The Overly Excited Podcast

This episode is brought to you by Swash Clothing and Sugar Life.

Welcome to the overly excited podcast hosted by Jack Watts and Dale

Sidebottom. 2 friends with a passion for life, learning and all

things that get them jumping out of their seats.

Troy, we're all ready to go. Whatever. What are we up to? That's 39, Jacko.

Hey. Yeah. That's massive. Alright. Alright, everyone. Welcome

back to the podcast. This is a overly excited podcast, episode number 39. My

name is Dal Soren. Joined by Jack Watts. Now before I get into

today's episode, we are in the shed today. We haven't had many guests in here,

but we have had a number one draft picked him. Yeah. He keeps coming back

every week. We've had an amazing graphic designer.

We've had Kingston winner of the year, but I tell you what, we have never

had the federal MP. The one and only. Tim Richardson. Anyway, mate. Thank you. Thank

you. I'm the state MP. State MP. Sorry. Closely. Stop

that. I thought I had a good intro. It was good. And I'm overly excited

as well to get an answer. So I've just knocked off our federal member, Mark

Dreyfus. Very nice. So he'll be calling me, after this goes to air, but it's

great to be with with you both and, yeah, really really pumped to be connected

in. Perfect. Do you wanna kick it off? Okay. Tim, first question

we ask, what gets you excited? Obviously, we know you're

very passionate about community. You've got some great roles in men's

mental health, but we'd like to ask our all of our

guests, what gets you out of bed? What, you know,

what what do we say? What what gets you jumping out of your skin inside

of Well, I'll I'll this will probably show how, passionate I am, but the Essendon

Football Club is heavy on that at the moment. So We're going alright, aren't we?

Foot is alright. I'm a I'm a mess and one of those one of those

nerves, AFL 360, with Robbo and Jared and all the way through.

So, love my love my sport, love my footy, but I think, for for me

as a local MP, it gets me up and about is the community connections we

have. And I love getting out and about in our local patch, meeting people, hearing

their stories and their purpose in wine life. And so I've been doing this for

a decade now as the member of parliament. So you you get up. I mean,

you get impostor syndrome each day if you can carry the load and all this

sort of stuff. But, that gets me up and about getting out amongst, yeah, community

as well. Love the bombers. I'm watching the t twenty at the moment. Yep. The

PGA is on at the moment as well watching that. So He's watching that

all morning, actually. Rory Mac, he's, he's Is is he going for his 5th?

Yeah. Could he do it? Come on, surely. So, you you know, and and different

sort of passions and all that, but that's, that's what gets me going. So yeah.

Love it. So you love your sport? I do. Yeah. You've you were out and

about this morning, were you? What were you? So it's a local gym, in

Morty, rare breed. And, they they try to get me on a circuit, and, I

think as it was coming up the driveway into the shed just for a chat

today, don't have the biggest gun. So oh, so We're not

judging. Yeah. No. No. For men's health, we we're talking about positive mental health and

well-being. And they and the the 2 lads there were like, oh, can we get

you on the boxing and and in the boxing ring? I thought, look, unless you

got 3 years to train me up, this this ain't gonna happen. So That sounds

like me in my first couple of years of the days, and they're getting in

the boxing ring. Cover up and hope for the best. Linguine arms.

Well, some some people say, you know, we've you you get free feedback

as a member of parliament. So some say I have a bit of a face

that could get a touch up, but that's okay. That's, it's a bit cheeky, I

think. Yeah. Yeah. So podcasting, John Wozert? That works out.

Yeah. Definitely so. Yeah. The video snippets will be a bit rough, but, yeah. So,

I think that's, where we're at today. And then last night, ADFO, SML Sporting Club,

200 of the netball was and, footballers, part of the pushup challenge

for, for lifeline and headspace. So I literally got my tally of pushups

with them doing 5 each. I got a 1,000 on the on the count. So

I I knocked out, 4 and then did another 4. So

Love So, yeah, getting out about that. It's, yeah. And, obviously, for,

mental health and well-being is so important as well. Yep. Yeah. So with that, like,

obviously, how do you stay on top of like, I was gonna

speaking to your assistant and speaking to you, you are very busy. Like, you're back

to back. You got things going on, and that's part of the role. You've been

doing it for over 10 years. Yeah. How do you, like, each day stay on

top of that? Because I know when I have to turn up and do a

talk, I'm saying some days I can't be bothered. Right? But you do something every

day. Is that, like, how do you stay on top of your mental health personally?

It's a it's a daily challenge, I reckon. And, for me, I live with

anxiety. So, you know, trying to it's each and every day a bit of maintenance.

So I get sometimes I wake up at 3 and 4 in the morning going,

how am I gonna get through the next speech? I might have a keynote, 15

minutes. And yet, I'm also there feeling the pressure of performance as well. And so

you're looking out at people or or you're thinking, am I going to give my

best self? And what are they gonna think of me? You're always thinking, am I

gonna be enough? And so when I say that imposter syndrome, I think we all

sort of get that. But even after 10 years, like, I can't eat before a

big speech. I just because I get so churny or I'll wake up and go,

oh, I've gotta do that. So it's, you know, that sort of positive mental health

and well-being support. For me, it's maintenance every day. It's not the, like, people

talk about the haves or have nots in mental health. They'll say, 1 in 5

people might experience this or 1 in 3 over a period of time. I think

we've all got the role to play. Spectrum. The spectrum. And I and I look

at it like that where you've gotta you've gotta always put in and and and

support. So, exercise, healthy eating, like when I sort of

say what are some of the things that that help you that yes. Well, you

can see it. So push ups isn't my my gear, but I've found skipping. Skipping

is though? I found skipping. Yeah. And, it was something I I I googled something,

what's quick and fast, and, a 10 minute skip is the equivalent of a 30

minute run. Yep. So I'm not the best runner. So I thought I can be

close with the kids, close by, do it wherever I go, and there's no excuse

thing because it's so easy. Like, there's always something saying to you, oh, I don't

wanna do it tonight. But if I miss it, I feel the lag, the next

next few days, or I'll just stress eat. Like, you know, I'll be under the

pump. Some donate. They'll just, you know, go for for meals missing. For

me, I stress eat. Give me a piece of it. Give Give me the chocolates.

I'll fog eat on the couch, 3 hours of footy, and I'll put away 2

pizzas and and 2 warts of chocolates. That is me. That is me. Do a

team. Perfect. So, So, you know, you just sort of you're getting that sort of

frame and you go, I've gotta break that cycle, but you can get, like, almost

like a a on a like a treadmill. Yep. And you can't sort of break

that cycle. So I feel that's a really important thing, exercise,

balance. Yep. And but I I almost have to check-in with myself each day and

almost give me a ranking of how I'm going. Because I I found that I

can't just put it in the back of my mind and when you when you're

experiencing that. Yeah. It seems like we speak about that a lot, don't we? It's

it's a daily it's it's training. It's practice. It's, you know, it's not

just, oh, some people are like, yes, there's a spectrum and yes, people struggle with

certain things, but it's a daily battle slash, you know,

training slash habits. Because it doesn't just happen.

It, you don't just, all of a sudden you feel great and all of a

sudden you're happy or all a sudden, you know, that's what I sort of think.

And I think especially, and I know personally,

like when I've been struggling, you sort of look at everyone else and go, how

are they all so happy and what it's, you know, it's just me and comparison

comparison, And then you sort of give yourself time. And then when

you start getting healthy, you realize that it's actions and it's what you do that

gets you to that sort of head space. So And it's a great project because

I think, you know, I I I say this all the time when I'm speaking

to people. If, like, the we we don't look after ourselves enough. Right? And so

if you had your mate or if if a mate was in need, we drop

everything. Yeah. We go, alright. I've gotta get on the tools with them and support

them. But when if we thought about how we love our mates, how we loved

ourselves, we'd we'd we'd address so many different challenges in mental health and

well-being. And that's a really important part of that self care that we

just don't prioritize. We'll help it. We'll put the mask on. We'll help everyone else.

