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he daughter of a prominent West End-based art critic says she wouldn’t be nearly well equipped enough to fight the good fight of Labor pre-selection if her father hadn’t instilled into her the humble sensibilities most commonly associated with Australia’s working class.
Manila Weatherly (23) says unlike the trustfunded elites that criticise her in the pointless echo chamber of Twitter, she actually knows how hard it is for some people out there.
“My dad, was like, he worked really hard” she says, while talking about her upbringing in the Bohemian inner-city Brisbane suburb.
Manila says her father, Rylance (62) wouldn’t let the fact that he was too opposed to organised religion to send her to private school get in the way of her having a decent education at an equally ranked inner-city selective school just down the road.
She says watching him head out each evening to head to work, to peruse gallery openings, instilled a deep-seated appreciation for the working man, and woman.
“Eventually the Sydney Morning Herald gave him a column when I was about to start high school. But before that, he was having to play one or two gigs a week with his Go-Betweens cover bands… just to pay the bills”
He’d even set up a stall and sell mum’s hand creams and incense at the markets on Sundays… Or work at the front desk at my grandpa’s architecture firm”
“Anything to get by”
With the Australian economic divide now more evident than ever before, Manila says the Labor party needs to embrace their grassroots and penetrate these working class communities that stupidly vote for populists because they have bad educations and are secrety racist.
“It’s not their fault that they are being mislead and voting for the wrong party. All they do is work in factories and watch rugby league”
“It’s time to connect with these people”
“That’s why I’m putting my hand up to run as a Federal Candidate on the outskirts of Ipswich”
“I went for a look at my new electorate yesterday. I reckon I could spend a few months a year living out there. Easy”
