Going on holiday is rarely a good idea for a politician, even a minor party senator who has been in the job for less than three years.
asserted
who → go → years
Newly minted Greens deputy leader Steph Hodgins-May learned that lesson while walking along the beach at Victoria’s Phillip Island last weekend.
uncertain
May → mint → Island
While collecting seashells and catching up with friends, she got an unexpected call.
asserted
she → collect → call
Greens leader Larissa Waters was stepping down because of worsening kidney disease.
asserted
Waters → step → disease
The party’s leadership would be spilled that week.
asserted
leadership → spill → ?
Three days later, she was standing before 10 colleagues in a Sydney skyscraper that looked very different to the image one conjures when they hear the words “Greens party room retreat”.
asserted
they → stand → words
“I understand I’m pretty new to this parliamentary job.
asserted
I → understand → job
I’m not a polished politician.
asserted
I → ’m → ?
That’s the reason I should be doing this,” she told the room.
asserted
she → ’ → room
While some in the party say the result had been determined before the meeting began, Hodgins-May still made her case.
uncertain
May → say → case
New leader David Shoebridge offered two decades of parliamentary expertise.
asserted
Shoebridge → offer → expertise
She understood her struggling generation and, after three lower house tilts and a run at the Victorian parliament, knew how to run a campaign.
asserted
She → understand → campaign
With a six to five vote against new Tasmanian senator Vanessa Bleyer, the party handed Hodgins-May the deputy leadership.
uncertain
party → hand → leadership
One who spoke to this masthead on the condition of anonymity said Hodgins-May was “universally liked” and would help calm any ructions after an unusually competitive leadership contest in which former deputy Mehreen Faruqi publicly expressed her disappointment at the result.
uncertain
Faruqi → speak → result
A brief glance at Hodgins-May’s family makes a path to progressive politics appear to be almost an inevitability.
uncertain
path → make → politics
Her partner, Ogy Simic, was a refugee whose family briefly found safe harbour in Germany after fleeing conflict in Sarajevo.
asserted
family → find → Sarajevo
Now settled in Australia, he is a director at the Asylum Seekers Resource Centre.
asserted
he → settle → Centre
The couple have two young children that Hodgins-May worries may not grow up with the ability to afford their own home or experience a vibrant natural world.
uncertain
May → have → world
Steph Hodgins-May’s quickfire descriptions of her parliamentary colleagues
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese: “Disappointment”
- Opposition Leader Angus Taylor: “Who?”
- One Nation leader Pauline Hanson: “Yuck”
- Greens leader David Shoebridge: “Legend”
- Former Greens deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi: “Staunch”
- Greens senator and Shoebridge’s leadership contender Sarah Hanson-Young: “Strong”
“Politics was the dinner table conversation,” Hodgins-May says.
uncertain
May → say → colleagues
“I saw them both fighting for stronger education, that sticks with you.”
asserted
that → see → you
It also seemed that politics was in the blood.
asserted
politics → seem → blood
Shortly before his tragic death at the hands of a driver who later tested positive to methamphetamine, Rod and his eldest daughter were stunned to discover that her great-great-grandfather, William Hill, was one of the founding members of the Country Party, now the Nationals.
asserted
grandfather → test → Party
“I think there is something to be said for that kind of long line of, you know, farmers’ feeling that they need to get political in order to ensure that we’ve got food to feed our communities,” Hodgins-May said.
uncertain
May → think → communities
“We discovered also that he left the party in disgust when they were forced to vote along party lines.
asserted
they → discover → lines
We haven’t got all the details, but we like to think it was at a point where people saw that the National Party simply weren’t there to represent farmers,” she said, bringing even her family history back to a criticism of the major parties which she believes are captured by vested interests.
asserted
she → get → interests
“There’s a deep connection, I think, to the land, to champions from the regions, in my family, and I’m really proud to continue that.”
asserted
I → ’ → that
Hodgins-May says she told Nationals leader Matt Canavan about her heritage, and he joked that she should attend party events.
uncertain
she → say → events
She responded: “Look, I’m here to bury the National Party.
asserted
I → respond → Party
[William Hill] founded it, and I’m here to bury it”.
asserted
I → found → it
Eight years earlier her mother, Vivien Hodgins, was one of 189 to die in the 2009 tsunami and earthquake that devastated Samoa.
asserted
that → die → Samoa
“My dad had called me to tell me, and it was that agonising wait over, you know, 24 hours.
asserted
you → call → hours
Media crew lined up at our gate trying to get any shots they could.
uncertain
they → line → shots
I think my sister tweeted a photo of Mum and said: ‘Has anyone seen her?’
asserted
anyone → think → her
And then obviously we got the news that no family wants to hear,” she said.
asserted
she → get → that
Months earlier, while working for an organisation in Samoa that promotes women’s economic inclusion, Hodgins-May had visited the palm-lined paradise of Lalomanu Beach and knew her mother, “a real beachgoer”, would love it.
uncertain
mother → work → it
“My mum’s friend survived, and she’s a dear friend.
asserted
she → survive → ?
She said mum was just running up and down the beach, telling people to run because she’d seen that the water had receded.
asserted
water → say → people
She spent her final moments fighting to protect people, and that’s something that I have to connect with,” Hodgins-May said.
uncertain
May → spend → that
Shortly after Vivien’s death, Hodgins-May returned to Samoa, channelling her grief into support for the local community.
uncertain
May → return → community
Money the family raised went towards building a staircase on the beach’s cliff face, an escape route in a future disaster.
asserted
family → raise → disaster
…and 6 more, not listed.
The Aporia