We'll get around it. And the next thing we keep suffering and deteriorating. And so

how do we get that message out and, and get people to look after themselves

and then they can be champions for helping others as well. And so that's a

part of that men's health week, a part of the message around, mental health and

well-being that we're trying to promote. Is that prevention? If we're always chasing the

crisis in, that's all we'll ever do. Yeah. So that's a that's a big part

of the story. As men too, isn't it? Like, you know, I think women are

a lot better at sort of checking in with each other, you know, taking a

bit of time to look after themselves, but we sort of, you know, that

macho. We gotta be tough. We gotta, you know, I'll be right. I'll be right.

Not. Well, not true. Way. Like and I think exactly like that. If if,

you're talking to somebody and say, can you list 5 things about the other person

in the room that they're good at, they can do straight away. But if you

say, what about yourself? They, I can't do it. You know, we think it's gloating

or boasting, but their skill sets, we want young kids to have. Yeah. We want

them to be able to look in the mirror and say, I love this. I'm

proud of that. I admire that. That'd be on myself, but we don't do it

ourselves. Funny. Yeah. Yeah. I went to a, have

you heard of speak and share? The speak and share guys are guys down

in, mornings and doing great things in men's mental health, And

they threw an event during the week. It was sort of like a connection piece.

And then we did a gym session, you know, similar to what you probably did

down at rare breed. But, it was so interesting because I went in there

and it was intimidating, you know, I was sort of with one of my mates,

but there was 50 blokes and they all seemed like they sort of knew each

other that you're sort of intimidated. And then they broke us up into

groups and we went out and we sat down and we sort of, they gave

us a bit of a conversation template to follow. And it was so

interesting because all these guys who I'd looked at going, oh, fuck, I'm a bit

intimidated here. I'm a bit scared. And they started saying, oh, you know, I

really struggle with self confidence and self worth and how I

speak to myself is, you know, I've got to try and improve that. That's and

my initial reaction, I was feeling, you know, oh God, these guys have got it

all together and I'm sort of, you know, the weirdo here. And then you

sit down with everyone and you got, you don't really everyone's going through this shit.

And the more we can sort of open up and talk about it, I think

the more it becomes less of like a, you know, put it on the

back burner and ignore it and try and act as if we're all great. It's

like, nah, we're all vulnerable. We've all got our issues. We've all, you know, and

we're here to help each other. And how we break the ice? Like, it's a

great point. Everyone goes in with their shield and and a preconceived idea. Yep. And

it might be have had had a sort of, deal with that sort of scenario.

But how do we then bring that together and and share and have that confidence?

You're right. Lads don't do it well. No. Like boys and boys and men, you

know, the the the mental health and well-being, impact. 3 out of 4 boys, you

know, the suicide rate, 3 out of 4 boys and men. And so and 3

out of 5 people that we lose to mental health have never connected with a

mental health service. So you go, we gotta do better in that, and that starts

with some of those positive interactions. And then the role modeling that comes from that,

it's it's strong and it's tough to speak out and say I need a hand.

Yeah. Because we wouldn't we wouldn't judge a mate who says, hey,

I'm really struggling. Can you come and can you come and help me move house?

We'll be there in a minute. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Go get around. Oh, I

am struggling with this. I need a bit of advice. We'll be there. So how

do we how do we create that environment? And that's a big part of it,

isn't it? So And I think, like you just said, the environment. We've spoken about

this a lot. The environment isn't the local pub after 10 beers. Yeah. And,

unfortunately, that's where it still happens, you know, and that's where, you

know, like you're saying at Rare Breed or I think you're at Mornington. Yeah. It

doesn't matter what it is, but there are groups out there now doing wonderful

things. And I'm sure you're all over this team. Like, you know, most of these

groups, but they're doing great things where they create a space to make people feel

safe. When people feel safe, then they could share. And that doesn't always have to

be sharing with your friends. That's sharing with somebody else that might be going through

some anxiety or might be struggling a little bit or things in their life may

not be very good. And it's changed a lot. Like I think the environment's changing.

Like if we, there was a men's health forum in Mentone the other night, life

saving club with Wayne Schwas and, Ben Brown was there as well. And it it

there was a 170 blokes there. You go 10 years ago, would that have happened?

Yeah. Like, so we are we're saying that willingness. And so we can't we can't

also think that blokes don't wanna plug in. They do that. But what's the

atmosphere? What's the environment? Mhmm. And making it safe. And I think that's a really

important element as well. So we just gotta create that environment. And then for young

boys coming through, the role modeling for them. And so they look at who are

their heroes? Who do they look up to? And who do they, you know, role

model that sort of stuff as well. So it's a good, it's a good ship.

Yeah. And it is, it is. I find it so interesting just how much more

meaningful it is when there's not peace involved and you're not down the

parliament. It's not, you know, cause it's, it's easy to do it then. It's

it's easy because you're not in your right sort of mind. Whereas when,

when you're talking and you're opening up and you're being vulnerable as your

true self, it's, it means so much more. And, and I, you

know, again, personally speaking from my down moments, like when, when I was,

you know, when I've had my really shit times, you feel like

you're all alone. You feel like you're, as soon as you hear someone

else talk about going through something similar or putting

their hand up saying, fuck, I fucked up as well. I've done this in my

life and I've done, you know, I'm not perfect. All of a sudden you

go, it just takes this weight off your shoulders and you think shit, I'm not

the, I'm not alone. No, I'm not the, I'm not the worst person on the

planet. Cause that's what I honestly felt at times. It's like, I must be the

worst person on this planet. Everyone makes mistakes. A lot of people have been

through things to and to sort of, you know, connect and

relate on that on that level. It, it takes a lot of burden off you.

So And then sharing that lived experience. Like, so people hear that and they connect

with that and go, oh, I'm I'm not alone. And, this is it might be

a foreign feeling or journey that they're on, but then they they connect with that,

and that gives them that hope or purpose. I remember I did a a speech

at Melbourne Uni, when I was in education, and I got talked about

anxiety, and it was my mum who, picked me up off the floor, had a

panic attack about a a uni, exam that I was meant to do. And I'd

been deteriorating and I've probably been struggling through high school, but didn't acknowledge it. I

I was always just really, like highly strung and really on edge, and it all

just collapsed. And she picked me up and said, we've gotta get you sorted. And

I didn't wanna do this exam, Went and did it, passed it, got through it,

but that was a really that was a trigger point of all this baggage that

had piled up. Connected with a psychologist, it was the best thing for me. Like,

I just thought, who is this? Like, I didn't even know that was a thing

to do. If it wasn't for mum, like someone, you know, you love it and

admire and look up to picks you up and says, no, you're not right. But

how do we how could I have interacted before and not got to that deterioration?

And it was a crisis that I really lift up. So I had this speech

at Melbourne Uni, this this I gave that story. This, student comes up at

year 10, comes up to me afterwards and goes, I've I've never met

anyone who she perceived as successful. She said, I've never met someone successful who

has anxiety Yeah. Yeah. And talks about it. And I was like, almost like

balling my eyes out. I thought, here's this young person who's thought that they are

going down a narrow path. And I thought, like, just even just

speaking up and connecting, it can make a a really big difference. So I think

it gives me goosebumps thinking about that because I hope that student's gone on to

bigger and better things. Yeah. Is it like you just yeah. But you just think

of those moments and those interactions. Oh, you do. And that's the the power story

with your role. Like, vulnerability is a superpower, and I

think Brene Brown has been brilliant at bringing that to light. Is there a fine

line though between being, you know, too vulnerable and looking weak

or like that you've got a lot of issues to come in across in your

position. Have you Yeah. Is did you find that a really, really fine line of

either side? Because I could imagine it is. If I get up and do a

keynote, I don't care what anyone thinks because if they don't like me, they don't

like me. Like, I'm gonna be honest, but, you know, you've got all these other

things and people on your back and things like that. Do you find that challenging?

