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No Dribble EXTRA: A Conversation with Allegra Spender · No Dribble

0:01
Speaker 1: You're listening to a DM podcast.
0:18
Speaker 2: Hello and welcome to No Dribble Extra. Now you guys
0:21
Speaker 2: know about this, Liz and I've told you that we've
0:22
Speaker 2: been having fascinating conversations with women in incredible positions of
0:27
Speaker 2: influence in our country. And this is we are very
0:31
Speaker 2: excited today to have a chat with Allegraspender, who is
0:34
Speaker 2: the Member for Wentworth, the independent Member for Wentworth, the
0:38
Speaker 2: first person to rest this seat from Little Liberals since Federation.
0:42
Speaker 2: I believe, so go girls. So what we're doing in
0:45
Speaker 2: this is we have a particularly unique situation in Australian
0:48
Speaker 2: political life at the moment where we have lots of
0:51
Speaker 2: women in positions of influence for our sports. So we
0:54
Speaker 2: have a federal Minister for Sport who is female, Anika Wells.
0:57
Speaker 2: We have a federal opposition spokesperson for sport who is
1:00
Speaker 2: female and rusted. And we have these very influential independent
1:05
Speaker 2: members you might have heard them called the teals before,
1:08
Speaker 2: who all happened to be women. Now as a sport,
1:11
Speaker 2: as Australia's largest sport for women and girls, we feel
1:14
Speaker 2: these people are important for us to talk to and
1:16
Speaker 2: we're important for them to talk to. So we are
1:18
Speaker 2: very excited to have Allegra's time in this busy campaign.
1:21
Speaker 2: So welcome Allegra.
1:23
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for having me.
1:24
Speaker 2: Now, usually what we do here Allegra is we put
1:27
Speaker 2: Lize Ellis to the test. She believes that she can
1:30
Speaker 2: guess anybody's netball position with three questions. So we areing
1:36
Speaker 2: to hold her to that now and see whether or
1:39
Speaker 2: not she can do it in three questions.
1:42
Speaker 4: And I probably should have thought of what these three
1:44
Speaker 4: questions are going to be on the spot and so,
1:46
Speaker 4: but we'll just make it up as we go. So Allega,
1:48
Speaker 4: great to have you. One. I do know that you're
1:50
Speaker 4: in the studio. You're in the No Dribble studio, which
1:53
Speaker 4: is awesome, and I started to profusely thank you, and
1:56
Speaker 4: then you reminded me that actually it's in your electorate.
1:58
Speaker 4: So you are very much on throat business. Okay, So
2:03
Speaker 4: my first question to you to figure out what position
2:05
Speaker 4: you play, I know you've played a lot of netball,
2:08
Speaker 4: is in a social situation, do you organize the event
2:11
Speaker 4: or do you let somebody else get out there and
2:13
Speaker 4: organize it.
2:15
Speaker 5: I do a fair amount of organizing, I'll be honest,
2:18
Speaker 5: particularly having people at home. I really, that's my husband
2:21
Speaker 5: and I like to see our friends. Is trying to
2:23
Speaker 5: bring people in. So yeah, we do a fair bit
2:26
Speaker 5: of organizing.
2:27
Speaker 4: You are an organizer, okay, And before becoming a politician,
2:30
Speaker 4: how do you feel about being called a politician. It's
2:33
Speaker 4: a bit weird.
2:33
Speaker 5: I probably prefer to be called a representative. But yeah,
2:36
Speaker 5: I'm a politician.
2:37
Speaker 4: Yeah.
2:37
Speaker 3: Politicians, Yeah, they get a bad rap. But yeah, that
2:39
Speaker 3: is the job I get out.
2:41
Speaker 4: Okay, that wasn't one of my questions. That's just what
2:43
Speaker 4: I was going to say.
2:44
Speaker 2: If you ever are faced with a genie in a bottle,
2:46
Speaker 2: you don't get to say, oh, that wasn't one of
2:48
Speaker 2: my questions, and you need to go with your three.
2:51
Speaker 2: You've been distracted.
2:53
Speaker 4: It was a shiny thing.
2:55
Speaker 2: I am a benevolent genie, so I'm going to allow it.
2:58
Speaker 4: Okay, thank you very much, benevolent any I'll give your
3:00
Speaker 4: belly a rub later. Okay. Before you became a local
3:04
Speaker 4: representative or politician, for sure, what was your job?
3:07
Speaker 5: You ran a not for profit which was a network
3:10
Speaker 5: of low socio economic schools and businesses helping kids to
3:13
Speaker 5: be mentored so they had you could make sort of
3:16
Speaker 5: informed career choices and so of better have a chance
3:19
Speaker 5: post school.
3:20
Speaker 4: Okay, so you're in charge in that business. This sounds
3:22
Speaker 4: a great business if you were in charge. Yeah, you're
3:25
Speaker 4: in charge of the socials. You're in charge of the business.
3:28
Speaker 4: Which leads me to my next question. Do you wear
3:31
Speaker 4: lip looss?
3:33
Speaker 3: Not a lot? Actually, what are you wearing that?
3:35
Speaker 5: I'm wearing lipstick for work, but before, if I'm not work,
3:38
Speaker 5: I probably wouldn't wear anything at all.
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Speaker 4: Oh see, that's thrown me a bit because the fact
3:43
Speaker 4: that you organize things and you're running the show and
3:47
Speaker 4: you're the CEO. You're not like the workhorse engine. You're
3:49
Speaker 4: the CEO. You're the front person. I feel like you're
3:51
Speaker 4: you've got goal attack vibes. But you've thrown me off
3:53
Speaker 4: with your lip.
3:54
Speaker 3: Gloss attack thing. A lip glass very.
3:57
Speaker 4: Much, so you know every time you're upset a goal attack,
4:00
Speaker 4: they reached for the l glosanger.
4:02
Speaker 1: You know.
4:03
Speaker 4: Oh, I know what you're up to. I reckon you're Oh,
4:05
Speaker 4: I don't know right, you've thrown me off. I was
4:08
Speaker 4: getting definite GA vibes, but now I'm sort of getting
4:11
Speaker 4: GD vibes. But I think I'm going to go with ja.
