Underestimated, sexualised, conversation-changer: What it's like being the youngest person in parliament
The average age of politicians in the last parliament was 52, with fewer than one in four parliamentarians aged 45 or under. By contrast, the median age of the broader Australian population is around 38.
That age disparity was something Senator Fatima Payman felt straight away.
"Imagine walking into a place like Parliament House, where the average age is closer to my dad's than mine, and thinking, 'yeah, I belong here'," Senator Payman told triple j hack.
Elected at 27, Senator Payman was the youngest member of the last session of parliament, otherwise known as the Baby of the House or Senate.
She said there were moments when she felt out of place.
"Like, when my colleagues would reference political events from the '80s or throw names around of people they knew, as if, you know, we all went to school together," Senator Payman said.
Senator Payman's life experiences didn't always align with her colleagues' experiences.
She said being young meant she wasn't afraid to ask tough questions, even of her own side of politics.
"As somebody who wasn't a political 'nepo baby'… I wasn't weighed down by old alliances, old political baggage," she said
Senator Payman left the Labor Party over its stance on the war in Gaza last year, and now represents a political party she founded, Australia's Voice.
The WA senator said her former Labor colleagues constantly "underestimated" her.
"Micromanagement, constant checking in … like, keeping tabs on me. It did feel like, at times, they did not see me as an equal."
She said that feeling of being underestimated got worse when she travelled overseas on international delegations.
"I knew that my presence as the first hijab-wearing young senator made people uncomfortable, and I thought that was OK, because change is meant to be uncomfortable. I wasn't going to dress or speak a certain way just to fit in," she said.
Senator Payman said it was good that more young people were being elected, but she said that major parties must do better at listening to what younger MPs are telling them.
"It's good for us to have a seat at the table, but we also need a microphone. We need our voices to be heard."
Wyatt Roy was elected to the House of Representatives when he was just 20.
He told triple j hack that his age was used against him by his Labor political opponents when he was running his campaign for the LNP in the Queensland seat of Longman in 2010.
"They had a slogan, 'Don't trust a learner in Longman' and every single campaign poster was about my age and pretty horrific ageist abuse, to be honest with you," Mr Roy told hack.
He said voters saw past his age.
"People were very receptive to the idea of doing something differently, of having a long-term vision for the future."
He said it took some time after his election for the gravity of it to sink in.
Mr Roy said his parliamentary colleagues "embraced" him as the youngest person in the corridors of power and often sought out his opinion.
"It gave me opportunities that I think if I was coming in in a more normal way, I would not have been given."
"In some ways, it was an unfair advantage rather than a disadvantage, because my most senior colleagues, who had been around for a long time, recognised that maybe we did have to do things differently."
He said his age made older colleagues realise that long-term problems and decisions had consequences.
"There were many moments where people would look to me and say, 'well, you're the only person in the room who's going to be here when this decision is impacting the country'," Mr Roy said.
Wyatt Roy remains the youngest person ever to be elected to the Australian parliament, breaking a record set by 22-year-old Edwin Corboy back in 1918.
He said he doesn't think he'll hold that record for much longer.
"There are lots of reasons to be pessimistic about politics, but on that, I am actually quite optimistic."
When she was first elected in 2007, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young was the youngest woman ever to be voted in by the Australian public.
That record was broken this year by Labor's Charlotte Walker, who turned 21 on election day; the new session of parliament is expected to be one of the youngest and most diverse ever.
Senator Hanson-Young told triple j hack that being a young woman in parliament nearly 20 years ago meant she "had a target" on her back.
Senator Hanson-Young said being the youngest member of parliament gave her the confidence to push boundaries and try new ways of representing her electorate.
"I was the very first [Australian] politician ever on Twitter," Senator Hanson-Young said of the social media platform that is now known as X.
The experience allowed her to talk to voters more freely, but she said it came with consequences.
"[I was] very much on the frontline of those nasty trolling attacks … and at a time when no one else really recognised that was going on."
Senator Hanson-Young said she experienced sexism and overt sexualisation in her own workplace, too.
At first, she stayed silent. Older female colleagues advised her not to let "the bullies know it's affecting you".
"As a young person, and you're really trying to prove yourself, in a new workplace, and you don't want to be the one who's complaining," Senator Hanson-Young said.
"I learned the hard way that, actually, it doesn't stop … and ignoring it and pretending it's not there doesn't make it better.
In 2018, Senator Hanson-Young sued Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm for defamation over comments he made implying she was a misandrist and hypocrite.
The following year, Senator Hanson-Young was awarded $120,000 in damages, which she donated to two women's groups.
She said the decision to call out bad behaviour sparked a broader conversation about culture in Parliament House.
Reflecting on the early years of her parliamentary career and the situation facing incoming MPs today, Senator Hanson-Young said the culture in parliament had "started to change", and she was hopeful that having more young people in the building would accelerate the momentum.
"My daughter is now 18, and I see how she and her peers speak up for themselves and know where their boundaries are. I think it's healthy for women and I think it's healthy for men and it makes us a better society."
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