Anasayfa / Australian News / THE STORY OF THE ORANGE CHAIR

Güncelleme: May 12, 2024 09:25

THE STORY OF THE ORANGE CHAIR

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May 12, 2024 09:25

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A Conversation with John Pesutto: Championing Fairness, Hard Work, and Multiculturalism

Interview by. Mustafa YILMAZ

In a bustling corner of Meadows Shopping Centre, amidst the aroma of freshly baked pastries and the chatter of shoppers, I had the privilege of sitting down with John Pesutto, the Victorian Liberal and opposition leader. Accompanied by Evan Mulholland, a fellow member of the Northern Metropolitan, our conversation unfolded at Sweet World shop, offering a sweet backdrop to our discussion on politics, upbringing, and the vision for Victoria’s future.

John Pesutto: ‘My mother and father led me to study law and enter politics’

Throughout our conversation, John Pesutto shared insights into his upbringing, shaped by the hard work and sacrifices of his migrant parents. Born in Traralgon to Italian immigrants, Pesutto’s journey to leadership underscores the values of fairness, opportunity, and resilience. He emphasised the importance of a robust economy that provides jobs and investment opportunities, drawing from his family’s experience in manual labor and the challenges they faced.

Pesutto’s commitment to multiculturalism is deeply personal, rooted in his own heritage and the belief that every individual, regardless of background, deserves equal opportunities. As we delved into his political stance, Pesutto articulated the Liberal Party’s focus on reducing taxes, managing debt, and fostering an environment conducive to investment and growth. However, beyond the political rhetoric, his narrative was one of inclusivity, echoing the diverse fabric of Victoria’s society.

As our conversation came to a close, it was evident that John Pesutto’s journey from a migrant household to political leadership epitomizes the Australian spirit of resilience, aspiration, and inclusivity. His vision for Victoria is one of fairness, where every individual, irrespective of their background, can thrive and contribute to the state’s prosperity. With elections on the horizon, Pesutto’s message resonates not only with his party faithful but with all Victorians aspiring for a brighter future.

Question from MUSTAFA YILMAZ – Can you please explain a little about your family and upbringing?

ANSWER FROM JOHN PESUTTO:

Yeah, so my father was born in Fasato Seralta, which is a village just outside of Cuttanzaro in Calabria, Italy.

Mum was born just on the edges of Cuttanzaro. Dad came over to Australia in 1961.

He came out here on a ship called the Flominia.

Mum came out a couple years, they knew each other and there’s a whole romantic story about how they came out separately but Mum came out and their plan was to get married.

Mum came out on the Galileo Galilei, both stepped off at Port Melbourne at their respective arrivals, settled in Traralgon, dad had set up in Traralgon, like a lot of migrants at those times, worked, how many jobs did they all work at those three or four jobs and whatever it was, they worked, they worked so hard.

One of five kids, we grew up in Traralgon, so that’s the town I was born in. As I said, Mum was a machinist and a shoe factory dad was an electrician, but you know when people ask me why did you become a liberal, it’s because of them, because they came out and they just wanted to work so hard.

And so for me growing up, it was that ethic of hard work of getting an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work, sacrifice for your family, having a dream and pursuing it.

These are all the things because you can be enterprising and you can be aspirational without necessarily being a business person.

My parents weren’t business people, but they were inspiring and they were enterprising.

After the interview, a photo with Sedat Özdemiroğlu, the owner of Sweet World pastry shop in Meadow Heights, and his employee (Tülin).

Question from MUSTAFA YILMAZ – How do you find the participation in the Liberal Party?

ANSWER FROM JOHN PESUTTO:

When you look at our members nowadays, you will be surprised to see that an increasing number of them are tradesmen or people with immigrant background. You will be even more surprised by the average age of the new members coming to the party. Most of the partygoers are under 40 years old. There are women too.

Our party is currently represented in many areas.

THE STORY OF THE ORANGE CHAIR

Question from MUSTAFA YILMAZ: How did you get into politics?

ANSWER FROM JOHN PESUTTO: And so there’s a story I tell which is one of my favourites because it’s part of the reason I’m sitting here to be honest.