I do. Yeah. So and it changes over time. So you front up to a

speech and you think if I clunk this, they're not gonna vote for you. They're

gonna vote for your shit. You know, are they gonna connect? So it's a really,

yeah. Right. And I think that evolves over time. And so in leadership, what is

leadership like for a parliamentarian politician? Yeah. Most people think politicians

are full of shit. They don't have any bandwidth for them. And so, you know,

my I think one of my I thought strengths is probably community connection as well

and try to be your authentic self and not thinking I'll

have to be the best or this or that. Take me as I am, but

you do need to still get 50% plus 1. Yeah. So so I think that

comes from listening and and and really being intuitive and trying to hear people out

and their engagement. I think I've met people on their terms and that's a that's

a good thing, but you you feel that you're like, you're looking out of the

crowd and go, oh, if you see someone trailing off and you go, I'm losing

them. Yeah. Yeah. Or or when the advisers look at you and go, yeah, cut

it, mate. That's enough. Right? Wrap it up, Tim. You you've lost the

room. Like, that's, that's it. And you you deal with different challenges or

struggles. Right? So Yeah. You have campaigns, different issues. COVID was a

really big challenge for us locally. Level crossing removals, that's can

be quite divisive for people as well. So then you gotta front up and lead

in a in a different way when sometimes people, you know, you've got the majority

of people who aren't happy with something, how do you front up? And so that

challenges you intellectually, emotionally, and that's where sleep

and, and and it's good routine really comes in as well. So but, yeah, there's

sometimes that, yeah, you're shitting yourself. You're thinking, are we gonna get through? So Yeah.

Because you've got people straight away that really doesn't matter what you say, particularly

if you've got things like level crossings and, you know, things that are gonna really

impact people. Even if you've got the best thing to say, you're not gonna change

their mind. No. I think And that must be so hard. Yeah. Yeah. I'm like

What I've always what I've always like politics. Look. We we we don't

really talk a lot. Politics do exciting. This part. Timmy. But you have you have

knocked off the federal member. Yeah. You knocked Drakes. Sorry. Drakes is back in the

the attorney general of Australia. You have to get him on because, whoever wrote a

reply He won't wanna come on. He he he might be out of the club.

Snapper in Chelsea, mate. Knock him away. So yeah. But what what

I have always struggled with a bit with politics and, like, people have these big

views on politics, they I think 98%

of them, it's if it affects them, then they'll have a big opinion

on something. Yeah. But I don't look at the bigger picture. Like, you know, I'm

sure, you know, whatever it is, you've had to make hard decisions where,

you know, maybe you didn't even agree with them or is it gonna affect you

personally in a negative way, but it's for the better, you know, it's for the

greater good sort of thing. But it must be so hard trying

to talk to people who they their minds made up. You've done the wrong

you've, you know, whether it's a crossings or whether it's this and whether

whatever whatever it is. And it's they think it's all your decision. You're

the, you're the only one that's come up with it. And like, how does, how

do you go with that? And how do you, you know, I guess stay strong

in yourself and not because I I I'm a big softy. If people are coming

at me, I'd I'm struggling. Yeah. It's it's it's funny. And it it just

my recent role that I've got, so I've got mental health and suicide prevention, and

I've recently, got men's behavior change. And so people perceive that

in different ways. We've had some free and fair, feedback on that, and that's all

about positive role modeling. We see see a massive challenge around,

gender based violence in community and the and the the to address that, we need

to to start with men and boys and those role models. So, it's really

interesting because you get you get, free feedback. Like, someone put my face up next

to Jigglypuff, the Pokemon, the other day and said, this couldn't be the

this is the softest bloke for men's behavior change we've ever seen. But that's pretty

cool. A soy boy. Soy boy. And so instinctively, I go, I

bloody hate soy. So I've gone back to the, you know, and

say And now I'm full cream. Yeah. You're full cream. I'm a cappuccino type. And

then they go, yeah, that says a lot of my, what is the alpha male

drink of coffee? Like, I think A Piccolo or Piccolo. Yeah. Just just

a spicy be on it. So You'd have 6 of them a day. You do

you do get you can't get this, free at first. So you gotta have a

bit of a thick skin. I think it's when people you see a really close

view that that's when it gets, gets through or or, you know, when you're checking

with people you really have strong Yeah. You get the strong advice or feedback on.

But I think you gotta hear people out, even if they've got the shit with

you. Yeah. You've gotta you've gotta hear them out on their terms and then and

try to explain why you've come to a decision. They might not still agree with

it. They might have all their preconceived ideas of how they've been raised and their

values. That means they'll never agree agree with you. Yeah. But the best thing they

say is, look, I don't agree with you, mate, but I I appreciate hearing hearing

me out. That's a good thing as well. But at times where it gets through

the garden, you go, oh, that's a bit rough. Yep. Yeah. I think the physical,

the physical stuff, like, when people describe them have a bit of a chuckle. That

sounds like that sounds like under 16s back in Berwick where where I

used to come off the bench, and get 4 minutes on the ground.

Mate, I've copped it I've copped it. And being a redhead a bright redhead growing

up, every redhead joke I've copped. So I think the cups, you know, the

resilience goes up a bit. But, yeah, you just try to you try to sell.

I think that's brilliant. I think the biggest thing you've just said there is empathy.

And I know we speak about this a lot. And you've just got to look

at so many leaders around the world, and they literally are in the negative of

empathy. And but I if you are empathetic towards somebody else and

hear them out, like you said, they don't need to agree Yeah. That they feel

valued. If somebody feels valued, that's that's all we want in our life. We wanna

feel our purpose or feel like we belong. That's that's all you need to

hear. Look at the good in everyone. Yes. I think if you if you like,

people give you that and they're open up to you, and you try to see

the good in everyone. And you might none of their values might align to that

point, but can you connect on something? So Must be must be tough with some

with some of the population, though. I'll tell you what.

I'm Are you getting memories of your footy days in Texas? It's just like I

I look back to that and you go, like, for me, it was almost like

you just gotta ignore it and go, like, feel sorry for that person

almost, you know. Turn it around. Exactly. It's like that like, to for that

person to be saying those things or to be to think that it's acceptable

Yeah. To speak to someone like that or to to write whatever

they they write. You know, if I took it on board,

it would just crack, you know, like, I'd go insane. Yeah.

So I sort of, you know, my I was almost just like, shit. For someone

to be able to do that, to I feel sorry for them, you know, like,

what they must have been through or their their upbringing or their life, you know.

What are they projecting? Like, what you know, and when someone I get most sensitive

when someone has a crack at my partner or or the kids. That's where I

get, you know, a bit a bit of a struggle. That's but, you know, and

you feel like you you that's your fair game normally, but that's it. You sort

of go and normally it's anonymous. So no one in a workplace or in a

community would rather and they they might be standing next to you at a train

station, have had a bike, giving you a bike and you go, and they say

hello to you and you think, you know or you or you meet people. I

say, oh, you're not that bad in person. Yeah. Oh, well, just Thanks, mate. That's

really nice. And you think like the online environment does, you know, sometimes

we see the worst in in behaviors and how that the communication. And

particularly for young young people coming through, like, it's so much more connected in that

impact around, you know, well-being as well. Social media, Instagram, you

know, Facebook, TikTok is huge, isn't it? So Yeah. We we just

speak about we speak about this a lot because, you know, I do a lot

of work in schools and you've just gotta see now I grew up in the

country, you know, back in the you talk to anyone. Jack's the same, you know,

have conversations. Now people don't talk. No. It's all through a device. And you

see kids sitting in a bus stop, they'll be 4 and they're talking, but they're

talking through their phones. Yeah. But it's not just kids. It's adults as well. And

we've been really consciously, like, both of us said, we just don't take our phones

anyway. We don't use them. And it's amazing how liberating it is.