4:15
Speaker 3: Yeah, gall the well done.
4:19
Speaker 4: And so tell us what was the peak of your
4:21
Speaker 4: netball career?
4:22
Speaker 5: Look, to be honest, peak of my netbow career was
4:24
Speaker 5: at school.
4:25
Speaker 3: I played a lot at school.
4:26
Speaker 5: I played also at UNI, but just at sort of
4:28
Speaker 5: college level, and even played a bit actually sometimes in
4:30
Speaker 5: parliament and post school and pre kids and all that
4:33
Speaker 5: sort of thing. But I think we won you know,
4:36
Speaker 5: the one that sort of you know, the local girls
4:38
Speaker 5: schools competition a couple of times. Again I wasn't you know,
4:41
Speaker 5: on the top teams, but we had a great team.
4:44
Speaker 5: I absolutely loved it and it was a really big
4:47
Speaker 5: part of my being at school. And to be honest,
4:50
Speaker 5: when I had a couple of hard times at school,
4:52
Speaker 5: netbor helped carry me through because I had good friends
4:54
Speaker 5: in netball and that kind of you know, feeling successful
4:57
Speaker 5: part of a team was good for the good times
4:59
Speaker 5: and also for the bad times too.
5:01
Speaker 4: That is a correct answer, actually. So I think one
5:04
Speaker 4: of the things that I'm continually banging on about is
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Speaker 4: the fact that netball sets women up in so many
5:10
Speaker 4: more ways in just passing and catching, just physical literacy.
5:13
Speaker 4: It gives you the ability to communicate, It teaches your resilience.
5:16
Speaker 4: It teaches you all sorts of great lessons, but for
5:19
Speaker 4: so many young women it's like a safe space. It's
5:22
Speaker 4: a third place away from school or away from work
5:25
Speaker 4: when they're with their mates. So then when you get
5:27
Speaker 4: you go into parliament, you're not a career politician. What
5:31
Speaker 4: did the sport give you skills that helped you find
5:34
Speaker 4: your way through that?
5:35
Speaker 5: Look? I think the sport helps you work with others.
5:38
Speaker 5: You know, the thing about Netbule is you can't be,
5:40
Speaker 5: you know, a one person star. You're not even allowed
5:42
Speaker 5: all up and down the court, and so you have
5:44
Speaker 5: to work with others. And I think, you know, that's
5:46
Speaker 5: been true of my time in business. Before my previous job,
5:50
Speaker 5: I used to run my family's fashion business. I've worked
5:53
Speaker 5: in all sorts of different places. I've always had to
5:55
Speaker 5: get on with other people. I've always had to work
5:57
Speaker 5: with other people and with different skills and actually say
6:00
Speaker 5: it's great, we don't all have to do the same thing.
6:02
Speaker 5: And sometimes actually the best thing is working with people
6:05
Speaker 5: with different skills because you compliment each other and that's
6:08
Speaker 5: what makes a really strong team. And so that's I
6:10
Speaker 5: think very much like Netbull because being a great attack
6:13
Speaker 5: person is not, you know, it's we need the goalkeeper
6:16
Speaker 5: to be absolutely firing too. And so I think that's
6:19
Speaker 5: that sense of the importance of valuing different skills and
6:23
Speaker 5: being able to work with everybody has certainly been useful
6:26
Speaker 5: in parliament.
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Speaker 4: Okay, well, I'm just asking in the glove you mentioned
6:28
Speaker 4: in the goalkeeper.
6:29
Speaker 2: But it's true, a really good question.
6:31
Speaker 3: It's an underrated position. I'm not just saying that.
6:36
Speaker 2: I think the most underrated position on the court, though,
6:38
Speaker 2: allegra is the wing defense. It's music to my is
6:46
Speaker 2: to hear you talk about how you weren't necessarily in
6:49
Speaker 2: the top team or whatever, but what netball gave to you,
6:51
Speaker 2: because that's what we're all about here. So we have
6:53
Speaker 2: two world champions and someone who was in the under
6:58
Speaker 2: twelve b's team at my high school. But I loved it,
7:00
Speaker 2: you know, and that was for what you're saying netball
7:03
Speaker 2: meant to you is what netble has meant to me too.
7:05
Speaker 2: And and here we are celebrating all levels of our game.
7:09
Speaker 2: So how tall are you?
7:12
Speaker 5: One seventy five centimeters so tall but not not not
7:16
Speaker 5: enough for proper netble.
7:18
Speaker 2: Probably Liz would say that's nice and tall I'm trying
7:22
Speaker 2: to get that out of her parlance. I think it's
7:24
Speaker 2: just tall.
7:27
Speaker 4: You're on the short side of nice and tall, but
7:29
Speaker 4: you're still still it leaves Caroline is still the shortest
7:33
Speaker 4: person in the PODCA short pollies.
7:36
Speaker 2: Hey, I'm one hundred and fifty nine centiments.
7:39
Speaker 3: So that will make you a great Lin defense.
7:43
Speaker 2: Yes, thank you, thank you. I think it's also my
7:45
Speaker 2: snappy attitude that makes me a good wing defense.
7:49
Speaker 4: Alega. You mentioned the you played netball in parliament. I
7:53
Speaker 4: think a lot of people don't realize there is there's
7:55
Speaker 4: a parliamentary netball team, is there not? Tell us a
7:57
Speaker 4: little bit about that and who's in the team. Who
7:59
Speaker 4: do you get to play against?
8:00
Speaker 5: Yeah, so there's actually there are a lot of sports
8:03
Speaker 5: in parliament. And again it's been for me someone who
8:07
Speaker 5: you know, I'm a sporty person.
8:08
Speaker 3: I like to be active.
8:09
Speaker 5: It's been also a great way to get to know
8:11
Speaker 5: different people in different circumstances. And so the people in
8:13
Speaker 5: parliament playing sport, you know, they're the politicians, but also press,
8:17
Speaker 5: you know, staff, you know, all sorts of you know people.
