WEBVTT - Why Grace Tame will never go into politics 0:00:00.720 --> 0:00:04.120 There's one question Grace Tame gets asked all the time 0:00:04.519 --> 0:00:06.280 and her answer is always the same. 0:00:06.600 --> 0:00:08.760 For the record, I'm never going into politics. 0:00:09.080 --> 0:00:11.280 For the last four years, I've been asked repeatedly, to 0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:13.200 the point where I've got a T shirt printed that 0:00:13.440 --> 0:00:16.279 just has no I'm not going into politics written in 0:00:16.360 --> 0:00:18.160 paint over Parliament House. 0:00:18.239 --> 0:00:18.600 I'm not. 0:00:19.200 --> 0:00:22.959 Like many younger Australians, She's disillusioned with the two party system, 0:00:23.320 --> 0:00:26.480 which she says only serves a dwindling minority of wealthy 0:00:26.520 --> 0:00:30.560 players rather than the general public. But as Australia prepares 0:00:30.600 --> 0:00:33.240 to head into an election where jen Z and Millennial's 0:00:33.280 --> 0:00:36.640 outnumber baby boomers for the first time, she thinks it's 0:00:36.680 --> 0:00:39.159 a chance to move beyond the two party games. 0:00:39.440 --> 0:00:42.360 The political system is in the state that it is 0:00:42.760 --> 0:00:47.440 because it has been corrupted by exorbitant wealth for too long. 0:00:48.080 --> 0:00:50.560 That's the major problem. And I don't think it's much 0:00:50.640 --> 0:00:51.239 deeper than that. 0:00:52.159 --> 0:00:58.960 It really is about the money from Schwartz Media. 0:00:59.120 --> 0:01:03.680 I'm Ruby Jones. This is seven AM Today, twenty twenty one. 0:01:03.760 --> 0:01:06.840 Australian of the Year and director of the Grace Tame Foundation. 0:01:07.040 --> 0:01:10.760 Grace Tame on advocating for change outside of politics and 0:01:10.840 --> 0:01:15.960 why this election is a chance to fix democracy. It's 0:01:16.000 --> 0:01:22.240 Thursday May one. Grace, welcome back to seven AM. Thanks 0:01:22.240 --> 0:01:23.000 for coming on the show. 0:01:23.080 --> 0:01:23.840 Thanks for having me. 0:01:24.040 --> 0:01:28.120 So I wanted to start by talking about the AFL 0:01:28.280 --> 0:01:32.880 Grand Final in Perfect twenty twenty one. 0:01:33.520 --> 0:01:34.440 Set the scene for me. 0:01:34.840 --> 0:01:40.559 Well, the Western Bulldogs were playing Melbourne Demons. Demons haven't 0:01:40.600 --> 0:01:43.800 been in a Grand Final for since the sixties. 0:01:43.840 --> 0:01:49.880 I think Melbourne fans celebrate relax because the drought. 0:01:50.200 --> 0:01:53.960 It's over, and we were embracing the day. 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:57.000 I was dressed head to toe in a demon outfit 0:01:57.160 --> 0:02:02.560 with little horns in my hand. 0:02:00.200 --> 0:02:02.840 Had preeding Trent Blue for Reddin Blue. 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:05.440 Years. 0:02:10.960 --> 0:02:14.079 There were a lot of WA politicians in the room, 0:02:14.120 --> 0:02:18.280 including then Governor Kim Beasley, letter of Labor Party in 0:02:18.360 --> 0:02:22.880 Howard years, and he was telling me that I should 0:02:22.960 --> 0:02:27.680 go into politics and that to be successful I would. 0:02:27.560 --> 0:02:29.160 Need to join one of the major parties. 0:02:29.360 --> 0:02:31.959 And whilst the conversation that I had with him was 0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:33.680 probably about twenty minutes long, and we covered a lot 0:02:33.720 --> 0:02:35.799 of different topics and he was a very nice man 0:02:35.880 --> 0:02:38.360 to me and I quite enjoyed talking to him, but 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:41.080 I did disagree with him that to make change that 0:02:41.120 --> 0:02:43.359 you need to be aligned to one of the major parties. 0:02:43.400 --> 0:02:48.679 I think successive governments have let the people down, especially 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:54.120 in recent years, the housing crisis, cost of living crisis. 0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:56.840 We're in a pretty dire situation and a lot of 0:02:56.880 --> 0:03:00.880 people are putting their heads in sand, and they're enabled 0:03:00.919 --> 0:03:01.800 to put their heads in sin. 0:03:01.919 --> 0:03:04.679 I think because we have week leadership. 