Australians are increasingly frustrated with how they're being treated by politicians, with MPs told to authentically engage with young people as trust in democracy erodes.
Holly Rankin, a singer-songwriter who performed under the name Jack River before starting cultural advocacy firm Sentiment, used an annual Speaker's lecture at Parliament House to decry politicians locking themselves in ivory towers.
About nine in 10 Australians had little or no trust in political parties and half didn't trust traditional media, which was dangerous for democracy, she said.
"The public hasn't lost trust in politicians because they can't nail a TikTok dance, they're losing trust in politics because they can't see it working for them," she said.
This included underpaid nurses paying more tax than some of Australia's largest corporations and people wanting to buy a house in Sydney needing to earn more than three times the annual wage, Ms Rankin said.
"A lack of humanity at the top of the chain is killing its people on the ground," she said.
There was also a fundamental shift in how people related to power, with Australians trending towards real people and voices as major parties refused to openly debate policies and shrouded deliberations behind closed doors.
"Talk to us. Tell us why a deal isn't progressing. Tell us about the deliberation and debate you just had inside the party room. Tell us why you disagreed with someone you are on the same side of," Ms Rankin said.
"Stop treating us like the kids who can't handle the scary part of the movie."
Communications Minister Anika Wells having her two children running in the background of her swearing-in ceremony at Government House "broke the spell of keeping children and families out of rooms of authority".
"It reverberated around the nation as mothers everywhere saw themselves in that moment and saw a crack in the system where the light came through in a very different moment," Ms Rankin said.
The same when Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce was found lying drunk on the pavement in Canberra.
"We've all been there ... we bloody love to see it. Maybe it wasn't Barnaby's finest moment as a politician, but it was human. Humanity travels fast in a world that has become devoid of it," Ms Rankin said.
"Ultimately, young Australians can spot spin in milliseconds. They don't want to be sold to, and they want to know who you are."
Ms Rankin criticised the federal government for failing Australians, including appropriately helping flood victims who were unable to afford insurance premiums of tens of thousands of dollars due to previous record floods.
She pointed to the story of a 73-year-old retired nurse from Wingham who was "abandoned by a system when she needed it most" as she was only offered $1000 in immediate government support when the area was ravaged by floods.
"Australians turn up when the call goes out, but our governments are increasingly too slow to hit the mark. No wonder young people are losing trust."