8:20
Speaker 5: Everyone that's a really it's actually very welcoming and so
8:23
Speaker 5: even sometimes people have got their kids up and they
8:25
Speaker 5: play as well. So I played basketball and sometimes netball,
8:28
Speaker 5: probably a bit more basketball. Sorry, I know this is
8:30
Speaker 5: the wrong podcast to say that, but it's true. Can
8:35
Speaker 5: I tell you though, the other day I've played They've
8:37
Speaker 5: got the We had the courts next to each other,
8:39
Speaker 5: played half of basketball and half of netball, and I
8:42
Speaker 5: happen to play center in netball.
8:43
Speaker 3: I've got to tell you.
8:44
Speaker 5: It was much more tiring playing center netball than it
8:48
Speaker 5: was playing half a game of basketball. So it is
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Speaker 5: the toughest sports that really. It was very clear to
8:53
Speaker 5: me actually having played those next to each other like that.
8:56
Speaker 4: Oh you're back, Okay, all is forgiven.
9:01
Speaker 2: But your Sun Corpse Super Netball team, we're a very
9:05
Speaker 2: tribal sport obviously, do you do you have a team you.
9:09
Speaker 5: Well, I think it has to be the new Southel Swifts.
9:11
Speaker 5: I mean I think that's yeah, I think that's you know, absolutely,
9:16
Speaker 5: And actually my officially officially and also my one of
9:20
Speaker 5: my teammates, Maddie from my team, actually saw them on
9:23
Speaker 5: the weekend and said it was an amazing, very good
9:25
Speaker 5: so yeah she was. She was telling me all about it.
9:27
Speaker 2: So officially, Liz is not a supporter of any team
9:30
Speaker 2: because she's the chair of Netball Australia unofficially though swifts
9:34
Speaker 2: good don't tell anyone though a secret?
9:40
Speaker 4: Absolutely, do you have a favorite player? Ale? Look?
9:43
Speaker 3: You know again?
9:44
Speaker 5: I would say, Liz, you know, you know, how can
9:46
Speaker 5: I how can I sit there in a podcast with
9:47
Speaker 5: you and say no, you know? Actually they're so yeah,
9:50
Speaker 5: So Liz, you're you're a star. But I have to
9:52
Speaker 5: say Chareel McMahon, you know, Ga, I think that's you know,
9:56
Speaker 5: you've got to pay tribute to that because it is
9:59
Speaker 5: a great position and it's wonderful to see people really
10:02
Speaker 5: do that well.
10:03
Speaker 3: And she was incredible.
10:04
Speaker 2: She just stick together, don't they?
10:06
Speaker 4: Yeah, they do.
10:07
Speaker 2: But that's okay.
10:08
Speaker 3: We just know we know how hard it is.
10:10
Speaker 5: And just watching someone do something that you do and
10:13
Speaker 5: then so much better than you, and watching how well
10:15
Speaker 5: they do.
10:15
Speaker 2: It, that's how it's meant to be done.
10:20
Speaker 3: I can't do that, but it's pretty cool.
10:22
Speaker 2: So you mentioned Maddie, So let's make a star of
10:26
Speaker 2: Mattie because she's the netble brains in the office of
10:29
Speaker 2: the Member for Wentworth. I belief when you were elected,
10:31
Speaker 2: how did you go about choosing your team. So we
10:34
Speaker 2: spoke with Zoe Daniel last week and her chief of
10:37
Speaker 2: staff is Angela Pippos, who was one of the best
10:39
Speaker 2: mate from UNI, but you know, also a journalist, so
10:42
Speaker 2: very clearly someone who is very useful and skillful in
10:46
Speaker 2: that way. But you know this was new for all
10:48
Speaker 2: of you. So how did you go about choosing your team?
10:50
Speaker 5: Yeah, we had some people who had come together during
10:53
Speaker 5: the campaign, and so often people who started out as volunteers,
10:57
Speaker 5: and then we had people like Maddie who in the
11:00
Speaker 5: team so halfway through and I think what did we
11:03
Speaker 5: even put out ads? Asked other people for recommendations, And
11:07
Speaker 5: I guess what I always look for is someone who
11:10
Speaker 5: gets is customer focused. And I know that sounds weird,
11:13
Speaker 5: you know, being a politician, but truthfully, you're there to serve,
11:17
Speaker 5: and so everyone's got to have a service attitude, you know.
11:19
Speaker 5: I think that's really important. People need to get along
11:21
Speaker 5: with each other. It's again, it's a team effort, you know,
11:25
Speaker 5: particular in a small office, you do need to be
11:27
Speaker 5: able to pitch in with each other and to be
11:29
Speaker 5: able to deal with it and not to be sort
11:32
Speaker 5: of not to have an ego about that, and then
11:34
Speaker 5: I think also, you know, be able to keep you
11:36
Speaker 5: cool in tough situations, because you know, politics, there's a
11:40
Speaker 5: lot of pressure. Things go wrong, and you know, in
11:43
Speaker 5: the end, you know you can't stop things going wrong.
11:45
Speaker 5: You can only work out how to manage them, and
11:47
Speaker 5: to try and do that, you know, so effectively and
11:50
Speaker 5: thoughtfully and you know, and of transparently. So those are
11:54
Speaker 5: some of the qualities. And then depends job for job,
11:56
Speaker 5: you know, that's what. But those are some of the
11:58
Speaker 5: qualities that I look for, and Mattie's got in all those.
12:00
Speaker 3: In space.
12:02
Speaker 2: She might be wing defense.
12:04
Speaker 3: She's sitting next to me, Maddie is she is a
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Speaker 3: wing defense.
12:12
Speaker 1: Else?
12:12
Speaker 4: Look good?
12:13
Speaker 3: Yeah, she does.
12:13
Speaker 5: And she handles a lot of the constituent inquiries which
12:17
Speaker 5: are really important and you know where people can often
12:20
Speaker 5: be sort of frustrated or upset or really needing help,
12:23
Speaker 5: and being calm and steady and being able to deal
12:25
Speaker 5: with those and take those seriously, and you know quickly
12:29
Speaker 5: they're amazing skills because people forget that part of your
12:32
Speaker 5: job in politics, and a big part of we do
12:34
Speaker 5: at the local level is helping people when they get stuck.