0:03:04.840 --> 0:03:08.360 Okay, so Kim Beasley obviously wasn't able to convince you 0:03:08.600 --> 0:03:12.360 to enter politics, and there is obviously power in advocating 0:03:12.360 --> 0:03:14.080 for change outside of. 0:03:14.000 --> 0:03:15.000 The political system. 0:03:15.040 --> 0:03:16.680 Can you tell me a little bit more about how 0:03:16.680 --> 0:03:18.440 you see your role as an advocate. 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:22.920 I see my role as an advocate is to support 0:03:23.520 --> 0:03:26.600 those who don't have a voice, and whilst they can't 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:32.079 advocate for everyone or for particular communities, I'm an advocate 0:03:32.200 --> 0:03:36.200 of that community, you know, whether it's the survivors of 0:03:36.240 --> 0:03:38.839 child sexual abuse that I stand alongside. 0:03:38.560 --> 0:03:40.600 Or fellow autistic people. 0:03:41.400 --> 0:03:44.920 Advocacy is about awareness raising as well and educating people 0:03:45.000 --> 0:03:49.840 and encouraging people to do their part because we all 0:03:49.880 --> 0:03:52.880 have the capacity to be an advocate. I think whether 0:03:52.920 --> 0:03:54.960 it we're just advocating for ourselves on a day to 0:03:55.000 --> 0:03:58.240 day basis, or we're advocating for other members of the community. 0:03:58.880 --> 0:04:01.320 And you mentioned all the way in which you see 0:04:01.360 --> 0:04:05.200 the political system failing because our politicians they are by 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:07.800 a much not representative of the community as a whole. 0:04:07.920 --> 0:04:11.880 So how much do you think that impacts the outcomes 0:04:11.920 --> 0:04:12.839 that we get from them. 0:04:13.400 --> 0:04:17.239 Well, politicians are supposed to be representing the people. 0:04:17.279 --> 0:04:19.480 They're supposed to be representing their constituents. 0:04:19.920 --> 0:04:24.360 But because there's so much power at stake in that machine, 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:29.640 and policy and decision makers influence how big businesses are 0:04:29.680 --> 0:04:33.760 able to operate and how much revenue they're able to make, 0:04:34.320 --> 0:04:39.200 the big corporations put so much pressure on politicians. 0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:41.040 And they give them money. They give them money. 0:04:41.120 --> 0:04:43.159 I mean, one of the reasons that we have so 0:04:43.320 --> 0:04:47.160 much corruption, or that the machine itself is so corruptible, 0:04:47.640 --> 0:04:50.160 is because politicians. 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:54.360 They need money to run their election campaigns. It's a huge, 0:04:54.520 --> 0:04:58.400 huge thing. You can make or break your next government 0:04:59.000 --> 0:04:59.960 in an election, Campaig. 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:04.360 So it's worth it in politicians eyes to spend a 0:05:04.400 --> 0:05:08.320 lot of money targeting people who otherwise are disengaged or 0:05:09.200 --> 0:05:12.320 who are sitting on the fence and who are swing voters. 0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:15.680 And if we didn't have so much disengagement, if we 0:05:15.720 --> 0:05:19.600 didn't have so much political apathy, it might be less 0:05:19.600 --> 0:05:22.880 of an incentive for politicians to take big sums of 0:05:22.920 --> 0:05:25.880 money from the corporations who can afford to donate it. 0:05:26.360 --> 0:05:30.200 And so really you get political parties who bend in 0:05:30.200 --> 0:05:32.600 a certain direction because that's where the money is coming from. 0:05:33.040 --> 0:05:36.440 That's we know that follow the money, and it therefore 0:05:36.560 --> 0:05:40.520 is also a rigged game because you've got disproportionately morbidly 0:05:40.560 --> 0:05:45.280 wealthy individuals, whether they're representatives of the colon gas lobby, 0:05:45.880 --> 0:05:48.800 and you've got major corporations as well, and they've embedded 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:51.400 themselves such that there is a lot to lose for 0:05:51.480 --> 0:05:55.760 political parties. And I'm not excusing it, but that's just 0:05:55.800 --> 0:05:56.560 the explanation. 