Yeah. How do you see, like, particularly, you know, if you roll around domestic

violence, educating young boys, particularly how important it

is to get those connections face to face, not through a device. Yeah. He's

I even see young people like voice memos, someone that's just a little while away

from them rather than looking up and talking to them. Yeah. Exactly. It's like it's

so different. And even like, you know, we're still relatively, young lads, I

reckon. Oh, I love that. You know? I love that. You know? We're

we're in an era where, you know, we saw the the iPhone coming through. We

saw Facebook and Instagram take off. And so young people, that's their environment they're presented

to straight away. Yeah. A little while ago, we banned in Victoria devices in

classrooms. So just to give kids a chop out, So they're copping bullying or, you

know, get them to raise up. And the feedback from principals and teachers was that

change the game because finally, kids started to connect again. Know, you didn't have to

have people getting piled on by multiple people on social media. So it's a

really a really hard thing. I was at Collingwood College the other day. We did

an announcement around prevention of family violence. It's just speaking to some young lads.

We asked them the question, who are your role models? Who do you look up

to? One of them looks at his mate and shrugs and just go, I don't

know. Just like that. And you go, you've gotta do so much better there because

who are the people that they're looking up to? There's a not number of toxic

voices in community that they hear. You know, the algorithm, they see something and

they hear, where's the positive mentoring, their health, their exercise, their well-being?

What does it mean to be a boy and then grow into a man? And

what are your responsibilities to family, to community? What does that look like? And

so, it's a real challenge, and and we've gotta do it in schools, and we've

gotta take that through in community. So it's a really big part of education, isn't

it? Yeah. It feels like it it has to go the other way eventually.

Yeah. But we're sort of it's gonna get so bad eventually that

it'll start to turn and and the majority will sort of, you know, head towards

trying to disconnect from your phones as but we're not there yet, are we?

And it's it's, it's Well, they're still sort of new.

Like, you know, social media and technology and particularly with AI and all

these, it's still new. Mhmm. You know, I think the young young kids now

coming through are so much better because when we were going through school, there's no

such thing as mental health. No. You know, I was always said, though, you'll be

happy and healthy if you look after yourself from the shoulders down. Yep. If you

eat right, you move your body, connect with others. Mhmm. You know, it's just as

important to work the shoulders up as well. Yeah. Exactly. You know, and they're aware

of that now, whereas we're trying to catch up. Hence, why there's a

170 people at, you know, adults our age Yeah. At men at the men

tone, because we didn't get any of this. And we're trying to

catch up. Whereas the young kids, I think, in a way, they've got too much

information. They've gone too far. But the other thing is So,

there's no belt. Like, if it's a seesaw, they're just so skew with, like

Just overwhelmed, isn't it? It's crazy. There's too much now. Yeah. You you'd almost say

you get overly excited. There you go. So I put them in.

Yeah. So let's, you know, we gotta we gotta work back on that, don't we?

So there we go. I'm trying to get back on that. And then when when

we go into the big studio leagues, you know, just to get the, the the

guy knocking around in Chelsea. So Oh, no. But it's a really good point. How

do we chop out and, and, that overwhelming. And so and the generation gap as

well, like, between millennials and gen z's and gen alpha, like, we connect so much

more with kids and young people now. Like, I remember growing up, I would never

have gamed with my parents. Oh, parents gaming with, you know, connecting on,

you know, technology that way is is really important. Social media, like, they're connecting

with parents, but then we've gotta have that release. We've gotta have that chop out.

So board games. We're gonna play cards. Yeah. They're do you mean, like, everything you've

just mentioned? Brilliant. You're connecting, but you're not really connecting. No. No. There's a

device involved in every single one of them. Name the last time people

got out monopoly or Yeah. Play connect 4 or played snap or

UNO. Yeah. It doesn't happen anymore. Play with the kids. Yes. Be silly.

Run around the park. Chase your kids. Take the piss out of yourself. Yeah. That's

exactly right. What about, like, both of you have kids?

What are your sort of thoughts on as they grow up? And, you know, I

think they're probably young too young at the moment, but,

that's like, it's a scary sort of environment. How are you gonna handle that and

how you do you have have you spoken about it with your partners or you?

Well, yeah. I I mean, I I got 2 girls, 7 and 3. I I

still think sometimes when I get called a dad, I still sort of had that

shutter like, oh my god. I don't feel responsible enough to be that that you

always sort of you feel like you're sort of still winging it. Yeah. And then

having young girls come into a world that we're in at the moment and the

impact on on women in community as well. It's sort of and I've had younger

sisters as well. Used to go, what's the world they're growing up into? Hear the

stats around, you know, harassment and, and gender based violence. And you

I I get it. I I worry about that in the world that they're going

into, and how do we create a safer environment for them? And then how do

you roll a role model being a good parent? There's that's a lovely element of

social media is the amount of podcast or amount of things you see from positive

parenting. Yeah. And lads talking about this, you know, you can get educational and you

can learn so much. Yeah. You can. Yeah. Because there's no like, we there's a

maternal health group, isn't there? Like, moms get together. Yeah. You don't see too many

dad groups that are that are put together, and we're sort of trying to plug

that in artificially. It should be that you you get that as well, like, if

whoever the partner might be that you get to connect. So I I find that

I don't know what you you feel, Darwin. Yeah. No. I'm exactly the same. And

I think one of the big things, you know, we we worry about so many

other things. All we can really worry about is the people that live in our

house. Yeah. You know, you I can't control what's gonna happen when I step out

the front yard here. I can't control what's gonna happen at school or on TV

or anything like that. But what I can control is what happens with my

house when I'm home. Am I present? How do I interact? And I think

that's the biggest thing. There's no there's not a it's so basic. But

that's why it's really hard because it's too basic for some.

You know, get rid of devices. Just be present with them. If they ask you

to draw or play or wrestle, whatever that is, do it. Yeah. You know, you'll

never get that time back, and they remember that. They don't remember all the toys

they've got, these entitled kids. I had a meltdown the other day because my kids

are just throwing toys. So I bagged up 8 bags, and they didn't care they've

got that many. But what they do care about is when I'm doing Play Doh

or Lego with them. That's a great call. And we think about our own childhood.

What's the memory you think of for that moment? And and sometimes you get a

bit of flat parent guilt. You go, oh, I wasn't connected then, and you can't

mourn the the moments that you've been overwhelmed or you've been on the you've had

to have a chop out or you haven't been put you just gotta connect as

best you can in the moment. And so I do that. My my little one's

on the student representative council now. She thinks she can do my job. She's, you

just talk all the time, dad. I can do that. I can do that. And

then she sees politicians and goes, what's that? You know, that's it's just like garbage.

So she thinks you can roll in. But it's it's interesting how you sort of

connect and and, with the and how important that is. And that's the memories and

form, especially up until the age of, like, 8, Like, that really critical brain development.

Sponge is there. They just take it all in and and we think when people

go through mental health and well-being journeys, you're unraveling a lot of your childhood. And

so that's the, that's the thing I think about is what's the moments, what's the

environment, the safe environment we can create. The key lessons, the key sort of values

that you're instilling. Yeah. I think, like, we speak about it a fair bit when

we, when we speak about, like, male violence and violence in the home stuff.

It was, you know, like for me, a lot of it comes down to like

education as as young people, like And role models like you were

saying 40. Yeah. But like, I just think if you, if you taught

as a young kid and as as you just said, like, you can control

you can't control what Joe Blow, you know, the little kid at the school is

going to say to your kid, But you can instill the values and and let

your boys know, you know, the right way to treat people, the right

way to see the world of blah blah blah. And, and education

in in when you're a young kid goes so far. Yeah. It does. Yeah. It's

setting up. Yeah. It's a really good point. And, and had had, like, attitude

towards women and how people taught and and and that respect for others. Yeah.