12:37
Speaker 5: And so that can be helping people with a visa
12:39
Speaker 5: issue or you know they you know, they're they're sort
12:42
Speaker 5: of they're trying to get their parent into age care
12:44
Speaker 5: and you know, can't navigate the system. So you know,
12:47
Speaker 5: they're a business trying to engage with government and just
12:49
Speaker 5: don't know how, and so part of your job, as
12:52
Speaker 5: well as sort of policy and all those sorts of things,
12:54
Speaker 5: is actually just helping people at that local level, and
12:57
Speaker 5: particularly when government feels like they're failing them.
13:00
Speaker 2: It's interesting that I'm talking to a mate of mind
13:01
Speaker 2: who's an MP, and a number of those those visa issues,
13:04
Speaker 2: for instance, those people can't even vote, so it's like
13:07
Speaker 2: it's your job to represent them. But there's nothing you
13:10
Speaker 2: know that you can't then hope for some quid pro
13:12
Speaker 2: quo down the track or whatever. That's just the job.
13:14
Speaker 2: It's it's just.
13:16
Speaker 3: It's just the job. But it's but it is.
13:18
Speaker 5: I mean, I think that's some of the satisfaction you
13:20
Speaker 5: get out of being an MP. I think a lot
13:21
Speaker 5: of it is the big national agenda trying to drive,
13:24
Speaker 5: but it's the people you help. Whether they can vote
13:27
Speaker 5: for you or not really doesn't come up. It's actually
13:29
Speaker 5: just helping people and getting that satisfaction you know when
13:33
Speaker 5: you help people, whether it be you know, we were
13:35
Speaker 5: just talking earlier about, you know, helping local residents who
13:38
Speaker 5: are concerned about a tree being cut down. You know,
13:40
Speaker 5: helping a guy who was one of the longest detainee
13:44
Speaker 5: in immigration detention, he was there for thirteen years, helping
13:48
Speaker 5: him get out. You know, he's he can't vote, he's
13:50
Speaker 5: not a citizen, but helping him get out of immigration detention. Then,
13:53
Speaker 5: you know, helping someone you know where they're pay parental leave,
13:56
Speaker 5: where they got stuck. You know that stuff. You know,
13:58
Speaker 5: whether people can vote or not, you know, just being
14:00
Speaker 5: able to help people and being a human at the
14:02
Speaker 5: end of the line, just there for people. It gives
14:05
Speaker 5: me a huge amount of satisfaction. I think also is what
14:07
Speaker 5: people looking for. They want someone you know they can
14:09
Speaker 5: actually talk to about these things.
14:11
Speaker 4: I guess you have lots of people come to you
14:13
Speaker 4: and ask you for help at that local level, and
14:16
Speaker 4: then you've got people like us who you know, we're
14:19
Speaker 4: thinking about women's sport and we're thinking about netball. So
14:24
Speaker 4: as an independent you can obviously be really close to
14:28
Speaker 4: your community, but how much do you get to put
14:30
Speaker 4: your eyes up and look, I guess at the bigger
14:32
Speaker 4: picture and influence that debate.
14:35
Speaker 5: Look, I think in lots of ways actually, but you've
14:38
Speaker 5: got to pick your topics. So you know, for instance,
14:41
Speaker 5: in this term of parliament, I think, you know, myself
14:43
Speaker 5: and others have been really influential in things like you know,
14:46
Speaker 5: making sure that hextet was reduced and got indexed to
14:51
Speaker 5: in some wages, not just inflation, because young people were
14:53
Speaker 5: really struggling with that. You know, worked to try and
14:57
Speaker 5: improve things like the bill to rent housing so that
15:00
Speaker 5: more people could get at home into homes and frankly
15:03
Speaker 5: that renters had longer lease terms. You know, I worked
15:06
Speaker 5: a lot on things like industrial relations to make sure
15:08
Speaker 5: that it's still worked for small businesses. So you can
15:11
Speaker 5: actually do a lot. But how you achieve as an
15:14
Speaker 5: independent lay say, it's how you advocate, how you legislate,
15:18
Speaker 5: and how you vote. So you know, advocate strongly publicly,
15:21
Speaker 5: privately legislate, you know, work with the government, work with
15:24
Speaker 5: the opposition, work across the parliament. You know, to make
15:27
Speaker 5: amendments to change the laws, which you can really successfully
15:30
Speaker 5: do like strengthen like I've done in elements for instance,
15:34
Speaker 5: of climate policy and then vote. You can vote on
15:37
Speaker 5: issues for the community, and I think the benefit of
15:40
Speaker 5: being an independent is you're not tied to the major
15:43
Speaker 5: parties on what they think on issues, and so you
15:46
Speaker 5: can talk about stuff they don't want to talk about.
15:48
Speaker 5: You know, I'm a big and strong advocate on gambling
15:51
Speaker 5: reform to stop online gambling advertising because you know, I
15:55
Speaker 5: know that is hurting, you know, hurting our young people,
15:57
Speaker 5: particularly in watching sport. Also a big advocate for tax reform.
16:02
Speaker 5: Now that's not a popular thing to be an advocate for,
16:05
Speaker 5: and it's one that you know, if I was in
16:07
Speaker 5: the major party, there's no way I could talk about it.
16:09
Speaker 5: But because I'm an independent, I can speak up on
16:11
Speaker 5: some of the tough stuff and actually create the space
16:14
Speaker 5: for better debate. And I think that's what people want.
16:16
Speaker 5: Most people are saying, look, we don't care whose idea
16:19
Speaker 5: is it. We don't want the bickering of the major parties.
16:22
Speaker 5: We're just interested in results and outcomes that make a
16:25
Speaker 5: difference to Australian people.
16:26
Speaker 4: So it's Maddie in your ear about netball, how about.
16:29
Speaker 3: Like she is about netbww all the time.
16:33
Speaker 4: In the next parliament, should you be elected Allegra. What
16:36
Speaker 4: can we expect for you.
16:37
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, we were talking before about you know, I
16:40
Speaker 5: personally think a netbus should be in the Olympics. That's
16:42
Speaker 5: that's the thing I think for at a national level.