0:05:57.560 --> 0:06:02.240 And in this particular election, for the first time, gen Zata, 0:06:02.320 --> 0:06:06.040 millennials will outnumber boomers as the biggest voting block. So 0:06:06.320 --> 0:06:08.119 talk to me a bit about what you've made of 0:06:08.160 --> 0:06:11.600 the two major parties' campaigns and the way they've tried 0:06:11.600 --> 0:06:13.000 to appeal to young people. 0:06:13.400 --> 0:06:14.200 Where to start. 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:17.320 The policies themselves, I think don't go far enough to 0:06:17.440 --> 0:06:20.480 address the problems at hand, whether it's cost of living 0:06:21.080 --> 0:06:24.120 with the housing crisis, the housing crisis is the result 0:06:24.320 --> 0:06:28.320 of decades upon decades of both major parties pulling the 0:06:28.320 --> 0:06:33.280 wrong leaders to really benefit multiple property owners and landlords, 0:06:33.920 --> 0:06:39.960 you know, wealthy investors and the younger generations who had 0:06:39.960 --> 0:06:43.560 nothing to do with it. Not only coughying it, but 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:47.520 we're being majorly gas lit. And you know, given these 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:51.640 sort of like crumbs of possible solutions, like you know, 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:54.200 having to make a five percent deposit instead of a 0:06:54.240 --> 0:06:57.280 twenty percent deposit, but then you still whopping great mortgage 0:06:57.320 --> 0:07:00.839 and you know, like the Coalition saying that elderly women 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:03.960 and first known buyers can draw fifty grand from their 0:07:04.000 --> 0:07:08.760 super which is really problematic and short sighted, and Labory 0:07:09.040 --> 0:07:13.960 continuing to expand colon gas projects and we just can't 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:14.440 afford to. 0:07:14.400 --> 0:07:16.160 Be dragging our heels on those things. 0:07:19.680 --> 0:07:22.160 We get a huge revenue injection if we started by 0:07:22.440 --> 0:07:26.640 actually applying the resource rent tax and seeing these fossil 0:07:26.640 --> 0:07:28.000 fuel blooders actually. 0:07:27.680 --> 0:07:31.840 Pay their fair share of tax. Because that's not happening. 0:07:32.240 --> 0:07:37.560 We're not doing that because there are benefits in the 0:07:37.600 --> 0:07:42.280 short term of maintaining the status quo, and the young 0:07:42.320 --> 0:07:44.840 people do actually understand it. I think we're not given 0:07:44.880 --> 0:07:47.560 as much credit for understanding it. We're sick of being 0:07:47.600 --> 0:07:49.840 told that, you know, if we just have you know, 0:07:50.440 --> 0:07:54.120 less avocado on toast and less lat's, we will be 0:07:54.120 --> 0:07:58.120 able to save up. It's just actually mathematically correct. The 0:07:58.160 --> 0:08:02.680 median house price is twelve the median salary where it 0:08:02.760 --> 0:08:03.840 used to be about four. 0:08:03.720 --> 0:08:07.520 Or five times, and you don't have to be a. 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:11.640 Mathematician to understand that the cost of not only housing 0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:14.320 but the cost of living has gone up way out 0:08:14.360 --> 0:08:16.320 of proportion to wages. 0:08:20.480 --> 0:08:23.720 After the break where Grace Team finds hope in politics. 0:08:27.840 --> 0:08:31.400 Hi, I'm Daniel James. Seven Am tells stories that need 0:08:31.440 --> 0:08:35.079 to be told. Our journalism is founded on trust and independence, 0:08:35.720 --> 0:08:39.800 and now we're increasing our coverage. Every Saturday until the election. 