It's a really, really important message, Shaq. And and and how do we instill

that parenting's a really big part, but also schools and education. If you don't have

that that safe structure at home, school might be the only real guiding

force for you. So and the power of education, like, how can you how can

you change those outcomes as well? And then how do we how we how do

we get people to realize if they've gone down a pathway of, you know, coercive

control of or they're using violence or other things, how do they have that

realization, that understanding to stop? Like, and and that, education, where does that

come from? How do we reform and understand and change? So that's a big part

of the role I've got is, like, across community, it starts with men and boys

is what I've been saying around the patch, because those role models

are really important. It's it's it's education, and then that's that respect throughout

our our journey as well. And that's a really important element. Yep. So with that,

obviously, no one knows the answer. Like, otherwise, it wouldn't be

domestic violence wouldn't be getting worse. What's sort of the ideas and

sort of theory? You know, you started at schools in young age. I totally agree.

Yeah. What are some of the constructs or ideas that you're putting into place,

Tim, to not test, I suppose. Because everything is a test at the moment. There's

no proven way to fix this massive issue across the

country. Yeah. What are what are some of the ideas that you're gonna roll out?

So it's it's a really good question, and we're still it'll evolve over time, but

we had a prevention of family violence, royal commission 8 years ago. We've

been through the journey of that, and the premier asked me a few weeks ago,

whether I'd be Australia's 1st men's behaviour change parliamentary secretary. So

the imposter syndrome went up pretty big. Yeah. And then that's pretty That's cool though.

It is. It's amazing. And so I think it's a really serious error around. Well,

what does that look like? Now some blokes instinctively have contacted us go, what do

I need to change? You know, I'm not I'm not someone. I don't know someone

that does this or does that. That's So defensive and and so and it's a

really interesting response because I think it goes to people instinctively

going, well, I don't I'm not a person that would do x y zed to

someone, or or why is it focused on on gender? Well, we've got 53%

more women than not have been sexually harassed. So that's a massive stat. Like,

millions of Australian women have that as a lived experience and story. We've got 1

in 5 that have been subjected to sexual based violence. Now that's the stats. And

you go, wow. Like, and as a parent, as a young dad of 2 girls,

I go, hang on. That's the stats. What's their experience? And so you go

you go back and go, well, how does what's the environment that creates those issues?

It's not all blokes and all men, but all blokes have a role and

responsibility to be a difference. Be role models, call out bad behavior, be

upstanders, and we hear, like, sort of bad attitudes and stuff. Go hang on a

sec. Sec. Like, you can do it passively. Oh, we we we that's not something

we're grateful. We don't and then gradually having that confidence. So in

education saying, well and we've got respectful in in Victorian

schools. So that's that's the teaching of kids of, you know, those consent

education, respective relationships, and that. But then also educating

blokes through the journey. And so so it's to say that not all blokes, but

it is all blokes can make that difference. And when you've we're losing so many

people to gender based violence, you know, killed and it's just

devastating to see I think it's over 40 women now. We've gotta do something

different. And I think, like, the thing it's so easy

to sort of be naive about it. And like, you know, I grew up in

an affluent area, you know, and I, that doesn't happen in surely,

you know, and it's so easy to, and until it sort of becomes real

for you or until you educate yourself until you see, like, that's where I just

feel like education is so important because if you haven't been

exposed to it or you haven't seen it, you, you might just say, no, that's,

it's not real. But the, the stats don't lie, do they? No, it's

so prevalent and until it sort of becomes, as, as

I said earlier, it's like when it affects you personally, and I

wish it wasn't like that. I wish we could sort of, you know, have a

bit of a broader view and, but I feel like it's,

yeah, that education and understanding what actually goes on. And it's hard to get

your head around it because it's like, you wanna see the best parts of your

community. So you're when you're rocking up the community events, you don't think of those

statue and you wanna see the best in everyone. Yep. But it's just the reality

that we confront, and we can't turn a blind onto that when a toll is

what we see, the amount of women that we've lost, to gender based

violence, and and then what we see in terms of her those harassment stats as

well. But where we start, it's that that whole cultural piece. The

changing of attitudes, upstanders, behaviors is really

important. Empowering men and boys to have those conversations and creating the

environments that that that leads to better outcomes. Yeah. And, you know, if you think

from a perspective of a parent or a sibling, you go, well, I wouldn't want

someone to treat someone like that. So or or I wouldn't want them to be

have coercive control or feel like they're not safe at home. So if we have

that as an attitude, how are we part of that? And it's just looking out.

It's getting that and good role models in community. Because we see some big

platformers who have really poor attitudes, describe that towards

women. That's going straight into the central nervous system of our young lads.

Yeah. A lot of them might not agree with it, but there'll be a few

that are, you know, led down that pathway. Where's the where's the juncture

where they pick a different light? Might be positive, masculineities.

It might be better health and well-being. I followed a couple of people on Instagram

who are obsessed with skipping. Yep. They're great lads. I look at them, and their

their their message is really positive. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Looking after yourself, what does it

mean to be a good bloke in your community? And so and those values, and

that's respecting women first and foremost, and girls. That's a big part of it.

And that's so I think having those conversations, some of and that's the role I've

got, but but I've got a big journey underway. Like, getting out there, I wanna

hear from people. Yep. I don't have all the answers, and clearly some people have

said I look more like Jigglypuff than that. Some of the I mean,

the the Pokemon in nostalgia, I don't know if you guys grew up on cheese

TV. Pokemon on cheese TV before. I I I was 300

meters from my high school. I'd get there, like, donning out on Dragon Ball

Z Oh, my god. And Pokemon. You speak my language, team. You know,

go Goku firing up. I'm like, oh, I've got I've got geography coming up stuff,

and I'm gonna freeze the sun. That freezer saga was where it was at. That

was epic. So I did appreciate the, the sledge fire Pokemon,

that I caught. But, you know, we're we wanna have that community conversation and have

that feedback. What does it look like for us in community? Yep. So That, you

may as well been speaking Mandarin, and I I literally have got

no idea who you what you're about to say. But I appreciate you got a

common interest. Does that excite you, or does it is it a bit daunting, you

know, with the the new role? Because it Does it make you a little bit

excited

Does it make you a little bit excited that you might be able to have

a positive impact or scared about where to start? Or Yeah. What's your initial reaction?

I was crapping my dachshund when I first got the call. So Premier just sent

to Alan rings me. I've just come back from basketball with the girls coming up

the Frankston Freeway, and I get the call when you think when the boss calls,

it's 1 or 2 things you stuffed up. I'm thinking I don't I don't have

to resign on Sunday night. Do I? Like, I'm thinking racking the brain, haven't posted

anything. It's strange. Should be okay. I think it and I I was sitting next

to my partner who's driving. I'm like, I'll take this one laws. So I, I

want you to be the parliamentary secretary for men's behavior change. I didn't, I slept

for 1 hour that night because I was going, what are all the things that

we have to consider? What do we have to go through? And what now? And

I take it back to first principles. I don't know. I don't have to have

all the answers. I'll have to get out there and listen and just, you know,

and it'll take me a bit to digest. Like I had Movember on the phone

within an hour. The next day, you know, the, the man cave, with

Hunter Johnson does a really good program in schools Straight that Monday getting

emails. So just boil it down a bit. We we don't have to knit solve

everything overnight. So Yep. Like, imagine the pressure, like,

the pressure of having to, you know, be,

like, true to your word. If you're gonna take this role, like, you, you know,

like, and it's not I guess for me, it's like,

yeah, I'm, I'm sure it's not like anything's terrible is going to

happen or whatever, but you'll be putting yourself out there for, to

cop any scrutiny if, if you do anything or if you have any, you know,

was that a factor or did you think about that? Or, yeah, I think I

did. And I think, the men's behavior change space interacts really well with mental health

and suicide prevention, which I've got as parliamentary secretary. So I thought I've got some

familiarity there, and there's there's a really over representation of men and boys in that

space, who we lose or impacted. So I thought, no. No. I've got some good

good synergy there. But, yeah, that that you feel the pressure, and then people go

in 6 months on, what's changed, mate? Like, you know, what have you done? So

that's what I'm thinking downstream. What does it look like, and how do you build

that pace in that narrative? And how do you get the trust and confidence in

of community in that space? That's a hard slog as well. So just doing little

steps, trying to trying to see how we go, and then what does success look

like and and that role modeling community. That's that's but it is a lot of

pressure, and then you can't be everything to everyone, and people will have different views.