16:46
Speaker 5: At a local level, we don't actually have enough netwborle courts.
16:49
Speaker 5: We've got a really big growing Double Bay Diamonds is
16:52
Speaker 5: a huge club in my area that's actually grown enormously.
16:55
Speaker 5: Lots of kids are playing netball, but we don't have
16:57
Speaker 5: a lot of courts locally, so that's kind of that's
16:59
Speaker 5: a a local issue to try and work with the
17:02
Speaker 5: state with probably more of the local councils. But at
17:04
Speaker 5: a national level, i'd love to I think nebules should
17:06
Speaker 5: be in the Olympics. I think it deserves to be.
17:08
Speaker 5: So I will do what I can. You need to
17:11
Speaker 5: do what you can.
17:12
Speaker 4: To work worth and vote for you.
17:13
Speaker 2: There quick question before we move, before we move you
17:18
Speaker 2: into Cox's hot box, which will make you sweat, I
17:21
Speaker 2: will tell you that. But when you came into Parliament,
17:24
Speaker 2: so there's you came in at the same time as
17:27
Speaker 2: a number of other independent and some of you have
17:29
Speaker 2: been dubbed the Teals, but we also have other independents
17:32
Speaker 2: who have not. But you, I guess in some ways
17:36
Speaker 2: were acting not as a party but as a team
17:39
Speaker 2: at times. How did you form that team? And what
17:41
Speaker 2: are the and the team dynamics there and and you
17:44
Speaker 2: know is there Yeah, I guess I'm not even I'm
17:46
Speaker 2: groping a bit for the question here because it strikes
17:49
Speaker 2: me that you're not a party, but you do operate
17:51
Speaker 2: as a team. But I'm interested to learn day one
17:54
Speaker 2: or you know, was it prior to that when you
17:56
Speaker 2: were campaigning? You know, how did that happen?
17:59
Speaker 5: Look, you know, I'd say i'd call us a collaboration
18:02
Speaker 5: because I think what we do is we collaborate on
18:04
Speaker 5: the things we agree on, but there are some things
18:06
Speaker 5: where we don't and then you know we don't. So
18:09
Speaker 5: that's kind of that sort of independence versus I think,
18:11
Speaker 5: you know, sort of major party and there's no sort
18:13
Speaker 5: of obligation, you know, there's no kind of like this
18:15
Speaker 5: is what you do and this is how you do it.
18:17
Speaker 5: It's it's really sort of you get to represent your community,
18:20
Speaker 5: but you work with others. I hadn't met most of
18:22
Speaker 5: the other independence or i'd met them maybe once before
18:25
Speaker 5: you know, we got elected. But what I've I mean,
18:28
Speaker 5: what I've done is, you know, like most things, get
18:30
Speaker 5: to know people personally, work out what's important to them, listen, learn,
18:34
Speaker 5: you know, and identify where you've got lots of common ground.
18:37
Speaker 5: And I think again what's interesting about the cross Bench.
18:40
Speaker 5: People have had really quite significant careers before parliament. You know,
18:44
Speaker 5: we've got doctors, lawyers, you know, people've got midwives. You know,
18:48
Speaker 5: all you know, and that's not just the sort of
18:50
Speaker 5: so called tills but broader. So you people have a
18:52
Speaker 5: lot of experience and so you know, you try and
18:55
Speaker 5: draw on that experience depending on the issues in front
18:57
Speaker 5: of you. So you know, someone like Helen Haynes a
19:00
Speaker 5: rural she represents a rule electric quite different to mine.
19:03
Speaker 5: She's a midwife, so you know she when I sort
19:06
Speaker 5: of when you're looking at some health or rural economy issues,
19:09
Speaker 5: you know, I'll always be interested and listen to what
19:11
Speaker 5: Helen has to say. So I think that's but that's
19:14
Speaker 5: about I think respect for each other, you know, willing
19:17
Speaker 5: willingness to listen and learn from each other and then
19:20
Speaker 5: also come together. You know, when when it makes sense,
19:23
Speaker 5: when your voice can be sort of magnified when you
19:25
Speaker 5: work together.
19:27
Speaker 4: That's really interesting. Helen Haynes is. I didn't know she
19:29
Speaker 4: was a midwife and I had a meeting with her
19:31
Speaker 4: just after I became the chair of Netball Australia. And
19:33
Speaker 4: now I'm thinking back to that meeting. She's very calm,
19:35
Speaker 4: she is.
19:37
Speaker 5: She said to me the other day she said she
19:39
Speaker 5: was a rural she was a bush nurse. I think
19:41
Speaker 5: as well. So she said that she could splinter a
19:44
Speaker 5: leg with a rolled up newspaper like. She is a
19:47
Speaker 5: sort of woman you want in a crisis.
19:50
Speaker 4: She's very very wing defense vibes.
19:54
Speaker 3: I'll have to go out to Parliament and ask her
19:55
Speaker 3: what her position is. I text he one after this one.
19:58
Speaker 2: I think sometime over glass of wine without going to air,
20:01
Speaker 2: we should talk about of your collaborators there. Put them
20:04
Speaker 2: across the positions in the team.
20:06
Speaker 4: Yeah, I know, I will.
20:07
Speaker 3: I might put that out to.
20:08
Speaker 2: Them and then burn the piece of paper.
20:13
Speaker 4: Maybe I'd like to say it. Hey, just jumping a
20:16
Speaker 4: little bit into your previous career and your family connections.
20:19
Speaker 4: I am quite interested. Your sister Bianca is a fashion designer.
20:23
Speaker 4: Your mum Colors and Patty was a fashion designer. You
20:26
Speaker 4: ran the family fashion business what would you do to
20:29
Speaker 4: netbol uniforms? Chairs?
20:33
Speaker 3: So it's interesting.
20:34
Speaker 5: I was actually we Maddie and I were just looking
20:37
Speaker 5: at some shots actually from NETFLLL, since we were before
20:39
Speaker 5: we came to the podcast. So Mum was always very
20:42
Speaker 5: sort of bold and sort of strong and quite simple.
