When Laura Nuttall stood as a candidate, aged 20, for the ACT Greens, she knew she had a non-zero chance of getting elected to the Legislative Assembly.
But the chances were slim. Terribly remote. Nigh on nil. That's the lot of a support candidate.
Then a friend called in November last year. Johnathan Davis, the Greens candidate who won a seat in Brindabella at that election, had resigned from the Assembly after accusations of inappropriate sexual relationships.
By this time, Nuttall was 24 and working for Libraries ACT after a two-year stint in Davis' Assembly office. Her time at the forefront of ACT politics had ended.
"Izzy, my friend called, and was like, 'OK, yeah, you know, you want to sit down for this. There's actually a good chance that if you put your hat in the ring that you would get the seat'," Nuttall says.
"And that was terrifying."
The Legislative Assembly does not hold byelections when members resign from office. The votes that elected the resigning member are recounted and their preferences distributed to determine who will replace them.
Nuttall became the second youngest member of the Legislative Assembly ever elected when, in late November, she was sworn in by the ACT's Chief Justice.
"I realised that of the people that could contest the countback, I was, I think, the youngest. And I think it's really important, when you're looking at representatives, to have people that you feel like can represent you," she says.
"I think we need a really diverse parliament with diverse life experience. I didn't see any sort of young, Gen Z, queer women with ADHD. I was like, well, if I want to see that, it's got to be me right now."
A VILLAIN ORIGIN
The vacant Richardson shops is a short walk from the house where Nuttall grew up with her mother, a teacher.
Nuttall says the graffiti-ridden block was what drove her awareness of the importance and power of local politics.
"It's my villain origin story," Nuttall, a graduate in political science from the Australian National University, jokes.
Nuttall says handing out pamphlets for the Greens at the 2019 federal election in Richardson helped start her journey to the Assembly.
"I've been politically aware and passionate about a lot of the more international and global issues, like climate change and refugee rights, and that's what prompted me to join the Greens in the first place," she says.
"But it was actually even just walking up to hand out how-to-vote [cards] at the Richardson shops ... [that] made me curious about the levers we could pull in an ACT context to ensure that we don't just have this vacant space that could be a real community hub just sitting there.
"I think that one of the first things that contextualised local politics for me was Richardson shops, and I really do hope that we can do something about it ... I think we do need to get something happening and I'd be really curious to actually hear the community's ideas on that."
Nuttall says it is an empowering realisation that ACT politics offers the chance to really change things for Canberrans.
"The big stuff, because it's the stuff that's most widely reported on in the media, you sort of get the headlines, which is like the planet is dying and there's a housing crisis. You know, that'll bum you out a bit. Definitely did for me," she says.
"But as you sort of start to realise that there are more tangible reflections of that and when it is local politics, I think it does feel more accessible."
Nuttall also says she wants younger Canberrans to realise she is accessible to them as a politician. She has already had good engagement from younger constituents getting in touch through messages on Instagram.
"I was too scared to approach my first politician before I started handing out how-to-vote cards in 2019, because I'm like, 'Oh, they're big, important and scary'," she says.
"And it's like, actually, a politician should be the least scary, most approachable person, because they're there to listen to your concerns and champion them. They should be approachable.
"I hope that by virtue of being young, there are less barriers to another young person because they have in the back of their head that I probably get it."
LIMIT TESTING
Nuttall says she made up her mind to contest the countback after reflecting on her time as a staffer for the Greens, which had shown her how the Assembly worked on the inside.
"I knew the Greens team that I was working with and I thought they were phenomenal ... My next thoughts were if it's with that team and it's to, you know, do my bit as part of that team, then that is feeling more doable and actually quite exciting to have that opportunity," she says.
Nuttall acknowledges she isn't the archetypal politician. Hopefully, she agrees, her electorate in Canberra's south comes to see that as a strength.
"I am definitely challenging myself in this role because I'm quite nervous. I get mental blanks. The media terrifies me ... I really am not a public speaker. And I wasn't a debater," she says.
"My best work comes from sitting down in a quiet room where no one can bother me and just writing for a bit. So this has been a big learning curve.
"But I think I see this, then, as an opportunity to make a difference. And that sounds very trite, but to, you know, tangibly do a lot of things that I would have wanted because I would have wanted my career actually to be sort of more in the background."
Nuttall says she has had the time of her life since becoming a member of the Legislative Assembly, but cannot yet say whether she will contest the October election for the Greens.
"I'm kind of limit testing it, right? Like, I don't have a car. I'm currently renting and having to commute. But I think true representation comes from just ordinary people doing the role. And I think everyone's life experience is really valuable," she says.
"So the more diversity of life experiences we can get in the Assembly, the better."