It comes back to that, like, listening, that empathy, bring the ideas. We we wanna

be an open source on this stuff. But, yeah, that that sign on, I'm thinking,

you know, I had KOS Sport on. Nothing was on. I don't think that sign

on. It might have been a bit of golf. And I was thinking, what else,

you know, how am I gonna structure this? Can't sleep. Because you you feel that

weight of expectation and, you just, yeah, you just have to take a deep breath

and and But at the end of the day, you're doing you're doing something great

for the community, and it's gonna have a positive impact, and that's what you gotta

lean back on Yeah. As much as gonna please there will always be people just

looking for a reason for you to fail. Yeah. Yeah. But it doesn't matter what

you do. There'll be one thing that they don't agree with, and that's but you

can't let that get to you. I'm sure you've had years of that. It's like,

well, it's like the 17 clubs of the AFL who don't want us to win

a final. What is it? We're coming closest. It was 7 and a half

1000 days now. So, like, the Herald Sun,

you know, Robbo writes CEO opinion piece of how great Essen's looking for the year.

We get all wrapped up. Then we lose the entire town. Don't do it.

There was 30 opinion pieces running up into the Herald sun. And then now and

then I just saw the one that it wants today. It was like, why Essendon

will fail their fancias? So you feel that expectation, you know, when you go to

the footy. But no. It's that fair that that that honest feedback that, you know,

not everyone's gonna agree. It's a bit like that. We all got our colors. We

all got our ways of thinking the world, how we can solve the world's problems.

And you gotta put that into a bite sized piece. You gotta get a department

to support you, and then you gotta leave that change at a grassroots level. So

Can I can I ask going back to the start here, but Yeah? What how

did you get how did it all start? How did you get into politics? How

did you At such a young age too. Yeah. So I yeah. I I was

Was there a passion growing up and Yeah. Yeah. I did. I think that it's

still my mom was really interested in sort of community advocacy. She was on the

other side of politics at the time, so that's a nice little, you know, when

you get at Christmas or family events. So I think that gave me a good

radar for hearing people out. One of my best mates was in in politics

at the time. He was part of the, campaigning. I said, hey. What's that all

about? And I just rang him up. And next thing I was, I was involved.

So at the time I was at uni doing law commerce down at Deakin Geelong,

trying to piece get degrees. Let's just say, you know, there's no At the wall

pond on Wednesday night? Yeah. Yeah. That's that's right. Stop saying a thing

there. Packing in straight down there, North Geelong. We did the doors in

lock, in our first rental there. So it was a bit bit bit, intimidating. Then,

got through that. And, yeah, I I always had a passion for it. Like, I

thought amazing to be, you know, working something that gives back to community. So I

worked I actually worked in the federal government for our federal member, Mark Dreyfus. And

then people said, you should have a crack. And I was only 24 at the

time. I thought, thought, well, I I what what would I know? Like, I painted

lines on roads during, like, line marking, painting. I I was a freezer

geyser at Safeway. What would I know? And I thought, yeah. You know you know,

in the big jacket. And you you get to a point where you don't feel

your hands anymore. So you come out, it looks like you've been fighting a bear.

And, you're just, like, you know, scratched up and brutalized. And so I

was doing that and and doing different things. And then I thought, well, yeah, maybe

I will have a crack. Like, you know, young people need to step up into

politics. We want more people to be, involved. And so the 1st year was like,

what the hell am I doing? I I got through the campaign with 1 in

the area in 2014, and there was just that learning and and journey. But, yeah,

people said how to go. And I thought, imagine being in a job where you

get to be part of your patch each day. Mhmm. You're part of helping in

the solutions locally and then statewide. And I thought what a privilege that is. And

that's a big part of we want more people to get involved in politics. That's

what politics should be. It shouldn't be the banter and the crap that goes on

and ridiculing people. Mhmm. All politics should be local. And that's that's what gets

my passion. I don't I don't you know, my colleagues, might, you'll love

going up in the Spring Street in parliament and having their couple of weeks when

we're in Sydney. I actually love coming back home, and I get back every night

back to the patch, and that's what it's about. Yep. Yeah. Do you think, that

story having a go? Like, and I think this is we think

we need to wait, like, for a certain age or we haven't earned the right

to do it yet. But at the end of the day, if you're passionate, you

wanna make a difference, that's probably more than waiting your time. Like, age is

only a number. Yeah. You can't replicate passion or wanting to

make a difference. Yeah. Like, is that something and I know impostor syndrome when you're

so young compared to others, But But you can't get good at something unless

you You do it. Give it a crack. You're not gonna know if you're any

good at well, you wouldn't have known if you're any good in the phrases until

you start stacking it. It is a good point, though. But it like, it just

over and over and over. And I've tried to kick goals from 35 meters out

and still don't make the distance in the goal square. So there is a point

where you gotta realize whether you do have a bit of reality. You know, if

you can No. You're lying. No. You're going. You're lying. Was the best boundary rider,

coming off the bench. There was, Office of Football Club, Derek, you know, shout

out. But none of none of them would remember any of the, my contributions. But,

you know, you you you do if you got a passion and you feel like

you connect and you love something and you can get good at it, yeah, and

don't put off to tomorrow what you can start today. Like, I just I always

just think and I've always said, like, hard work is hard work and

effort. There's no substitute for that. So if you can give it, you give it

your all and you give us stuff about it, then have a go then that,

and that's probably how I've clung through. There's probably people the greatest compliment I get

is people don't, people don't perceive me as a politician. They see

probably the Polish, like, you know, Malcolm Turnbull, baritone, Barack

Obama, you know, that sort of style of speech. That's not me. You know,

if if you're looking for that, that's not me. I'm I'm, you know, superb. I

grew up in the outer suburbs. I live in Chelsea. That's my story. That's what

I'm about. And, take me as I am. And if that's enough, that's enough. So

I just yeah. It's I think it's been your true self. And if you love

and care about something, you can, you know, give it a crack and and do

what you can do. What is with that? Like, the whole the politician, like

it just come on and go into politics, Jacko. I mean, I'm just I'm I'm

intrigued. He's like, he's gonna have a crack at counseling. I think so. What what

is it? What? It comes it can come across so,

what's the word? Disengenuous is that Yeah. Like and I I

get they're trying to say what the right thing so much instead of just

being who they are or be you know, is that it's is that it's a

culture? Is it a is part of it all? I think that's the media, and

I think you get so much coverage. Training and Yeah. You get trained into

to the nth degree. And I haven't had too much media training, so that probably

shows you, you know, where I'm at. But I think, yeah, people get

to the the the point I think and being so tired and so overwhelmed with

just so much information, you sort of, I think, become more,

risk averse. You're not, you know, and but we see politicians stuff

up. It happens anyway. So why not just have a dip, have it, have a

go Be authentic. Be authentic. Yeah. And then then put your hand up and say,

oh, we we actually stuffed it. We gave it our best shot. It didn't come

off. I reckon more people would go, you know, what? You're human. You know, you

hear it. Like, you you all this policy didn't quite go the way we were

thinking. We're sorry about that. This is where we're gonna go. And so I think

so, like, it just I I think that's what we need. And because in democracy

in our democracy and in our communities, you know, more and more people are plugging

out of politics, and that's bad for our sector as well. So Like, that's

me. I I just plug out because I which I know

is not ideal and I I should, you know, have a bit more care and

interest in it, but it's like, I just, yeah, I find it really difficult,

you know, what's, what, what am I gonna do or what, what can I change?

