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heritage. “When I first visited as a tourist shortly after
graduating, I remember going to St Bartholomew’s
Church and stroking the Norman wall there, and
thinking, wow, this is a thousand years old. In London
you can feel centuries of history beneath your feet.
Now I live a stone’s throw from the British Museum
talking about ideas at this time of questing and
searching for new answers. It’s very clear that the last
three decades of neoliberalism and globalisation have
failed and people are looking for new answers. It’s
challenging but a very exciting time to be involved in
politics.”
I do face questions about my accent, which is still very Australian.
But actually it’s an advantage.
and the British Library, which is an absolute luxury.”
But what about being a politician in a country
which is not your country of origin? Do people
sometimes question her commitment? “I do face
questions about my accent, which is still very
Australian. But actually it’s an advantage. In the UK
people make assumptions about you from your accent
based on class, but my accent is basically classless.
It’s just Australian. To me it means more, as it shows
I chose to become British and live here. That’s a huge
commitment in itself.
“The most annoying aspect of my job is being
a female politician and having to worry about your
wardrobe and your appearance in a way that doesn’t
come naturally to me.
“The best thing (about my job) is sharing and
Bennett also thinks Australia could learn a thing or
two from Europe’s attitudes in terms of caring for the
environment. “Australia is ecologically very fragile, so
I think I bring a heightened awareness of the damage
we humans can do. The human impact on Australia
has been quite recent. They mine the soil rather than
husbanding it, and I learned that very early on.
“In Europe, humans have been shaping the
landscape for tens of thousands of years. There aren’t
such things as natural landscapes here. Communities
are smaller, and public transport is better. I think it’s
important to look at things in a holistic way, like the
idea of bringing manufacturing and food production
back to the UK. This could have significant positive
social, economic and environmental impacts on the
country. These are battles we cannot afford to lose.”
SAM mar 2013 29