voice
is that we unequivocally are starting from the baseline of
a truth. And that truth is that Australia is not
ready and is rife with racism, and that is deeply

(01:09:47):
painful and lots of us have had to sit in
the grief and loss of that because it's hard for
us to accept as black fellows who are so willing
to share our knowledge and our dance, our song, our ceremony,
and who have advocated for you know, since Settler has arrived, really.

Speaker 3 (01:10:05):
Have taken an educative role.

Speaker 1 (01:10:06):
But you know, particularly in the last sixty seventy years,
have you know, it's hard for us to comprehend that
there is a lack of education when we have so
openly extended our hand and said walk with us, come
into our communities and our spaces and listen and learn
and be.

Speaker 3 (01:10:26):
And have shared.

Speaker 1 (01:10:28):
But the unequivocal truth that they're not ready or that
they aren't educated. And that's why we need this federal
push through through a federal truth telling process, because that
is you know, really where we need to sort of
start or rebuild from that truth. And we can look

(01:10:49):
at those broader policy changes, as you say, I imagine,
so thank you for thank you for explaining that to us.
Anything else as we wind.

Speaker 2 (01:11:00):
Up, well, one of the things that I would really
like to tell the listeners that are tuning in today
is to use your vote wisely. I think that because
this is a once in a generation election where we are,
I feel, on the cusp of great change, casting your
vote will, you know, absolutely bring us closer to what

(01:11:26):
I see to be a minority government, and that's what
all the experts are telling us. We've seen the rise
of independence and minor parties across the country, and casting
your vote will be really important in relation to what
you want to see is change. And I think what
the Greens are offering in relation to that is a

(01:11:46):
suite of different policies and people who are not afraid,
people who are not afraid of the backlash and the
and the way in which we can have courage, but
also clarity about our position as a party, and our
track record speaks for itself. We've been knocked around many,
many times by people saying they held up the housing bill,

(01:12:09):
they block things. We knew what that negotiation would bring
and we knew we had to push labor harder. We
don't want Peter Dutton anywhere near the Lodge or Kirabilly houses.
He's already expressed that he may want to live there
because what the Liberal Party currently represent is almost the

(01:12:29):
Timu Trump politics that they're trying to bring from America
here to Australia, and we can't continue, we cannot continue
to sit by idly and not call that out. That's
so important for people to understand that a vote for
the coalition, the Nationals and the Liberal Party will also

(01:12:51):
ensure that he continues to bring some of those Trump
style policies here to Australia and we can't afford that.
Particularly for mob We've seen the detrimental effect that that's
having in the US and that it is very targeted
and it is very very destructive and having such a
large impact on first people's there. And on the back

(01:13:15):
of that we have seen the rise up, we've seen
people protesting against that and it reminds me of the
days of the Black Lives Matter movement in the US
that we also had here in Australia that was very
clear around its action that we needed to take. What
I want to say is that in this once in

(01:13:37):
a generation opportunity that we can make change. And it's
the people who are voting and casting their vote for
the forty eighth Parliament. When we return back there, I
hope that we have turned the dial and edge closer
towards a diverse parliament and similar to what we saw
in the forty seventh Parliament, but people that represent their

(01:14:01):
communities and they don't represent big corporate interests and people
that are so far removed from what affects community. They're
the people that I want representing us in the Parliament.
And I can tell you safely that there are some amazing,
amazing First Nations people who are running in the forty
eighth Parliament's election who deserve to be in the Parliament

(01:14:24):
sitting right beside some of us. And there is so
much work that we can have a truckload of people
come in and help us with as First peoples. And
I'm really excited by that prospect of having more of
us in Parliament. And I think even above politics is
the fact that there are some opportunities for us to

(01:14:47):
find some common ground to work for the benefit of mob.
The majority of us are there to ensure that we
are using this to increase our representation, but also to
encourage others, our allies who sit within our political parties,
but also across the aisle to do more and to

(01:15:10):
understand and get out in community and talk to people
and to walk beside them in their struggles that they're
having and understand the challenges that are represented in the system.
And can I say, in the last few years that
I've been in Parliament, I feel like this has happened
and that there are far many, far more opportunities for
people to help us and which they've leaped to the

(01:15:35):
forefront to do. But again I stress that there is
so much work that needs to be done to ensure
that we do that. So your vote matters. You voting
in this election, in particularly the federal election, will bring
about change if you choose to use your vote wisely

(01:15:56):
and vote for change, because that's the only way we're
going to achieve that in this generation.

Speaker 1 (01:16:03):
Thank you such salient points, I think inclosing with that remark,
you know, with the rise of the far right and
fascism and as you say, the make Australia Great Again
Trump playbook that we're seeing play out here in Australia,
which will change the material conditions of not only First

(01:16:26):
Nations people, but also all people. I believe it's never
been more important to use your sovereign democratic voice that
many of our elders and old people fought for. And
it's not the time for political apathy or burying our
heads in the sand. We have to be loud and
proud and use our voices not just on the ballot

(01:16:49):
box but the conversations that we have around our kitchen
tables and communities as mob anyway, because there's never been
a really more important time to shake up or rethink
what parliament we want to have that really represents our
people and our interests and particularly our futures for our
younger you know bor Eyes and jar Gems too. So

(01:17:13):
Senator Drinda Cox versation, Senator for Western Australia, thank you
so much for coming on today and being so generous
and so humble and insightful in sharing about the federal election,
but also about your personal story and who you are too.

Speaker 3 (01:17:28):
It's been great to connect this way, so thank.

Speaker 2 (01:17:30):
You, Thank you, Caroline, and keep yarning up and mob,
keep standing up.

Speaker 1 (01:17:40):
Thank you so much for listening you mob if you
are vibing this season of yarning up, then please head
over to Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts
from to show us some love, rate, and review. Alternatively,
you can get in contact and give us some feedback
by visiting www. Dot Caroline cow dot com. Donnayue