Or, you know, and it's, it's a good point. Cause it's not like you don't

care. You care. You love the issues. You love your patch. You wanna see things

change. You want a better community. Mhmm. That's a lot of through like, the private

sector does a big role in that, societal changes. But government has a

large part to do in that as well. But if we see the leaders in

a disenfranchised by what we see, people just go stuff it. I'll rock up and

vote. And I'll say that when I'm on a polling booth, I'm handing out thousands

of flyers a day. Some will say hello. Some will just go, yeah, mate. Whatever.

You always you always get my vote in there. There we go. There we go.

Well, mate, as I said, like, federal, I'm the, you know, so

but I, it's not a good intro too. I'm I'm sorry. I'll tell you what,

but I'm overly excited for that, mate. Mate. Like, what comes now? I've got the

I've got the rev up. So What what is there a is there a long

term goal? Is there I I I love the state space, and I love I

love being in because when I was in education Have I painted the picture with

my intro? Yeah. Have I let that write down a With looking things into existence.

That's right. Yeah. Man, if fantastic series. I like that. 39 episodes. I love I

love the state because you you really in the in in the, grassroots of people's,

you know, things that they care about, you know, health, education, those

outcomes, you know, some of the infrastructure stuff. I love that. You you you I

think the federal's so big. The areas are so big that they represent. It's hard

to connect with people. You might sleep with 1 person every couple of years. That's

I like that. I've got 50,000 residents I represent, 300 community groups and

schools. I love that. They know who I am. They know where to find me.

So, yeah, I'm in the mental health space. I've been in education and see where

it goes. They've they've had me back so far. So so we go. How much

how much, I guess, power or influence do you

actually have as the big dog? Like Yeah. Is it

and what's your team what's the structure? Yeah. So so we got,

88 members of parliament in the Victorian parliament in the lower house. There's 50 6

labor and or 54 labor MPs now. So, yeah, I can pick

up the phone of the premier, and say, you know, this is an issue in

my community. It's a bit like like how often do you have a throw at

the stumps? Yeah. You wanna make sure it counts. Be be spared. You know, Jonty

Rhodes, a backward point. No. Seriously. You you don't want you want throw on the

prem I don't want the premade to sit around and look at me and go,

here he goes. Here he comes. Here he comes the rap band from here. Your

throat. There we go. Yeah. I tell you. If he ask me Back it up.

If he ask me about this again, goodness me. So or, you know, I

did in cricket bat 11 and wicket keep. So, but, yeah, that's some

keep. You'd have a bit of this. Oh, and that's probably where I went well

in politics was the chirp. I do get in the bands a lot. We've got

another MP, Sam Groth, who's, you know, Australia's fastest server. We're getting him a

bit. There's a good bit of banter, so you might get him on the podcast.

Yeah. He'll he'll tell you I'm a bit of a rat back, but, I think,

I think the in the power thing, I think it's, that advocacy that comes. Like,

you get you get that access to real decision like, the decision makers, in

community. Do they have a lot of power like the state? Like Yeah. Yeah. They

consulted the site. Agenda. Yeah. For for where where policy might go. Or as a

group? As as a team, it gets consulted what we call a caucus, which is

like a team, environment, and that gets consulted through. But really, like, it all

comes down to who those leaders are. They they wear that responsibility. We saw,

see that with premier Jacinda Allen, Dan Andrews, accountable. You know? Yeah. We had

formally Scott Morrison as prime minister and then Anthony Albanese. A lot of people

they wanna know all the ones that bat down the order. It would be who

are the who is the main person? So that's perceived through that. But now there's

a big team of people. Yeah. Like, for example, this this week, we had phonics

that's gonna be rolled out in every school. I'm really passionate about, you know, the

1 in 5 are on the dyslexia spectrum. So a lot of people finished school

can't read. And, like, how is that in Victorian society? We have the education

minister announced that Ben Carroll yes, yesterday, which is a massive announcement.

Every school will have phonics. I I'm really passionate about that area, and I'd been

advocating in government writing, you know, a couple of policy positions on that. We've gotta

think about this. Gotta think about this. And enough volume, enough people had been

advocating, and Ben had done all that work and announced it yesterday. So I sit

that there like Daryl Kerrigan looking up at the power lines out of the gas,

and then you go, good is this. Good, sir. You know? And it might not

have been an impact, but I know I was on the right side of the

story. You see, you just sit back and you love it. So there's moments.

And then other times you get clean bulb, and you you you miss the mark.

And so, yeah, you just sort of try, but your impact is, you know,

you you pick your moments. You gotta you gotta know those relationships as well. Well,

do you know the the benefits of play? It's still Oh, I see. I see.

Huge. Yeah. I mean, if we could get Good day. He's up and about about

this. He's very a 100 and about. I think he's the federal

representative. International, UN, get him to the UN.

UN. I think people are sick of hearing all me, but, no. I I think

like you're just saying, any positive thing around mental health or things you

can do at a grassroots level to get into schools. It doesn't matter what it

is as long as it's something. And I think, you know, phonics, I've been able

to read and write very important. I think one of the biggest things I find

with that, Tim, is that a lot of the time, it's not fun. You know?

And if something isn't fun, you're not gonna do it. If this podcast is not

fun, Jack and myself wouldn't do it. You wouldn't return. I go, wow. This is

so much fun. Do you mean like and I think it's exactly the same with

mental health or anything, any aspect of life. I think people forgotten

how to have fun, particularly adults. Do you think that would be

job. When you're having fun at something, you do a better It doesn't matter what

you're doing. If it's fun, then you're going to enjoy it. You're normally more present.

And then you enjoy it. And it's closing to normally more present. And then you

enjoy it. And it's closing to us all aspects. Why does it have to be

through the prism of kids as well? Like, we can only have fun like, I

think, That inner child, we just lost

it. That's right. Yeah. Just and I love going to some of the play centers

and seeing, like, grandparents and parents, like, having a play and they're getting on trampolines

and stuff. Well, that's like just get in your brain development and function as well

and how important that is. For education, it's huge. Like, up until the age of

8, that pedagogy of actual play and stimulus is really important. We

sort of lose that though when they go in the preppies. It's like on the

tools, on the books, like, how do we create those environments as well? And then

encourage, people to connect and play as well. So I think it's a really, really

important point. We need that more in education. Physical movement's a big target we've

got in the Victorian government in schools, and community. And so that's a

really big part of, like like, life saving we've got nearby as well, that

that volunteerism connecting physical activity, play,

that atmosphere. And we gotta just create those those environments. Community. Yeah.

Community. Yeah. I think that's one of the big things. Like, you look at Scandinavia

who have got the best results in any area of schooling or in

society. It's because up until the age of 8 at school, there's no

structure. Yep. They're not doing that plan. They're not doing test. It's all about having

fun and play. Mhmm. You know, there's no pressure on them. Whereas, I just it

makes me sad, the amount of pressure we put on getting results at such

a young age when it doesn't matter. It's about them just feeling safe and having

fun. That's right. And then there's this pressure, that's where anxiety and stress is

built. It's conditioned in them, and then we just keep putting more and

more on them. Yeah. And that's why kids, I feel so sorry for them

because we don't know any different. No. And I think even like, you know, the

the that we all would have gone through, you know, 1 in 3 will actually

use that to try to go through to their uni degree, and about 1 in

4 will actually complete the degree that they started out in. So our whole education

system to the back end is the vision is built on a minority. Yeah. Like

you think the majority will go into further studies in TAFE or might go into

work. Where what are the life skills that we're building up? Like and if we

turn that on its head of of of the societal challenges we face, the mental

health and well-being is the absolute critical function. Like, get everyone up and

about play, learning to exercise, you know, positive role modeling

around, eating well, looking after yourself. That's right. Like, we gotta build

that in. You know, there's so much debate around where that plan should be each

and, you know, each and every year we need have a new opinion. You throw

it all out. What about all those kids that were stressed out and conditioned to

think, oh, I've gotta get through this. Is that then irrelevant now? And so we've

gotta change it up, and we've gotta be innovative because we've got about 7% of

kids that are school refusing now. Yeah. They just aren't coming. Yep. And so when

they fall off, we go, oh, you're not at your curriculum level, and then we

try to rescue them to get them back in. We don't care then with what

level they're at. We're like, we just gotta get you back in school and look

after your mental health and well-being. Why don't we gradually do that? Like, why don't

we look and go, hey, it doesn't matter if you're not nailing that test today.

