Miss Australia 2021: ‘I’m going to speak about racism’

The reigning Miss Universe Australia Maria Thatill is on a mission to use the controversial pageant as an opportunity to shine a light on the causes that are important to her.

Patience looks likely to pay off for Maria Thattil, the Australian hopeful who – after a year of waiting thanks to a COVID- prompted postponement – will compete on the international stage for the title of Miss Universe in a few weeks.

The 28-year-old Melbournian went through several rounds of local, state and finally national competitions to be awarded the title of Miss Universe Australia last October. For those who accuse the pageant – which will be held as a COVID-safe event in Florida this year – of being outdated, Thattil has an answer.

“I’m going to be using my voice to speak about racism and tokenism.” (Picture: Daniel Nadel)

“I knew it was to be expected,” she tells Stellar On Friday.

“It’s so important to look a little more closely before deciding you’ve made your mind up about someone or something. I entered because I thought this could be a real opportunity for leadership and to have the kind of raw, uncomfortable, but necessary conversations people need to have in pursuit of progress.”

The Miss Universe platform has catapulted the careers and built the profiles of famous Australians such as Jesinta Franklin, Rachael Finch, Tegan Martin, Francesca Hung and most famously, Jennifer Hawkins, who was the last Australian to win the ultimate title, in 2004.

Find more exclusives in this Sunday’s Stellar.

Experts and enthusiasts on the pageant circuit predict Thattil stands more than a fighting chance to follow in Hawkins’ footsteps, but the beauty queen tells Stellar On Friday that regardless of whether or not she takes the crown, she plans to use her platform to champion the causes she’s passionate about, and to action change in Australian communities.

“I’m currently doing an internationally accredited qualification to be a life coach, because a lot of what I do is write and speak about social justice, and for people to overcome limiting beliefs. I could just be slapped on a number of campaigns for the year of my reign – and people would say, ‘Great, we’ve done our part.’

“But I’m not going anywhere, and I’m going to be using my voice to speak about racism and tokenism to hopefully drive change at a transformational level. Instead of people thinking they’ve ticked a box because they’ve seen my face somewhere, it’s about my voice.”