Youngest Australian senator, 21, deletes 'cringe' video
The video, which was set to the Black Eyed Peas song 'Imma Be', featured time-stamped clips of the Senator for South Australia as her day unfolded. These included a clip under her duvet after waking up at 5.27am, various interviews with multiple broadcasters throughout the morning, footage of her running through the halls of Parliament to vote at 4pm, and flying home to SA at 6pm. 'Day in my life, first week done,' the senator, who earns $233,660 a year captioned the 16-second clip.
But it was met with a chorus of ridicule and anger on social media, with many users branding it 'cringe,' 'embarrassing,' and evidence of taxpayers' money being wasted. 'An inexperienced young woman who's never held a real job as an adult is now a federal government Senator with the responsibilities of lawmaking in the federal Parliament,' one said. 'Why do Aussies keep electing unelectable people to Parliament? You won't trust a 21-year-old to a company's board of directors or to a Supreme Court justice bench as they don't have the capabilities, experience, and depth to handle it, but they can be elected to Parliament? This is so wrong. Parliament isn't some instagram hangout place, it's where the laws of the nation are discussed and legislated impacting an entire country's citizenry.'
The criticism seems to have stung as the short clip has now vanished from Senator Walker's Instagram profile. The Daily Mail approached Senator Walker for comment over its removal. The clip was originally posted the day after Senator Walker's maiden speech in parliament where she pitched herself as a voice for the younger generations. The Senator for South Australia said that Labor's landslide election win in May was the expression of 'the core Australian value of a fair go'. She said that Labor would deliver a 'fair go' for Australians in the areas of housing, education and climate change - underlining the government's commitment to net zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 as a key pledge.
It was on this issue that Senator Walker clashed with Pauline Hanson (pictured), who had tabled a motion in the upper house to abandon the target altogether, claiming it will 'destroy jobs and the Australian economy.' 'Power bills are out of control. Manufacturing is being wiped out. And ordinary Australians are paying the price, while out-of-touch politicians and inner-city idealists push fantasy policies they'll never have to live under,' Hanson said.
But Senator Walker slammed the move, accusing the One Nation founder - who is 50 years her senior - of lacking knowledge of the subject. 'All I can say is, are you kidding?' Senator Walker said. 'The motion put forward on net zero indicates a severe lack of knowledge and a complete disregard for the future of our generation, the future of our country. 'Without a net zero target, there will be no Australian farmers, businesses or industries to support us. Net zero is waking up to a reality that Senator Hanson has not been able to grasp. In fact, Senator Hanson seems to be hellbent on exacerbating all of the consequences of climate change.'
In turn, Senator Hanson lashed her younger colleague, claiming it was she who failed to understand what net zero really means. 'She's no sooner out of bloody university and out of her nappies than she's telling me I don't know what the hell I'm talking about when I've been on the floor of parliament for the last nine years,' Senator Hanson told Sky News. 'I don't take any notice of her, who's just trying to make her place in this parliament - and congratulations. But don't come in thinking that you're going to tell me what I know or what I don't know when I have been dealing with this for many years.'
Senator Walker underlined her unwavering commitment to tackling climate change in her maiden speech, claiming that she spoke for the younger generation who would be most affected by a heating planet. 'The vast majority of young Australians do not talk about climate sceptics versus climate believers,' she said. 'To us, climate change is not a matter of faith or belief; it is purely a matter of hard fact, and this government is determined to do everything we can to meet our goals of the Paris Agreement, including holding the increase in average temperatures to well below two degrees Celsius of warming. This government's net zero plan is delivering on the legislated target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.'