0:08:39.960 --> 0:08:42.360 Will bring you an extra episode to break down the 0:08:42.360 --> 0:08:45.720 biggest political moments of the week. If you enjoy seven Am, 0:08:45.800 --> 0:08:47.800 the best way you can support us is by making 0:08:47.840 --> 0:08:51.640 a contribution at seven am podcast dot com dot au 0:08:51.920 --> 0:09:00.640 slash support. Thanks for listening and supporting our work's prime minister. 0:09:00.760 --> 0:09:03.760 For coming to the pub. I'm one ahead of you, 0:09:03.800 --> 0:09:07.360 but I usually am with me guests, so a little 0:09:07.400 --> 0:09:08.240 bit of catching up to there. 0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:08.960 There's no pressure. 0:09:09.160 --> 0:09:12.720 Although this is a zero alcohol beer, so. 0:09:12.880 --> 0:09:15.120 You are on the zero, which is fine. That's becoming 0:09:15.120 --> 0:09:18.040 more socially accepted. It is in Australia, Grace. 0:09:18.040 --> 0:09:20.600 When you look at this election campaign, what have you 0:09:20.679 --> 0:09:23.480 made of the way in which the major parties have 0:09:23.880 --> 0:09:26.160 attempted to connect with younger voters. 0:09:26.480 --> 0:09:28.040 Oh, incredibly patronizing. 0:09:28.559 --> 0:09:34.120 Well, mister speaker, they are delulu with no sololu, mister 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:37.319 speak at they are completely delusion. 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:40.320 You know, well, I think that obviously social media has 0:09:40.520 --> 0:09:45.200 taken on a different role and everyone gets access to 0:09:45.240 --> 0:09:49.640 each other on social media, including politicians, and there is 0:09:49.679 --> 0:09:51.400 a need to keep up with the times. 0:09:51.640 --> 0:09:54.719 However, you know, releasing disc tracks, this. 0:09:54.720 --> 0:09:57.600 Election campaign has officially kicked off into the next level. 0:09:57.760 --> 0:10:01.080 The Liberal Party have released a di track. We're going 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:02.000 to listen to it together. 0:10:02.200 --> 0:10:03.560 You need the way it is supposed to be. 0:10:03.760 --> 0:10:06.040 The money was spending on groceries. I just want to 0:10:06.040 --> 0:10:08.440 buy some eggs and cheese one hundred bucks. You can't 0:10:08.480 --> 0:10:12.800 emend doing softball interviews. We're just talking cricket in here, 0:10:12.840 --> 0:10:13.400 Prime Minister. 0:10:13.640 --> 0:10:17.000 Yeah, yeah, what do you think of the Ashes campaign? 0:10:17.080 --> 0:10:21.719 That these ladies had absolutely awesome to win the four 0:10:21.800 --> 0:10:22.680 bit three, three. 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:25.400 And one, knowing that there's a lot of benefit in 0:10:25.480 --> 0:10:29.480 just reaching people without having to communicate information or really 0:10:29.520 --> 0:10:32.880 be strong in your messaging, and I think that's disappointing. 0:10:33.000 --> 0:10:36.400 Bring them prices down. This is what we need because 0:10:36.480 --> 0:10:40.680 our bow's gotta leave olbos, got to leave brings. 0:10:40.960 --> 0:10:44.040 I mean, we know that historically low numbers of people 0:10:44.080 --> 0:10:46.600 now vote for the major parties, not just young people, 0:10:47.400 --> 0:10:49.960 you know, people in general. And I think both lay 0:10:49.960 --> 0:10:52.600 About and the Coalition had their lowest ever primary votes 0:10:52.600 --> 0:10:58.000 at the previous election. So if that trend does continue, 0:10:58.440 --> 0:11:01.080 I mean, how do you look at what that might 0:11:01.200 --> 0:11:02.920 mean for political outcomes. 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:05.000 I think that's a good thing because I think that 0:11:05.960 --> 0:11:09.800 if we're able to restructure the governments such that we've 0:11:09.840 --> 0:11:15.160 got more independence, a better mixture of political representatives that 0:11:15.280 --> 0:11:21.240 reflect the mixture of values and priorities in our many 0:11:21.240 --> 0:11:24.760 and diverse communities, that represent society as a whole, and 0:11:24.800 --> 0:11:27.840 they're able to hold the major parties to account, and 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:33.480 hopefully we would get less influence from vested interests who 0:11:34.480 --> 0:11:37.200 don't have the best interest of the public at heart, 0:11:37.360 --> 0:11:38.480 that are really interested in. 0:11:40.120 --> 0:11:41.120 Growing their profits. 