Known as the NSW Senate candidate who yelled at the prime minister, UTS student Emanie Darwiche is determined to bring about political change.
Darwiche berated the PM on Monday at a pre-polling station in south-west Sydney, accusing Anthony Albanese of being “complicit in genocide” and “complicit in every Australian struggling to make ends meet”.
At 20 years old the communications student is running in former Labor Senator Fatima Payman’s party, Australia’s Voice, while balancing full time studies and three jobs.
I want people to stop thinking that we need to work for politicians. Because they work for us. We elected them in that position for them to work for us.
“What led me to Australia’s Voice is growing up in a low-socioeconomic area,” Darwiche said. “Seeing how politics has impacted my parents and my people over the years shaped my political opinions.
“My dad recently had Bell’s palsy and was in short-stay at Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital for three days before they put him into the stroke-neuro ward. So for three days, at the most critical time of my dad’s diagnosis, they left him in short-stay because there’s no beds at Bankstown.
“At my public high school, around seven of us graduated, and out of those seven, only three of us are about to graduate [university] with a degree. What does that say about a Western Sydney school? It’s ridiculous.”
@sbsnews_au Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had an eventful visit to an early polling booth in Sydney where he was heckled by a passing motorist and a candidate for Fatima Payman’s political party. For the latest news, visit @sbsnews_au (link in bio).
Darwiche said there was growing dissatisfaction with the Labor party from traditional supporters and allies, frustrated with its inaction on housing, cost-of-living and the war in Gaza.
“If the Labor party is not doing anything for the area and community that I live in, which has been a safe Labor seat for 20 years, then I can’t align myself with them,” she added.
“Bankstown raised the person that I am today in my values, my morality, my integrity, and to be unapologetically loud in who I am as a person. Especially as someone who is half Aussie and half Lebanese.”
Australia’s Voice was formed in October 2024, a few months after Payman left the Labor party due to its stance on Palestine and criticism of her for voicing opinions on it. According to Payman, it is a party for “everyday Australians” to combat the duopoly.
For Darwiche, seeing Payman cross the floor “changed a lot” for her.
“I want to align myself with a party that is courageous and has that integrity. A party that says, if we’re going to do something, we will do it,” she said.
Darwiche speaking at the launch of ‘Australia’s Voice’. Image by Amelie Zreika
“I think it’s time that people understand that when we elect our politicians, we are electing someone that represents us as constituents and represents our concerns in Canberra.
“So I want people to stop thinking that we need to work for politicians. Because they work for us. We elected them in that position for them to work for us.”
Darwiche has been criticised as being too young for the Senate, which she dismissed as “fear-mongering comment”.
“Most politicians went to university for free, own more than one house, and try to preach that they actually represent you, which is a really big disconnect,” she added.
“Like most youth, I struggle with offloading rent and I struggle with the worries of my HECS, and I also worry if eggs are gonna go up another two or three dollars, or if milk is gonna go up by another dollar, because if that was the case, then realistically, I can’t afford it.
“A lot of people tell me that 20 years ago, they wished they had someone the same age as them representing their struggles now, and here I am trying to give that to their kids and their kids’ kids.”
Main image by Salma Elmubasher.