She also outlined how Labor planned to tackle the 'cost-of-living monster that everyone my age talks about housing' by allowing people to buy a home with just a five per cent deposit. 'Saving a 20 per cent deposit to get into homeownership whilst paying rent is an unscalable mountain for most of us,' she said. 'The median home price in Australia today is $820,000. Five per cent of that is $41,000. The last time $41,000 covered the 20 per cent deposit for a median home was in 2002. I wasn't even born in 2002.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Channel Seven star Abbey Holmes enlists surprising reality star as her nanny as she gets trolled for going back to work seven weeks after giving birth
Channel Seven star Abbey Holmes was recently slammed for returning to work seven weeks after giving birth to her first child. But the footy presenter ignored the haters and enlisted the help of a popular Married At First Sight star as she attended the 2025 Logie Awards on Sunday. Abbey shared an elevator selfie to Instagram as she arrived to The Darling hotel with her newborn son Brax and reality star Rhi Disljenkovic. 'Aunty Rhi Rhi arrived to help with Braxxy during the Logies,' she wrote. The following day, Abbey shared another selfie of the friends and baby Brax checking out of the hotel ahead of their flight back to Melbourne. Rhi also sang a song to the newborn in the car on the way to the airport. Abbey and her husband, former Hawthorn and Gold Coast player Keegan Brooksby, welcomed their first baby, Brax, on June 6. The Channel Seven presenter confirmed to fans that she'd be returning to work on July 25, in time for Essendon's Round 20 clash against the Western Bulldogs. Abbey took to Instagram to post a video of Dale Thomas and Matthew Richardson, captioning the post 'OK guys, we're baaaaack.' The footy presenter has been working two days a week as she enjoys her life as a new mum, and revealed that her decision to return to footy was based on how well Brax was doing. 'I think that if he didn't take a bottle or was really unsettled and only slept on me, or whatever it might have been, then I certainly would have been hamstrung and certainly not come back seven weeks after having him,' she told Seven. While many sent congratulations and well wishes to Holmes after she revealed she was returning to work, some comments branded her 'selfish'. One commenter wrote, 'Seven weeks. How about look after the tiny bundle of joy and watch them grow.' Another added, 'In child care at our expense no doubt.' In response, the Abbey hit back at the comments, explaining why she was so keen to get in front of the camera again. 'I think my work for me, it's so important. I genuinely love what I do. It doesn't feel like work in any way, shape or form,' she said. 'There's certainly a small minority of people out there that feel that they have the right to tell you what you should be doing and how things are to be done, which is never the case.' She also blasted those who had criticised her husband, Keegan, who she dubbed a 'super dad'. '[Someone said:] "Oh dad's on babysitting duty". I'm sorry, but dads don't babysit their own children, they're 50 per cent of the parenting duo,' she said. 'That's one thing that really gets to me.' Holmes also appeared at the Logie Awards on Sunday night and looked radiant, as she took to the red carpet wearing a sparkling grey gown.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Top Australian judge is charged with the unthinkable after students make shocking discovery during lecture screen-share
A former Justice accused of inadvertently sharing child abuse content with law students has been sacked from one of Australia's top universities. Former Fair Work Commission senior deputy president Justice Alan Boulton, 74, has been charged over material that was allegedly displayed during a lecture at Monash University's Melbourne CBD campus on February 5. The university referred the matter to Victoria Police, which seized multiple electronic devices during a raid on Boulton's inner-city Middle Park home a week later. He has since been charged with one count of possessing child abuse material as a Commonwealth offence and two counts of possessing child abuse material following a 'lengthy' investigation by detectives. Boulton will appear in Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Thursday. He was a senior fellow of the Faculty of Law at Monash University, regarded as one of Australia's most prestigious universities and ranked among the top 50 worldwide. Boulton was immediately suspended and removed from all teaching duties following the alleged incident. 'Monash University was made aware of concerns relating to an incident in February 2025, and referred the matter to Victoria Police,' a spokesperson told Daily Mail. 'We continue to support the ongoing investigation. 'The safety and wellbeing of our students, staff and broader community remains our highest priority.' Monash University continues to provide support services to affected students. It has also deleted a webpage about Boulton on its website. Boulton's decorated career in law both in Australia and overseas spans more than 45 years. The University of Sydney graduate first worked as a solicitor and then a lecturer at Canberra's Australian National University. In 1979, Boulton was appointed as the first legal officer for the Australian Council of Trade Unions by then-president Bob Hawke, who became Prime Minister several years later. He also had a stint with the International Labour Organisation in the Philippines, Indonesia and Timor-Leste, where he help draft modern labour laws and addressed the HIV/AIDS epidemic. At the Fair Work Commission, Boulton first served as deputy president 1989–93 and then as senior deputy president until 2015. He also previously served as Industrial Relations Commission of Victoria president. Boulton was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 2002 for 'distinguished service to industrial arbitration and labour relations.'
