In this episode, we talk to Senator Katy Gallagher, Senator for the ACT, Shadow Minister for Finance, Shadow Minister for the Public Service and Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate, about engaging the Australian voters in the political discourse.
Topics covered include:
- How unexpected tragedies can change the course of one’s life and how political parties can support people going through such times
- The transition between ‘civilian life’ and political life
- The changes made to the way ACT Legislative Assembly works in order to support women in politics
- Which factors might impact a politician’s decision to change from state and territory politics to federal politics
- The need for representation of the population as we experience population growth
- The concern about climate change
- The difference between state Senators and territory Senators
- How Senators in the same state or territory from different parties get along
- The reasons behind the movement for Australia to become a republic
- Why Canberra is such a progressive city
- How the ACT has led the way in certain areas of policy
- What are Senate Estimates and why they are so important
- The difficulties in communicating information to constituents as a Senator
- How to become more politically engaged
- The need to rebuild voters’ trust, especially the trust of young voters
About Senator Gallagher:
Senator Katy Gallagher has spent over two decades fighting for Canberrans.
Whether it was advocating for people with a disability with finishing university, or when she was advocating for the right of public servants as a CPSU organiser, or as Chief Minister of the ACT – the Senator has made it her life's work to fight for the ACT and the people in it.
According to Senator Gallagher, Canberra is Australia’s best city, and she is proud to have lived here her entire life. The Senator grew up in Weston Creek and is now raising her own family on Canberra’s north side.
When she first put her hand up to run in 2001 there were no Labor women in the ACT parliament. The ACT has come a long way in the past 17 years now with a majority-women ACT Labor caucus and Senator Gallagher is proud to have been part of leading the way.
That’s what we do here in the ACT. We lead the way. As Chief Minister, Ms Gallagher saw Labor take on big vision ideas like light rail, marriage equality and commit to a 100% renewable energy target by 2020. And she didn't shy away from the tough fights that she knew were the right thing to do like portability of entitlements for low paid workers and dealing with the legacy of Mr Fluffy asbestos for hundreds of Canberra families.
It’s this same approach she has taken into the Senate and the Shadow Cabinet but there’s a lot more work to do. Senator Gallagher promises she will keep fighting not only for the Canberra she loves, but a more progressive federal Labor as well.