High Steaks: Michelle Rowland urges youth to drop their phones and engage in politics
Michelle Rowland’s stranglehold on the Western Sydney seat of Greenway reflects national trends as young voters swing to Labor in record numbers.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Just weeks ago, Michelle Rowland was standing at Talawong Metro Station handing out re-election flyers when an eight-year-old girl named Nandini walked up to her with her parents.
Nandini, born in India, and now an Australian, standing at a new metro station in Sydney’s north west growth corridor, is the face of Rowland’s rapidly changing electorate.
Greenway has become a microcosm for the rest of Australia – it has a strong migrant community, many from a south-Asian cultural background like Rowland herself, and many with young kids like her too.
It’s also an electorate that can sum up Labor’s historic election win last Saturday, with the party closing in on a 90 seat majority.
Migrants, young people and women swung to Labor in record levels with Rowland recording a 6 per cent swing in her favour in Greenway.
In the Western Suburbs, Coalition attacks on working from home and immigration were toxic while Labor could sell its agenda promising HECS debt cuts, more GPs and 5 per cent house deposits.
“This eight-year-old girl came up to me with her parents and they said ‘We saw that you would be here and our daughter is really interested in politics’,” Rowland recalls.
“She was asking about the maternity ward (at the local Rouse Hill hospital) … kids are smart and engaged.”
The conversation goes to the heart of Rowland’s approach to politics and how she has held on to the Western Sydney seat for 15 years: all politics is local. The biggest example of this was the Communication Minister’s decision to skip the Labor campaign launch with her colleagues in Perth in favour of staying in her own electorate and campaigning on the ground.
Nandini is a symbol of Rowland’s unbeatable grasp on young people, commanding an enviable army of young volunteers over her years in politics.
“I’ve always recognised that young people are not only the future, but they are incredibly insightful,” she said.
“What we saw at this election was that younger Australians overwhelmingly voted in support of Labor and Anthony Albanese’s plan.”
Labor rank and file members have always spoken of the veteran MP as a masterful campaigner, and having gone to high school in her electorate a decade ago, this interviewer can vouch for Rowlands’ ability to convince young minds to put down mobile phones and care about politics. Several students at my own high school were Rowland volunteers. She made politics look cool, they had said at the time.
“I enjoy engaging at school with young people, I always participate in school parliament or if they want to do work experience,” Rowland says.
Referring to one of her recent advisers, she reveals: “(I met him) when I presented him with a school prize.
“I feel really positive about young people, people put down on them.”
Other team members were picked up at visits to local religious gatherings and university events.
Her relationship with young people is thriving despite her being one of the architects of Australia’s world-first social media ban, introduced late last year and set to come into effect in a year’s time. The ban will stop kids under 16 from being able to access social media.
Rowland says young people are some of the biggest supporters of the ban, including her two daughters Octavia, 13, and Aurelia, 8.
“They can see that I’m someone that really thinks about things,” she says of her girls, who have also helped out more recently on the campaign.
“They trust my judgement,”
We first discuss how she is feeling about the new laws over lunch at an old favourite in her electorate, The Fiddler in Rouse Hill, where she declares “I’m not afraid to do hard things” but that “sometimes, hard things take time”.
With a reshuffle underway after Labor’s historic win, there are whispers Rowland is a strong contender for the role of Attorney-General as a former lawyer.
Her last term in government as Communication Minister has been one of highs and lows; the passing of social media laws but the stalling of gambling reform and dumping of controversial misinformation laws. But she’s bold enough to that she’s not done yet, pointing to other ways of reforming online misinformation.
Not many political animals would be willing to take a second stab at reform that saw the Greens, coalition and crossbench reunited in anger and opposition.
“In terms of legislating on mis and disinformation, that’s not happening, but our energies need to be put in other ways to expose the social media platforms in particular,” she said.
“We’ll look at other ways to make that happen … This is about holding platforms to account and we’ll find ways to do that.”
She also remains committed to gambling ad reform – despite the contentious legislation being left in limbo at the conclusion of parliament this year – quelling rumours that Labor has all but dumped the changes.
“It’s taking longer than we would like, that’s a fact,” she says.
There’s also something else Rowland remains committed to: A fitness journey that has seen her transform the way she looked at and after her body.
Rowland lost a significant amount of weight some years ago but now healthy eating, fitness and a love of pilates is part of her routine.
At the Fiddler she skips the potatoes and orders loads of steamed vegetables to go along with her steak.
She had told me before the election she intended to fit in as much personal training and workouts as possible into the gruelling five-week campaign.
Now she reveals her secret weapon of not putting on election-campaign weight, a very real phenomenon any staffer, or journalist covering the campaign, will tell you.
It’s a red Esky.
“(I had) the red Esky … I prep my meals at the beginning of the day and I put out some extras in there for the people I’ll be campaigning with for the day,” she says.
“It’s easier to eat healthy when you have gotten up half an hour earlier to prep everything.”
And the exercise?
Door knocking helped the MP get in her 10,000 steps a day easily but the campaign powers also allowed her a sacred Wednesday morning hour of personal training to be match fit.
As for pilates, that’s a “Canberra thing” for the MP.
With Labor’s stunning majority, she’ll be back on the reformer in no time.
More Coverage
Originally published as High Steaks: Michelle Rowland urges youth to drop their phones and engage in politics
Sophie Delezio opens up on her first Mother’s Day
Sophie Delezio stole a nation’s heart when she survived a horror car crash 22 years ago. Now she reveals the bundle of joy that claimed her heart in a Mother’s Day tribute. PLUS: Celebrities talk about what motherhood means to them.
‘Trump style is not my style’: Libs leader plans for NSW’s future
Mark Speakman has long been touted by detractors in his party as the “wrong man for the job”, but the Liberal leader says it will be him leading the Coalition to the next state election.