INTERVIEW: Balmain MP Kobi Shetty On Active Transport, Making A Difference And The Hockyroos

Kobi Shetty is a Greens MP who represents the Balmain electorate. Last week, she gave a Press Conference to the  Kegworth Press Gang. 

Press Gang: How much rivalry is there between the parties?

It really depends. A lot of parties have got really similar ideas, so it depends on whether your policies are really different. Sometimes the rivalry is more because you have such different ideas about what you think is important and what you think the priority should be. And sometimes the rivalry is stronger because you’ve got really similar ideas and it’s a competition to see how you can make yourself different and how people can understand the smaller differences that you have between the parties. 

Press Gang: Do you enjoy being an MP?

I do. It’s such a privilege to be able to do this job. I feel really lucky to not only have the support of the community but to feel like I can make a difference. So even for really small things, if you see something that needs fixing and you actually can go and do something about it, it’s really rewarding and really satisfying to be able to try and change things and to make sure that we’re looking after the environment and that we’re looking after people who are vulnerable and do good things for the community. 

I feel really, really lucky to get to do my job and I get to meet so many cool people every day. People doing all sorts of different exciting things. 

Press Gang: Can you tell us about active transport and why it’s important?

Active transport is all about walking and cycling and doing things that are active to get your way around. It can make a really big difference to tackling environmental problems. So trying to reduce the amount of pollution that we have coming out of cars and stuff is because if we have a city that’s designed so that people can walk and cycle around safely, then they don’t have to drive their cars so much. 

You might be surprised to know that a lot of trips that people do in cars are less than two kilometers. So if you can change those from being trips that you do in a car to trips that you do by walking or cycling, then you are reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that are coming out every single day.

It’s a really important way to keep people healthy but also make sure that we’re looking after the environment. 

Sydney’s a bit of a bad city for active transport. I was really lucky, I got to live in England in London and I got to live in Barcelona and over in Canada. And a lot of those cities are doing some really great stuff. They have lots of good bike lanes and they make sure that the traffic lights make the pedestrians the priority before the cars and they’re doing lots of things to keep people safe as they try and get around actively. Sydney’s a little way behind so you might find that if you want to ride your bike to school you don’t feel like it’s that safe or your mums and dads might not want you to walk or ride your bikes to school because it’s still a little bit dangerous with the car traffic. So we’re working to try and improve that so that people can get around safely and we can make less pollution while we do it.

Press Gang: I’ve heard about the Parramatta Road Light Rail that’s been promised to this community. Can you sort of give us an overview of it? 

One of the things that the state government talked about when they first started talking about the West Connect project, is that we would have fewer cars traveling down Parramatta Road and that would mean that we could have a really good mass transport option like light rail. 

It’s a really big project and we have to be careful when we’re doing stuff like that that it doesn’t impact people in the businesses for too long, because sometimes it takes a really long time to build. 

But it would be really great to have a good light rail running down Parramatta Road so that, we have a good easy way into the city and fewer people driving their cars. So we’ve been really encouraging the state government to do that project and it’s still a possibility. I think it just might take a few more years to get it done, but we’re definitely keen to see some good public transport so that people don’t have to drive so much.

Press Gang: What advice do you have for kids who are worried about climate change?

That’s a really great question and I know it must be really hard hearing all this stuff about climate change and feeling like you can’t make a difference. But I guess I just want to encourage you all to keep doing everything that you can. 

Talk to your parents, talk to your teachers, talk to the people you know and try and change the things that are happening in your houses and your schools, because that’s a really great first place to start to try and reduce the rubbish that you make in your house. So using less plastic planting gardens in your house to grow veggies maybe, and doing all that stuff you can do at home. 

But you can also talk to people in government like, like MPs and people who are making these decisions and you can go to the school strikes and you can get active and make sure that the people who are making decisions are listening to your voices and they know how important it is and make sure they understand that the decisions that we’re all making are all impacting your futures. 

And I think hope is the best way to counter any feelings of sadness about what’s happening with the planet. And I know it’s really sad when you think about the ice caps melting or the planet getting hotter and some of the species becoming extinct. But I think if we can all say hopeful and do our best to try and make sure that everyone’s making good decisions and that you are contributing and trying to make a difference. 

Press Gang: What are MPs responsible for?

Our first job is looking after all the people that live in the electorate and making sure that the decisions for our area are really good and they’re going help our community. But the other thing that we do is we have our own portfolios, so they’re the things that we look after.

And in the Greens, I look after democracy, so that’s about voting and trying to make sure that our democratic system works really well so that people are allowed to be involved in decision-making. And I do active transport and plastics. So I want to make sure that the plastics that are getting used can be recycled. So decisions like the bottle deposit scheme, where you collect all the bottles and cans and you can get those recycled, that that only happened because people were trying to make sure that the plastic we were using was getting recycled. So they’re my main responsibilities. 

Press Gang: What is it like to work in Parliament?

It’s very interesting. There’s lots of interesting people. It’s a really beautiful old building that’s been there for a long time. It’s the 200-year anniversary of the original part of the parliament being built – it’s the oldest parliament in Australia, the New South Wales Parliament. So it’s a very interesting place to work. 

There are always lots of interesting conversations about how you can change things and try and make a good difference and it’s very busy. 

There are bells that go off when we have to vote and you can be anywhere in the building and if the bells go off, you’ve got four minutes to get to the chamber. My office is up on level 12 and if the bells go off, I have to run down the stairs as fast as I can. The parliament’s on level seven and we’ve got four minutes to get there to make sure that our vote counts. So it’s very busy and we’re always waiting for the bells to happen and we’re always trying to listen to the different debates that are happening and make sure that we’re contributing and, um, it’s a very, very busy place, but very exciting.

Press Gang: What do you think the best thing about being an MP is?

Getting to meet people. There are so many people doing so many amazing things that you don’t even know about. They’re growing community gardens and they’re trying to help out volunteering and they’re doing so much good stuff to try and make the places that we live better. And it’s really lovely getting to meet everyone and see what they’re doing and see how they’re trying to make a difference. So I think that’s my favorite bit. 

Press Gang: Who inspired you to put yourself forward to represent the Balmain electorate?

Oh, that’s a tricky question, but probably my dad. My dad was a firefighter for more than 30 years, and I always felt really inspired by his public service. He worked really hard and I think he found it really rewarding and he worked with a team that all wanted to make a difference. And so I grew up wanting to make a difference and help my community. 

And then there are lots of wonderful local people who are doing good things and they inspired me to try and stand up for the community and make sure that things are going well for us here.

Press Gang: When you were a kid did you imagine yourself becoming an mp?

No, I definitely didn’t. I wanted to play for the Hockeyroos. I didn’t think I’d be an MP at all.