Clara Williams Roldan is a 23-year-old university student in the final year of a combined Law and History degree at the University of Sydney. She is also the Greens candidate for the state seat of Manly – an electorate she shares with incumbent Premier Mike Baird.
Next Saturday Roldan will run for election to the NSW state parliament against Baird and Labor candidate Dr Jennifer Jary. The combination of running in a significant electorate, in an important election in terms of Australia’s political landscape, and against such a prominent political figure make Roldan’s foray into politics bold. To say the least.
So how did she get there?
“I had been involved with a lot of fantastic Greens initiatives in the past, and this year I was asked if I would consider running in Manly,” Roldan told Women’s Agenda.
She has been campaigning busily and plans to increase the intensity even more in her final week of campaigning.
“I’ve been out there campaigning as much as possible. This week and next week I’ll be handing out how to vote cards at pre-polling booths in my electorate, and really trying to talk to people and get them to understand what the Greens stand for,” she said.
“A lot of people have an antiquated view of what the Greens are about, and we’ve become a very different party in the last 10 to 20 years and it is important that people understand our modern profile.”
With her youthful perspective on politics, Roldan is well placed to do that. So what does she stand for?
“The Greens were established to protect the environment and that remains a core tenant of what we stand for, perhaps now more than ever because it is increasingly important to our economic sustainability,” Roldan said.
“On a local level in Manly, I would really like to move towards making the electorate plastic bag free because plastic bags are destroying the marine environment we live beside.”
“We also need to put more pressure on the government to stop coal seam gas mining,” she said.
Roldan considers the retention of public access to basic services a very important issue.
“It is scary to think that some of the most basic things in our lives – like access to power and health care – could be privatised. I think that goes against the values Australia was founded upon and I think it will allow people to fall through the cracks,” she said.
“I also feel that decriminalising abortion is a very important issue. It is 2015 and we will have almost draconian laws around abortion,” she said.
“The idea that 50% of our population doesn’t have complete autonomy over their whole body is ludicrous. As we move towards equality we must recognise that every woman must have the right to choose.”
Roldan says she has received a lot of very positive responses to her campaign.
“I’ve encountered so many people who are really enthusiastic and supportive which has been amazing,” she said.
But Roldan has experienced the flipside too.
“It’s definitely been a mixed bag and there is very little middle ground. The people who aren’t really supportive are very negative – they accuse me of being too young and lacking experience,” she said.
“Sometimes it’s hard to know whether the reaction is coming from peoples’ response to the party itself, or the fact that I’m a young woman, or just the fact that I’m young – it’s hard to tell what people are responding to.”
Roldan has not encountered any sexist feedback during her campaign.
“There has been no obvious sexism involved, but I do wonder if I would be treated the same if I was a young man representing a more mainstream party,” she said.
Roldan says she is committed in pursuing a career in politics in some form, and she would encourage other young people to do the same.
“It is so easy to disengage because as young people, we look at the political landscape and a lot of it is so alienating,” she said.
“Every day we hear politicians talking about a world we don’t live in anymore – a world where you buy your first house at 21 and stay in the same job for 40 years. But it is important to speak up.”
“If there are other young people out there thinking about entering politics, I would encourage them to do it. We need more young people out there talking about the future that we are going to inherit.”
“It’s up to us to make sure that decisions are made by the stakeholders of tomorrow, rather than the stakeholders of today.”