I’m Scott Ludlam. I’m an Australian Greens Senator for Western Australia.
I'm going back to school with Student Edge.
Hi, I’m Simon Miraudo and today I’m chatting with Senator Scott Ludlam, the Greens Senator
for Western Australia. Thanks for going back to school with us Scott.
Good morning.
I understand that you were actually born in New Zealand. So can I ask when you moved to
Australia?
I moved here just before my ninth birthday, so spent quite a few years travelling with
my little brother and my parents. Lived in the UK for a year, lived in South Africa for
two years and spent a lot of time travelling, and got here in time for Year 3.
Did you find that there was much of a difference going from those schools to an Australian school?
I mean, you were nine, but was there a noticeable difference for you?
Yeah. I think there was a big difference. I was kind of home-schooled as well in the
back of a car. School at that time in South Africa was quite different
I really loved arriving in Australia. It was great.
What kind of student were you? Were you heads-down, very studious, or maybe not so much?
Oh look, I was a bit of a nerd. I was pretty heads-down, I didn’t play up all that much.
We had a really tight-knit and really good group of people, of friends, so that really helped.
I enjoyed high school a lot.
When we think of politicians, we don’t necessarily assume, “Oh, well of course they went to
art school.” But you did. You did your Bachelor of Arts at Curtin. Can you tell me a bit about
studying design and being a budding filmmaker on the side? What you saw your career path
as being at that time?
Career path, I had absolutely no idea. I studied design because, at the time – I didn’t
do a gap year or anything like that, I went straight to uni from high school – I didn’t
really know what I wanted to do. I just knew that I enjoyed art and design so I went straight
into that. I didn’t really have a particular career in mind. But I enjoyed and still enjoy
learning design skills, learning how to communicate more effectively. There’s a quote I came
across a year or two ago that proposed, “The function of the designer is to increase the
legibility of the world,” and I really like that idea.
Do you feel, looking back on it now, you wish you had taken a gap year to think about what
you wanted to do, longer? Or was this still valuable, not knowing what your career was
going to be, to study just what you were interested in?
Yeah, I don’t think I would do it differently if I went back and had to do it again.
I enjoyed getting through uni and then I was really fortunate to find a job with some wonderful people
more or less straight out of university, in a small design studio. So I never regretted going straight
through like that.
Did you make any terrible student films? I mean, that’s part and parcel of it.
Oh look, yes. And that’s probably enough said.
Okay, alright, we’ll move on from that.
Throughout this whole period as a teenager, were you politically minded? Was that always
in the background, or was it later when it came to the forefront?
It came much later. I wasn’t even remotely political in high school or at uni for that matter.
I was too much in my own head and off in my own little world. Politics just seemed like a waste
of time, Student politics I just found incomprehensible and mainstream politics did absolutely nothing
for me at all. I didn’t discover it until much later.
What was it like then to discover it and then to decide to go back to uni and do your diploma in Policy
Studies?
What was your inspiration there and what was it like to return?
Returning was good. It wasn’t politics that grabbed me per se. I got involved in a campaign
to stop a uranium mine being built in Kakadu National Park. I thought it was an environmental
campaign that had swept me off my feet. It turned out when I got up there to Jabiluka,
it was actually a land rights campaign. It was very much about a community of people
being able to determine what happens on their country. I sort of discovered politics that
way; discovered the green movement that way. Worked in the office of Robin Chapple, who
is one of our state MPs, and realised I was going to need more skills than graphic design.
He had a great website, but I couldn’t help him amend legislation. I went back to Murdoch
University and did Policy Studies part time.
Do you have any regrets about lost years, while you were learning? Anything you wish
you could do over from that period?
No, not really. I don’t think much in terms of regret. Even the stupid things I did, you
learn from them. The stuff that was kind of dumb or boring. You look back and think
“That was boring,” but you only learn that by doing it. You can’t read about a lot of this
stuff in books. Or you can, but it makes no sense. No, I don’t feel like I
live with a lot of regrets, even with some of the dopey stuff that I did, if I hadn’t done it,
I probably wouldn't have ended up where I am. You end up somewhere else.
I do have to ask this. It’s an important part of everyone’s education. When did you
learn to rap?
I never, ever learned to rap. If you watch that video closely you will realise I’m really terrible.
A better question is, why’s the senate empty, yet my words go viral when they arrive on the internet?
It’s because peeps online are awake and sentient, feeding their intellect
with media that’s free and independent.
What is one piece of advice you would give to students about their education that you
wish you had when you were starting out?
I think it’s probably, don’t expect you’re going to be great at everything. You can’t
be really good at everything and it’s okay to find some stuff is difficult. Lock into
and find the stuff that really moves you.
Fantastic. Thanks so much for your time today Scott. Thank You.
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