20:45
Speaker 5: So I think you could simplify, you know, you could
20:47
Speaker 5: just go sort of, you know, without so much decoration,
20:50
Speaker 5: sort of you know, strength and sort of colors, you know,
20:53
Speaker 5: sort of block colors, block colors. That's where that's where
20:55
Speaker 5: Mum would go with netble And I think I think
20:57
Speaker 5: there's something to be said for that, right.
21:00
Speaker 2: I think if Carla zam Patty had redesigned the uniforms,
21:03
Speaker 2: we would be getting a lot more women of a
21:04
Speaker 2: certain age re entering the sport have to wear a Carla.
21:09
Speaker 4: Can you imagine would you like her bianky spender or.
21:16
Speaker 5: Mama's very practical actually as well, So practicality would feature
21:19
Speaker 5: very highly as well as as well as of bold
21:22
Speaker 5: sort of you know, bold lines, and.
21:24
Speaker 4: The dresses would have pockets.
21:25
Speaker 5: Yes, indeed, she always had pockets in her bands for
21:28
Speaker 5: these this very reason.
21:30
Speaker 3: She liked pockets.
21:33
Speaker 4: Imagine I would stick all sorts of things as a
21:35
Speaker 4: goldkeeper in my pockets.
21:39
Speaker 5: To beat down before you started to play.
21:44
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, are you ready for this? So yes, apologies
21:49
Speaker 2: from Catherine that she couldn't be with us today, but
21:51
Speaker 2: she has given me the immense responsibility of delivering these
21:55
Speaker 2: questions on her behalf. So this is rapid fire unless
21:59
Speaker 2: we change our mind and decide to talk further about
22:01
Speaker 2: any one of the questions. So here in no dribble Land.
22:05
Speaker 2: It is a benevolent dictatorship. It is not actually a
22:09
Speaker 2: We don't really need to lay out any governance of
22:11
Speaker 2: our around our question procedures. We just go where the
22:15
Speaker 2: wind bread takes us. So there you are now entering
22:17
Speaker 2: Coxy's hot box, and I will be firing some questions
22:20
Speaker 2: at you.
22:21
Speaker 3: Okay, coffee order decaff, skim cappuccino.
22:28
Speaker 4: Decaf?
22:28
Speaker 5: I know otherwise too wide can't sleep.
22:32
Speaker 2: I don't know about the dairy being Wentworth though, Liz,
22:35
Speaker 2: I would have thought there would have been some sort
22:37
Speaker 2: of m y LK in there, So.
22:40
Speaker 4: I do like that's firon I.
22:43
Speaker 2: What about the rowing team, the Double Bay Diamonds. They're
22:46
Speaker 2: really leaning into the stereotype, there, aren't they. Okay, summer
22:51
Speaker 2: or winter.
22:52
Speaker 3: I'd actually say autumn.
22:53
Speaker 5: It is gorgeous right now, and the water is warm.
22:56
Speaker 2: Very good.
22:57
Speaker 5: Breakfast go to an egg on toast with avocado and veggiemine.
23:04
Speaker 2: Very nice, all of those at the same time.
23:06
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, butter vegimie, avocado, a bit of lemon, salt
23:10
Speaker 5: and pepper, and a softball egg protein.
23:13
Speaker 4: You know, I heard about that, and I just I
23:15
Speaker 4: don't know that I can bring myself. I love vegamark.
23:18
Speaker 4: I don't know. You know, there's some things you can't do.
23:21
Speaker 2: Avocado I do all the time. It's great, It's so good.
23:24
Speaker 3: Listen, it is so good.
23:27
Speaker 2: The water's fine. You can do it. You could do it. Okay,
23:33
Speaker 2: Now this one I'm going to ask you. When I
23:35
Speaker 2: say team, I'm going to ask you to consider, in
23:37
Speaker 2: the context of your parliamentary collaborators, funniest teammate.
23:42
Speaker 3: Funniest teammate.
23:44
Speaker 5: I probably would say Mini Grin is the funniest of
23:46
Speaker 5: the lotch here has a very sharp sense of humor.
23:49
Speaker 2: That's two from two. Zoey Daniel sent, okay, okay, tomato
23:54
Speaker 2: sauce in the fridge or the cupboard fridge once it's
23:56
Speaker 2: oken favorite sport, not netball.
24:02
Speaker 3: Basketball.
24:02
Speaker 5: Sorry to mention it all running. I do a lot
24:04
Speaker 5: of running, and so just you know, that's what it's
24:07
Speaker 5: probably not not to watch, but to do. That's what
24:10
Speaker 5: keeps me saying. I run almost every day.
24:12
Speaker 2: And what sort of distance do you run?
24:14
Speaker 3: Normally? Just five k's.
24:15
Speaker 5: I do a couple longer runs maybe on the weekend,
24:17
Speaker 5: but I normally just I've got a sort of five
24:19
Speaker 5: k kind of circuit.
24:20
Speaker 3: Half an hour.
24:21
Speaker 5: You can get up, go come home, see the kids,
24:24
Speaker 5: go to work, you know, get all this stuff done.
24:26
Speaker 3: It's very flexible.
24:27
Speaker 2: You'd have some decent hills over your way out.
24:29
Speaker 3: I do exactly right.
24:31
Speaker 2: I do, okay. Best holiday destination, best.
24:34
Speaker 5: Holo I've been is Iceland, of all places. It was amazing.
24:37
Speaker 5: It's very beautiful. There's incredible walking if you're into walking,
24:41
Speaker 5: which I am, and just it's like Australia in the senset.
24:44
Speaker 5: It's got this big empty center, but their center is
24:48
Speaker 5: cold and sort of dark gray as opposed to our.
24:51
Speaker 5: So it's a really and it's fascinating country.
24:53
Speaker 2: Beautiful way to go on one apping me though, on
24:55
Speaker 2: being in Amsterdam right now that you come to Iceland,
25:00
Speaker 2: I highly recommend it.
25:01
Speaker 4: Did you get to see is it the Aurora Barrio.