0:11:41.520 --> 0:11:43.439 Because Robin Williams, who said that you know, people who 0:11:43.440 --> 0:11:45.360 are running for office should really have all of their 0:11:46.040 --> 0:11:50.440 donors on their clothing, like a NASCAR driver, you know, 0:11:50.559 --> 0:11:50.760 or like. 0:11:50.760 --> 0:11:51.880 A VA supercar driver. 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:54.720 Like that's the major problem. And I don't think it's 0:11:54.800 --> 0:11:57.319 I don't think it's much deeper than that. It really 0:11:57.360 --> 0:12:00.199 is about the money. There's a reason why that both 0:12:00.200 --> 0:12:02.800 the major parties came together to past legislation that would 0:12:03.000 --> 0:12:07.520 limit the amount of donations that independence could receive, because 0:12:07.520 --> 0:12:10.480 they know that it's a threat having more diversity and 0:12:10.520 --> 0:12:14.320 more independence. They don't have as big as stronghold on 0:12:14.800 --> 0:12:15.920 the political system. 0:12:16.160 --> 0:12:19.040 And we've spoken a little about how the political class 0:12:19.240 --> 0:12:23.559 isn't representative of broader Australia. Do you have thoughts on 0:12:24.080 --> 0:12:27.959 what it would take, how the political process might need 0:12:28.000 --> 0:12:33.000 to change for there to be a more representative cohort 0:12:33.000 --> 0:12:35.960 of Australians who might feel like they could or should 0:12:36.080 --> 0:12:38.720 run for office. I mean someone like you, for example, 0:12:38.720 --> 0:12:41.840 What would it take to make that something that would 0:12:41.880 --> 0:12:42.800 be actually appealing. 0:12:43.960 --> 0:12:46.000 You can do anything. You can force me to do it. 0:12:46.120 --> 0:12:48.000 I've been exploited enough in my life and that's not 0:12:48.040 --> 0:12:50.319 a joke. I need to do it. 0:12:52.360 --> 0:12:53.920 I mean, I feel like perhaps I already know the 0:12:53.960 --> 0:12:57.120 answer to this question, but do you have any optimism 0:12:57.200 --> 0:13:00.400 that the political system can change, that it can become 0:13:00.800 --> 0:13:06.000 more representative of Australia and therefore I suppose provide better 0:13:06.040 --> 0:13:07.120 outcomes for people. 0:13:08.040 --> 0:13:10.520 Yes, I think that you have to be hopeful and 0:13:10.559 --> 0:13:15.760 there is hope in a minority government that has representatives 0:13:15.760 --> 0:13:20.680 from many in diverse backgrounds who can stand up for 0:13:21.720 --> 0:13:25.880 all of the different issues that are affecting the every 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:26.640 day Australian. 0:13:28.480 --> 0:13:28.800 Grace. 0:13:28.840 --> 0:13:31.360 Thank you so much for your time, Thanks for having me. 0:13:39.760 --> 0:13:42.920 Also in the news today, economists are predicting the Reserve 0:13:43.000 --> 0:13:45.280 Bank will cut interest rates when it meets this month, 0:13:45.400 --> 0:13:49.480 following the latest inflation figures. Data from the Australian Bureau 0:13:49.520 --> 0:13:53.240 of Statistics shows headline inflation has remained steady, but the 0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:56.640 RBA's preferred measure of consumer prices has fallen within the 0:13:56.679 --> 0:14:00.120 bank's target band for the first time in over three years. Yes, 0:14:01.080 --> 0:14:03.800 and fewer than one in one hundred full time workers 0:14:03.800 --> 0:14:07.040 on minimum wage can afford places to rent, according to 0:14:07.040 --> 0:14:11.520 the latest rental affordability snap shot from Anglicare Australia. Anglicare 0:14:11.559 --> 0:14:15.560 surveyed fifty one thousand rental listings, finding only zero point 0:14:15.679 --> 0:14:18.520 seven percent were affordable for a person earning a full 0:14:18.559 --> 0:14:21.560 time minimum wage, and just zero point three percent were 0:14:21.600 --> 0:14:25.320 affordable for a person on the age pension. I'm Ruby Jones. 0:14:25.400 --> 0:14:27.160 This is seven am. Thanks for listening.