Usually fan interviews on this blog consist of people who are fans of Transformers and/or yours truly.  However today we are interviewing someone who I am a fan of. As the big sis of long time blog reader Maddy, this is a person whom I have had the honor of meeting once or twice, as well as conversing with online when I’ve had a few too many and want to vent about the current political issues plaguing this country.  She is The Greens Councillor for Moreland, North-East Ward, Natalie Abboud.

Given it can sometimes mean a life where you are working hard for a populace where the fashion is to openly distrust and dislike politicians, what lead you personally to enter a life of politics? 

I get a $28k taxable allowance at Moreland (the Moyoralty is more but it’s full time) so it’s certainly a job you do for love or challenges. I’ve always been engaged in politics and ran in a couple of elections I couldn’t win so when I was tapped on the shoulder for council I was up for it. I also work hard and answer calls in an effort to break the stigma. People don’t always need to agree but we all want to be heard. I had some great conversations about Australia Day. 

 

For those of us that are ignorant of what politicians actually do, what are some of your primary responsibilities?  How does a usual day at work play out for the Councillor for Moreland?

Monday’s and Wednesday’s are blocked out for emails and meetings but I often do stuff most other days too. 

I’m the Cr responsible for Youth, status of women, and Social Diversity, multiculturalism and Reconciliation. I sit on the Oxygen Committee, audit and risk committee, chair the Human rights committee and I’m the council rep for the Disability working group and the reconciliation working group. 

This means I attend up to 4 night meetings a week and occasionally(once a week) I go to other conferences and events. 

 

As a Member for The Greens, what do you believe are the three main issues (among the many) that need immediate and significant action in our country today?

-Renewables (why do the Gubs keep resisting them?)

-Transport (why can’t we have trains like Japan?) 

-Addressing the Climate emergency

 

Where do you see The Greens in ten years time?

Holding balance of power in Vic which will lead to more action in State Parliament. Not sure about Aus. I’d like to see two more in the Federal lower house and maybe a few more senators. 

 

As a young man I didn’t care much about voting, I just liked the requisite sausage sizzle.  My first election I voted for The Democrats as I had a crush on Natasha Stott Despoja.  My second I voted for The Shooters Party as I thought it would be funny if they won and would give me material for my stand-up comedy routines.  My third I voted for The Sex Party because a big fat bearded guy in a bright yellow T-shirt gave me a flyer while I was waiting in line to vote.  Now that I am (somewhat) more mature, as well as a parent, I vote for The Greens because I care about the state of the planet my kids will grow up on, as well as many of The Greens policies aligning with my personal moral compass.  Do you find young people are more ‘switched on’ to voting and politics now than in decades past?  Or does one need to get a few years under their belt in order to understand the depth of the issues and the importance of ones vote?

Young people are more engaged than ever. Young people understand the risks we face. Politics is very conservative in Aus which has alerted people. (This could be wishful thinking but the Greens have many young active members so I exist in a bubble)

 

I’ve never understood those that treat Political Parties like football teams, as in they will ‘barrack’ (vote) for that Party no matter what they do or what their current policies are.  What methods does one take to sway voters of that mindset?

Vote compass is effective. Get people to talk about policy not personality. Having a crush won’t get the results you want from your government 😉 

Show people where government is active, any action is about getting votes. Ie the schools money and Scott (Hillsong) Morrison or trying to throw Barnaby Joyce at the drought. In Vic it’s all about marginal seats. Moreland council has been asking for a really dangerous intersection to be fixed for years, now that Pascoe Vale has gone marginal we were just promised $11m to fix it. Meanwhile in Frank McGuire’s electorate of Broady (next door) the Windows of the schools are literally rotted shut and the carpets are rotted or threadbare. 

 

There is a growing movement in rural areas by farmers for the government to take action on climate change.  Yet a large amount of country people remain voters for The Nationals, even though as part of the Coalition they have taken no real action on this issue and have within their ranks a significant number of climate-change deniers.  Do you think this may signify a possible shift in rural voting habits for the future and what can The Greens do to bolster their presence in these regions?

I sure hope so. We are running a guy called Serge Simic who is a farmer for the seat of Ripon. He came here escaping the breakup of the Former Yugoslavia as a child with his family. 
Water will be the real issue. The cockies are already involved in “hay battles” South Aus is unhappy that NSW is getting their hay, grain is being freighted from WA. That kind of thing is completely unsustainable. 

Sad thing is, Serge is getting trolled by hunters who don’t wanna be locked out of the national parks so we have a way to go. 

 

On our farm we subsist on rainwater (not easy in a drought) and if we want our rubbish taken away we have to drive it ourselves to the tip.  This contributes towards our mindset of conserving water as much as possible as well as trying to create minimal waste.  How do you encourage people in a large city to be ‘waste conscious?’

We are heavily focused on getting food waste out of landfill at the moment. The container deposit scheme was voted down again by the old parties which is disappointing. 

No matter, it took gun control ten failed bills to parliament by the Greens before a massacre at Port Arthur finally got it over the line. 

 

Now for a few personal questions if I may:

*Living in the second most populated city in Australia, what do you in your own life to ‘stay green’?

Try not to use a lot of plastic, compost everything we can, grow veggies, ride my bike when I don’t have the kids, shower in a bucket and use the water for plants, we are about to have solar installed on our new house and I don’t do stuff like get acrylic fingernails or consume a bunch of unnecessary crap. I still regularly feel like I can do more though. 

 

Your sister has been raising some lovely chookies over the last few years.  Where you live do you have a yard big enough to have any animals? Or perhaps a couple of fruit trees and a veggie patch?

We have had chook but they got eaten by foxes, bit by snakes and other fatal things. My FIL has 4 so we get eggs from him. We live on 1500sq m so we are very lucky. We have a big veggie garden and this year we will grow tomatoes, peas, Lebo cucumber, pumpkin, beans, lettuce, beetroot, sorrel, corn and I’m trying Okra for the first time. We have heaps of herbs and rocket. We also have apple, olive, orange, tangelo, lemons, peach, nectarine, plums, apricot, avocado and a passion fruit vine and a walnut. (Most of those trees are established and bear fruit but some are still young). I want to add cherry and almond. 

 

And of course I have to ask, with three strapping young lads of your own, who are their favorite Transformers?

Percy: Definitely Bumblebee

Patrick: Bumblebee

Mally: Optimus Prime

 

Ms Abboud, thank you for taking the time to answer these questions.

Do you have any questions for Ms Abboud?  Pop them in the comments section below!

 

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