25:05
Speaker 5: No, we came to the we came to the wrong time,
25:07
Speaker 5: but we went you see, like we went doing on
25:10
Speaker 5: a glacier like you just have. It's incredible the stuff
25:13
Speaker 5: that you get to that you can do around Icelands.
25:15
Speaker 5: It's really really micable and you know, lots of hot baths.
25:18
Speaker 5: Actually at the end of one walk we did as
25:20
Speaker 5: a three day walk and at the end you come
25:22
Speaker 5: to this place which has on the one side of
25:25
Speaker 5: geothermal sort of hot springs on the other side of
25:27
Speaker 5: cold river and they meet together and so you basically
25:30
Speaker 5: jump into this river and sort of get to adjust
25:32
Speaker 5: the temperature depending on which sort of whether you go
25:35
Speaker 5: towards the cold river or the sort of geothermal springs.
25:37
Speaker 3: It's just wow.
25:39
Speaker 2: You don't get out of a body of water, you're
25:41
Speaker 2: in the same body.
25:42
Speaker 3: You get to adjust the temperature that way.
25:44
Speaker 4: It's unru that's amazing. That sounds like a sports scientist
25:47
Speaker 4: designed that river so cold.
25:51
Speaker 2: But you could really cheat on your ice bath, couldn't. Yeah, yes,
25:54
Speaker 2: I mean the cold part. I promise. We thought about
25:58
Speaker 2: going to Iceland on this trip, but they decided we
26:01
Speaker 2: do it. When the children are older, and we don't
26:03
Speaker 2: have to pay for them to come with us because
26:04
Speaker 2: it's not cheap to get there.
26:05
Speaker 3: It isn't it wasn't. Then I can't.
26:08
Speaker 2: Okay, plane activity? What do you do on an aeroplane?
26:12
Speaker 2: I read?
26:12
Speaker 5: Actually, I often read, and I'll often write. I sort
26:16
Speaker 5: of often it's weird, but I used to. It's always
26:19
Speaker 5: fund journeys, particularly long journeys of time to reflect. So
26:21
Speaker 5: often write and then if I can, I'll watch a movie,
26:24
Speaker 5: but I probably probably more read and then sort of
26:27
Speaker 5: write reflections and then and then get one sort of
26:30
Speaker 5: you know, wrong com or something that my husband doesn't
26:32
Speaker 5: want to watch.
26:34
Speaker 4: My husband loves a wrong com So you ever needed
26:36
Speaker 4: like to watch a wrong if? I'm happy to learn
26:38
Speaker 4: in madele I'm that sort of girl. But our dribblers
26:41
Speaker 4: do love a bit of book talk. What's like you said,
26:44
Speaker 4: you do like to read? What's the best book you've
26:46
Speaker 4: read recently? I can recommend.
26:49
Speaker 5: Look, I actually gave this to somebody the other day,
26:53
Speaker 5: The Museum of Modern Love. That's a beautiful book which
26:56
Speaker 5: I enjoyed. Yeah, and I'm trying to think of last
27:00
Speaker 5: year I read the course?
27:03
Speaker 3: Is it called the Prophet's song.
27:04
Speaker 5: I don't sorry, I'm trying to remember if that's the
27:06
Speaker 5: name of it, I'm sorry puts you on on the spot. No,
27:11
Speaker 5: it's one I read on my kindle, which is always
27:13
Speaker 5: a problem. So reading that, and if you like nonfiction,
27:17
Speaker 5: I would say Humankind is a very inspiring one. It's about,
27:21
Speaker 5: you know, our humans more kind or are we sort
27:23
Speaker 5: of you know, Survival of the Fit is always just
27:25
Speaker 5: going to want to sort of murder each other. Comes
27:27
Speaker 5: out good and you know, spoiler alert, you know more
27:30
Speaker 5: kind than you think. So that's actually a very sort
27:31
Speaker 5: of uplifting one.
27:32
Speaker 2: If you're into nonfiction, well that's good because I'm increasingly
27:35
Speaker 2: of the view that we're just a pack of jerks.
27:37
Speaker 3: But anyway, very lovely. It's a beautiful book.
27:43
Speaker 2: Okay, we're nearly through Coxy's Hot Box here. The next
27:46
Speaker 2: one I don't think is probably relevant for you at
27:49
Speaker 2: this stage of proceedings. But is there anything you're binging
27:52
Speaker 2: on TV at the moment.
27:54
Speaker 3: No, not at the moment.
27:55
Speaker 5: I am too busy working pretty well, I've been I've
28:01
Speaker 5: been told Slow Horses is what I should be sort
28:04
Speaker 5: of watching. Next is someone told me the other day.
28:08
Speaker 5: And also the last of Us when it comes out
28:10
Speaker 5: the next season. I will definitely watch that.
28:13
Speaker 4: It's tarp when you got kids, we're binging mustard dogs
28:16
Speaker 4: at the moment.
28:17
Speaker 2: So oh that's me binging falling asleep on the couch
28:23
Speaker 2: when we were watching something the children. Oh great, probably
28:27
Speaker 2: a lot of snooze. Okay, So do you have a tattoo?
28:30
Speaker 3: No?
28:31
Speaker 2: No, neither do I Liz a cat both inked. But yeah,
28:34
Speaker 2: I'm a clean skin. Favorite music genre.
28:38
Speaker 5: Probably you know, nineties sort of nineties Australian sort of music.
28:43
Speaker 5: You know, I'm in the middle of, you know, living
28:45
Speaker 5: my sort of you know, late late school, early UNI
28:48
Speaker 5: kind of days, so sort of crowded house and you know,
28:51
Speaker 5: all those kind of stuff. I don't know. That's a
28:53
Speaker 5: probably also concert I was very I went to I
28:55
Speaker 5: went to their end of sort of concert, I think,
28:58
Speaker 5: which was ninety six or ninety seven. Then I went
29:00
Speaker 5: to their recent concert actually at the Opera House again, which.
29:03
Speaker 3: Was just amazing.
29:04
Speaker 5: So they're probably more time favorites and just yeah, powder Finger,
29:08
Speaker 5: all that kind of stuff.
29:09
Speaker 3: That's that sort of you know, that that era fantastic.