Here you go. And the only reason they're refusing is cause they're having a shit

ton. Oh, and that's not fun. They're not having fun. It's not like we roll

in here and go, oh, Tim, what was your a task score? Jack, was it

like, no one cares. What you do care about, are you a good person? Do

you treat others well? If you can do that, and your physical literacy

is at a high level, and you know how to look after yourself, But they're

the sort of last things we worry about. That's right. Because it's all graded and

tested. I just I I know it's not going to change. I know that's the

way we are, and I know we need that data and things like that, but

we actually don't. Because it goes against what we're trying to achieve in

our people happy and healthy. Do they look after themselves? Do they respect others and

themselves? So Yeah. Imagine if we basic. Imagine if we, modeled at

21 where you were after you finished schooling. Like, what are your outcomes then? Or

25. Like, how are you feeling? That should be the data set of where you

end up rather than you've smashed the the score, but you're

miserable because that's been the whole you've been condition to think that's your

greatest achievement. And the young people put that pressure, or you can't read going

into year 7. You're at a grade 3 level. You there's no way you wanna

be in school, and you're looking for every excuse to get out because there isn't

that support there and those are alternative pathways. And so what's, how would do

we pump people up to, you know, think about what success looks like in different,

different elements? So I think it's such a good point around play and and and

and getting people to role model that in that support. It's huge. I know you've

done heap of work in that as well. From from someone who said you weren't

gonna talk policy, you just revolutionized the education. You

gave a nice little segue. I'd tell you, mate. Well, if you ever wanna get

in and have a crack, so, you know, there you change policy, get up there,

you know, you're doing the keynotes, you got the books. Bang. So I was wondering

if I could get a signed copy. I've actually got it. I'll do that. I'll

do that. Gift bag. Do that. Go for it. No. That's it. All

All all guests in the other excited podcast get, lovely gifts, don't they, Jamie? They

do. Absolutely. We're gonna finish off We're gonna finish off the big banger. With

our big banger. Yes. Now, Tim, you've I'm sure you've done a lot that

you're proud of. You've, you know, helped our community mentally. Is there something we ask

all, I guess, something that you are most proud of in your

life? It can be anything. It doesn't have to be politics.

Yeah. What what's one thing when you look back at it all that really sort

of, you know, warms the heart? Yeah. I I was probably it's a local example,

but it's in specialist education. So we've got 83 specialist development schools in

our area. One of our schools is called Yarrabah School. So kids

with additional needs that need that support and that care. I went as a MP

the first time I walked in there, portable city. Like, it was all just

no one had given a thought of rebuilding this this school and the and the

outcomes there. And so they've been funding all other schools. And this this school that

had was supporting our kids with disabilities, hadn't had any

support. And so went on a journey and we've rebuilt the whole school.

25 mil was invested there. And then there was a policy to upgrade every

specialist development school and SDS side in our state, all

83 of them. So I look at that and go every every, you know, Victorian

should have that support. And I look at that. You can do the level crossings.

You can be, you know, do you know, winning elections and government, all that. But

that tangibly helped people that see the impact. See the impact and what that

meant to that community. In Aspen Island, that's that's massive. So

there's some of those things people might say, oh, that's a small thing. But when

I go, yeah, look up the power lines. Maybe that can be the the reflective

piece to Daryl Kerrigan looking at the power lines. And I go, you know what?

Oh, that was that was nice. We're part of that, and no no one will

be able to take that away because we had a moment to to connect in.

So that's my you know, if I was to get middle it out out of

the grounds for 6 Yeah. That was it. Being a part of that was pretty

awesome. And I think, if you've been to a lot of specialist schools that

they are incredible spaces because they need to be. Yeah.

And I can I completely under understand where you're coming from with that? Like,

it's such a rewarding opportunity

for people that obviously don't get as much as everyone else, but also

for their families and just have a safe space that their kids are learning. So

I can completely say that. And why shouldn't I have it? The best school facility,

25 mil hydrotherapy there? And I go, you know, that we we put that

on the agenda. And, the premier came and visited a number of times, sat down

with families, heard them out. And I go, yep. We put that on the map.

So the yeah. That's probably one of the things you can contribute. And Yeah. That's

what politics should be about. It shouldn't be about, oh, I told so and so

they're a rat bag, and I got up. And, you know, I won the I

won the issue. What have you done and how have you helped people's lives? So

I look I love that. That's, it's probably my my favorite. And our our producer

tells me that we might be seeing you tomorrow morning down at, Yeah.

This is the sea dippers. Potentially. Potentially. I'm a scuba diver, and

it takes me 10 mils to get under under surface, which is about 12 degrees

in the bay at the moment. 10 mils. So I'm literally like the Michelin man

going out there. Now I Is that your wetsuit? That's my wetsuit. Yeah. Yeah.

10 mil wetsuit. So I've been told I've been told that I will probably

lose the next election if I show the full chest. So I'm I'm

coming in I'm coming in a 1 mil rashie with, some togs, and I might

bring me, me me snorkel as well. But if you just see me exit quite

quickly. So yeah. We're dripping in the jump in the ocean. It's a great way

to stay out the day. Yeah. Yeah. So Bring it on. You coming along you

guys coming along? Yeah. I won't be. Jack, think about I've got family I've got

family duties. Oh, excuses already. I've gotta look after the

family. I've used this the the for 3 years, I've avoided the c

dippers. Yeah. And for mental health support, I've they go and get along. So I'm

getting it. Good on you too. I think it shows I I appreciate mental health

and support, but I need to look after my own. Getting in the beach at

most times is cold enough, let alone in the middle of winter. That's not doing

you any good, is it? It's sending you down a deep dive hole. Getting no

water. I'm getting in the mountains of bath. So that's awful. Are you coming along,

Chad? I'll come along. So we'll get some image. We'll get some footage. Yeah. We'll

get you there. Get you there. Get you there. We'll get you the big fella.

We'll get some footage. And the last part we're doing, we're supporting in as part

of the push up challenge lifeline. So it's been massive as well. So we'll give

them a a shout out. Thousands of people, they take calls each and every day.

So volunteers that that support that as well. So we're we're doing the jump

rope. We're doing push up challenge with the with twist. We're doing jump ropes because

I don't have the upper body strength of that. So 3,249 jumps each

day. So Every day. Every day for 24 days. Wow. That's a lot. How did

the calves go? Because I Calves and Achilles are struggling. Oh. Yeah. So that's

what I'm gonna do. Anxiety alone, bringing me out that many skips. Oh my god.

So I'm gonna have to do it on the beach. The rope gets a bit

stuck. How long does that take you? It's about 35 minutes. Minutes. So so I

love it. Yeah. I was, so do that. Do you not get one, like, how

can one go? Yeah. I've got it on the app. So they canceled it all

up. I've got cross ropes, which it so anyone that does skipping goes, oh,

oh, he's one of those wankers. Yes. Because I like your lover. Is that stronger

than skipping? Everyone posts about their skipping. Yeah. Dance trick.

I'm trying to. Yeah. Yeah. I literally can just do the basic jump in a

bit of a box of step. Yeah. But when I come back, you know, in

a year's time, I'll I'll do the yeah. I'll show you a few tricks. Yeah.

Double dutch. Yeah. Double dutch. Yeah. So we all did it. And and so we're

doing that. We did the jumps each day, so we do it tomorrow at the

RC Dippers. We'll see. I might do that in me Rashi, me, me undies. So

there we go. I love it. Thank you so much, Jim. Thanks, Tom. A brilliant

chat. Thanks, Tom. Cheers.