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
NSW faces constitutional showdown as parliament's push to expel convicted rapist Gareth Ward delayed by supreme court
New South Wales politicians are facing a potential constitutional showdown with the state's supreme court over parliament's attempt to expel local MP and convicted rapist Gareth Ward. The Minns government was seeking an urgent hearing in the supreme court on Tuesday with a view to lifting an ex parte injunction granted the previous day to Ward. It prevented parliament, for now, from moving to expel the member for Kiama. Ward commenced the proceedings on Monday night via his lawyers from Silverwater jail, where he has been remanded pending sentencing in September. Ward has said he will appeal his July criminal convictions on three counts of indecent assault and one for sexual intercourse without consent involving two young men in incidents that occurred in 2013 and 2015. The leader of the Legislative Assembly, Ron Hoenig, told reporters that the government did not believe the court had the constitutional power to restrain the parliament or any member from moving a motion in the lower house. However, 'out of respect for the court,' the parliament would apply for a more urgent hearing date, when it would seek to have the injunction lifted. Justice Deborah Sweeney, the duty judge in the supreme court, granted Ward an urgent application for the injunction on Monday night after the government notified the MP and his lawyers of Tuesday's proposed motion to expel him. He was invited to submit any arguments he wished to make. The government did not have an opportunity to make submissions to the court on Monday night. Hoenig said the government's position was that the orders 'have no effect [and] are not binding on the house'. 'The house has an inherent power, in accordance with the constitution, unconstrained by any order. However, because the order has been made by the supreme court of NSW, I have instructed the crown solicitors to approch her honour as soon as possible to reconsider the orders she has made to allow the house to conduct its business … as it has for 169 years,' the leader of the house said. 'The issue is of considerable significance. The house needs to be able to make its [expulsion decision] to protect itself, and we will be making an approach to the judge as early as today.' Hoenig said the scheduled hearing on Friday was too late, as the parliament was due to rise on Friday and would need to be recalled if Ward's injunction was not dealt with more swiftly. The NSW premier, Chris Minns, has made it clear he wants Ward to resign – or the government would remove him via an expulsion motion. 'We've got a week of parliament to sit, and I think that most people would appreciate, it's an unconscionable situation to have someone who's currently sitting in jail in Silverwater, convicted of serious sexual offences, who is demanding to remain a member of parliament and continue to be paid,' Minns told 2GB radio on Tuesday. Sign up to Morning Mail Our Australian morning briefing breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Ward's conviction has plunged the NSW parliament into uncharted territory. As an independent member, he has not been under the usual pressure to resign from a political party. Therefore, the parliament is having to rely on a little-used inherent power to protect itself if the conduct of a member would damage the integrity of the parliament and endanger its proper functioning. The government had planned to begin moves to expel him on Tuersday with a vote expected on Wednesday. The opposition leader, Mark Speakman, said the Coalition would support the government seeking Ward's expulsion. 'Every day he clings to his seat from a jail cell, taxpayers are footing the bill, and the people of Kiama are left voiceless. It's not just wrong, it's offensive,' Speakman said on Tuesday. In 2021, Ward left the Liberal party and moved to the crossbench after identifying himself as the state MP under investigation by the child abuse and sex crimes squad of the NSW police force. When charges were laid in March 2022, the then NSW premier, Dominic Perrottet, called for his resignation. Later that month, Ward was suspended after a motion unanimously passed the Legislative Assembly. In August 2022, Ward was committed to stand trial. But Ward's voters in the south coast state seat of Kiama re-elected him in March 2023 and he returned to Macquarie Street.