29:11
Speaker 4: I don't make music like that now.
29:13
Speaker 2: I knew the boys from powdered Finger at UNI, and
29:16
Speaker 2: they played at my friend's twenty first through a run
29:18
Speaker 2: though just do Neil Young covers No, I told them
29:21
Speaker 2: to get a proper job and that powder Finger was stu.
29:24
Speaker 3: You were wrong.
29:25
Speaker 2: Actually I was wrong, and I also said powder Finger
29:28
Speaker 2: was a stupid name for a band, So yeah, I was.
29:31
Speaker 2: I was working in a Chinese restaurant at the time
29:34
Speaker 2: when I was at UNI, so that was the proper job. Obviously.
29:37
Speaker 3: That is very funny.
29:38
Speaker 2: Okay, last question, very important one though, how do you
29:42
Speaker 2: have your steak cooked?
29:44
Speaker 5: I am weirdly allergic to mammals, so I can't.
29:48
Speaker 4: Eat steak, so bad for business.
29:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, sorry.
29:51
Speaker 5: Two years ago, I got bidden by a tick in
29:53
Speaker 5: the Northern Beaches and sometimes I've been bitten by ticks before,
29:56
Speaker 5: but sometimes they can give you an allergy to mammals,
29:59
Speaker 5: so I can't eat steak.
30:00
Speaker 3: I can't eat any mammals.
30:01
Speaker 5: And my husband's great joke is, you know, if if
30:03
Speaker 5: we're all in some sort of airplane crash and you
30:05
Speaker 5: know who's the first person to eat, well, they probably
30:07
Speaker 5: have to eat me because I probably can't eat them.
30:09
Speaker 3: I might get an allergic reaction.
30:11
Speaker 2: So you know this imful.
30:15
Speaker 4: Is the like live disease or something. No, it's not live.
30:18
Speaker 3: No, I don't think love disease does.
30:20
Speaker 5: But this is a It's particularly true of the Northern Beaches,
30:23
Speaker 5: and it is, yeah, something I probably have the rest
30:25
Speaker 5: of my life.
30:26
Speaker 3: I can't. I can't eat lamb, can't eat pork.
30:28
Speaker 4: You know, I'm so sorry. Are you just devastating? Like
30:31
Speaker 4: you're saying this with a smile, but I'm feeling so
30:33
Speaker 4: devastated for you. I know I have to say.
30:36
Speaker 5: I do miss a steak, I miss lamb, chops, I
30:38
Speaker 5: miss you know, speakingy bolonnais, you know, all these things.
30:41
Speaker 5: But I missed baking sandwiches. That's life, you know, you
30:44
Speaker 5: just roll with the punches.
30:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, my children would start if I couldn't.
30:52
Speaker 5: I was cooking it the other day. It's very weird
30:54
Speaker 5: not being able to taste it. So I was like
30:56
Speaker 5: I had to go. You know, it's like kids come
30:57
Speaker 5: and taste this because I can't taste it if I
30:59
Speaker 5: do that not Yeah, you allergic reaction, which is not
31:02
Speaker 5: a good one.
31:02
Speaker 4: And can it just like could it spontaneously resolve or
31:05
Speaker 4: is this it?
31:06
Speaker 3: I think this might be it.
31:07
Speaker 5: It's not that well, you know, researched, but I think
31:10
Speaker 5: I think I might be done for the rest of
31:11
Speaker 5: my life.
31:12
Speaker 4: Oh wow, I know.
31:13
Speaker 3: Yeah.
31:14
Speaker 4: But since she's okay, then.
31:18
Speaker 2: She can stay away from the whale though.
31:21
Speaker 3: Well no dolphins, no whales.
31:24
Speaker 2: Oh, that would just get in the newspaper anyway, if
31:27
Speaker 2: you're eating dolphins or she jo, that would be well. Allegra,
31:32
Speaker 2: you've done very well and you've survived Coxy's hot box,
31:35
Speaker 2: so lots of fun, thank you and congratulations. Perhaps it
31:39
Speaker 2: is the rigors of the campaign trail that have prepared
31:42
Speaker 2: you for the arduous nature of what we've just put
31:45
Speaker 2: you through. But yes, you've done exceptionally well, and we
31:48
Speaker 2: are I don't think I mentioned this earlier on, and
31:50
Speaker 2: I think it is very important that we mentioned at
31:51
Speaker 2: this stage. We have extended the invitation to the opposition
31:56
Speaker 2: spokesperson for sport, and we have extended the invitation obviously
32:00
Speaker 2: to a couple of our only females though, because we
32:03
Speaker 2: think we're in a very interesting point in Australian history
32:08
Speaker 2: at the moment, and particularly with regards to our sport.
32:11
Speaker 2: But we're immensely grateful that you've joined us today.
32:14
Speaker 3: Oh thank you.
32:14
Speaker 5: It's been a delight to be here, and I love
32:17
Speaker 5: talking about network is a very big part. It was
32:19
Speaker 5: a very very important part of my childhood. And still
32:22
Speaker 5: get to play, which is.
32:22
Speaker 2: Fun, fantastic, And yeah, good luck in the next few weeks.
32:26
Speaker 2: We hope you stay healthy and that people behave in
32:31
Speaker 2: an appropriate manner. That we're all adults. It might be politics,
32:35
Speaker 2: but let's all stay decent and polite and one hundred percent.
32:39
Speaker 5: That's why I would say to people, it's like, get
32:40
Speaker 5: informed and you know people, let's disagree well, Like I
32:43
Speaker 5: think that's really important because we have in this country
32:47
Speaker 5: disagreed well and we just got to keep that up.
32:49
Speaker 4: Excellent, well, said big kind.
32:51
Speaker 2: Well that's it for Nodrible extra big thanks to Alegraspander
32:54
Speaker 2: the mender for Wentworth for joining us in these busy
32:57
Speaker 2: weeks before the election. I'm Carolyn Swindell, I'm Newell.
33:00
Speaker 4: Thanks Allegro, Thanks guys.
33:01
Speaker 2: Bye bye
33:08
Speaker 1: Mm hmm