20 Questions with Kristin O’Connell

2019-03-22

(Obscure) apps, Bokor Mountain and (black) coffee – we find out the ABCs of what makes Petersham-Newtown group member and former Australian Greens’ National Secretary Kristin O’Connell tick.

1. What do you remember about your first election?  

If you mean first time I voted: literally nothing! It was 2004 and I can’t even remember who I voted for. How times change.

If you mean as a Greens volunteer: it was thrilling. I’d joined the party about a year earlier but hadn’t been involved until the 2016 double dissolution was called. I went to my first ever doorknock and met Sylvie Ellsmore, who was running against Tanya Plibersek in Sydney. It was incredibly motivating to have a candidate who seemed like me and people I know in the real world – a real person! – and such a contrast to Plibersek. The response from our community was immensely positive and made me realise that people genuinely crave a better alternative to the dinosaur parties.

2. Endangered Australian animal that's captured your heart?

Depressingly, there are too many to choose from 😞 If forced I’d pick the quoll, but I’d rather we save them all!

3. What’s your precious place and why? 

Another tough choice. I’ll have to give you a few. In no particular order:

I was very fortunate to visit the site of the largest tree in Victoria in 2009 (which is a Mountain Ash). There are quieter parts of the forest away from the Ada tree and it’s a very moving place, particularly to reflect on the destruction wrought on the surrounding country since the British invasion.

A precious place that has been destroyed since I first visited in 2010 is Bokor Mountain in southern Cambodia (where I lived from 2010 to 2015). It was the site of an abandoned colonial casino overlooking the Mekong Delta and the Gulf of Thailand that later became one of the last Khmer Rouge holdouts against Vietnamese forces. It has sadly now been turned into a new casino, with no regard for the historical significance of the site nor the ecosystems damage the new casino and its clientele have wrought.

I can’t leave out Haartz Peak – an absolutely incredible place to see life and wilderness thriving in one of Tasmania’s harshest landscapes.

4. Favourite Greens policy?

Policies for refugees and asylum seekers, and the four day work week.

5. Best part of your work with the Greens?

The best part of my work with the Greens is the people I get to do it with: our office bearers, National Council, staff and all the members I get to meet at national meetings.

6. What keeps you going?

Coffee. But not lattes! I take my coffee black.

7. Favourite political song? 

‘Straight to Hell’ by the Clash.

8. Who inspires you? Why?

Greens women inspire me, particularly those who aren’t on the public stage but work tirelessly (and generally without pay) to not only keep the movement going but to make it stronger. I learn so much from the incredible women around me.

9. Comfort food?

My Nona’s lasagne – Sicilian style, with lots of cheese, eggs and peas, and no meat.

10. What would you spend $20 billion on? 

Reparations for First Peoples.

11. Secret vice?

None of my vices are secret, I'm terrible at hiding them (and there are too many to list).

12. Best coffee/drink in town? 

Best coffee in Sydney is at Bruce Tea and Coffee, about 100m from the Glebe light rail stop (~15 minute walk from the GNSW office). There are a lot of great cocktail bars in Sydney but the Different Drummer makes a perfect martini and they have happy hour every week day from 6 to 7:30 – and cheers to that. 

13. Three apps you can’t live without?

These are extra nerdy: Agenda, LiquidText and Otter – look them up!

14. What did you want to be when you grew up?

Everything. And I still do – I have strong polymathic tendencies and not enough pragmatism to reign them in!

15. Morning run or night time swim?

Night time swim – for leisure, not exercise, and preferably cocktail in hand.

16. What’s your greatest hope for the future?

That there’ll actually be one.

17. Magic wand to solve one world problem — what would it be?

This is tough. I think the root of so many of the worst social and environmental challenges we face are the product of weak democracies and low education levels. But I think if I had a magic wand I’d eliminate self-interest and egotism.

18. What advice would you give a new volunteer?

Nothing is as hard as you expect it to be, and everything is more enjoyable than you think it will be.

19. You can travel through time – where do you go?

Vila Rosa, where my grandparents were born, at some time during their childhood years.

20. If you weren’t doing this for a living, what would you be doing?

Is this a living? 😉 I think if I wasn’t involved in Australian politics I’d like to be working on a human rights project somewhere with really strong civil society movements, which is what I was doing for a while in Cambodia. If all the world's injustices were to cease tomorrow you'd find me on a beach with a huge stack of books. And, of course, cocktails.

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