I was a bit of a rascal at school when I was growing. And as I got to about 16 or 17, I thought I started to discover politics and government and history and I just took an instant love. So I’m starting to pull my socks up and start studying harder. Anyway, I remember having a chat to my parents and I said, what do you want to do? And I said, I want to wonder how I’d love to go into parliament. And I think I want to study law because a lot of people will go into parliament, study law. You don’t have to study law, but at that time, I thought I want to study law.

THE STORY OF THE ORANGE CHAIR

One of our kids wants to study law. So I had this old chair in this desk that I studied. And my parents went out. Now, I told you before, working class salaries, family and five kids, they went out and spent somewhere between a week and two weeks salary or wages, right? Buying me a really nice orange office chair. I love that chair. And the reason they got it for me was because they saw one of their children wanted to study to do law to go into. And I thought they didn’t understand. They couldn’t help me learn because of their language provisions. Smart people, but they can. They thought, what can we do to help our son? So they went out and spent nearly probably close to two weeks salary, and they bought me that chair. I love that chair. And I did the typical migrant thing. It was a long time ago. But here’s the thing. I did the typical migrant thing. I love that chair so much. I put a cloth over the top. But when I sat in that chair, I felt in powered.

Question from MUSTAFA YILMAZ: How did that chair make you feel?

ANSWER FROM JOHN PESUTTO: And here’s the thing. I have never forgotten that mum and dad bought me that chair because they wanted to put their confidence in me. So when I sat in that chair, I knew I had their backing. They were barricading for me. Now, as it turns out, I went to a small country school, a Catholic school. At that time, it didn’t really send many people to law school or medical school. So I didn’t have any role models to look at. So my mum and dad were at I got in on a second round off at the Melbourne University Law School. I had to work myself silly to get there, but I just got there just on a second round off. I got in the law school. And the reason I say that story, you ask me why I’m a liberal. That story tells you everything. Sacrifice, hard work, commitment, self-belief, aspiration. Think about my parents, the decision they made at the time was, what can we do? We don’t have an education. But if we buy him a chair, join the dots, that helps him. And it did. So that’s why I’m a liberal.

Question from MUSTAFA YILMAZ: What would you recommended the younger generations who are planning to going politics?

ANSWER FROM JOHN PESUTTO:

It’s still a noble profession, I know it gets maligned, but don’t believe any of that, politics is the most noble profession there is, and there’s a sacred trust between the elected representative and the people they represent, that’s what I believe. And so for me, coming from where I’ve come from, I think Evan’s got a probably similar background, for us it’s about, we know how hard it is for people.

Question from MUSTAFA YILMAZ – Coming from a multicultural background do you think that the new generation uses different methods and questions in political elections compared to the older generations?

ANSWER FROM EVAN MULHOLLAND:

I think a lot of people around my age bracket and younger this way has really discovered impact of politics during to pandemic. And there was harsher rules this part of the world everywhere than everywhere else, am much greater police presence this part of the world a health system that wasn’t coping in this part of the world, but was in, say, the eastern parts of the state, and so I think people really switched on to the power of politics, and what politics can do for you in a negative way. It was a really negative way, and we saw a lack of communication from government to multicultural communities in the pandemic, I think that’s a fact, and so I think people reacted negatively to that.

MY: Why did you open your office in Meadow Heights?

ANSWER FROM EVAN MULHOLLAND:

During the pandemic, and in the years since, this area (HUME) had some of the highest amount of deaths during the pandemic, because you have multi-generational families living under the one roof, and so it was really partially impacted.

But where the, you know, I’ve moved my office here for a reason to meadow heights because is a severely neglected suburb on every metric, whether it be associated with economics or otherwise it hasn’t been a looked after.

The roads of clogged, there’s no frequency on the Craigieburn line that matches real well, standards. The public transport is really a poor services in the buses.

Craigieburn Central is the last is the largest shopping centre in the area, but there’s no bus.

From Somerton Road to Dellamore Blvd 1.6km it should be duplicated all the way to Craigieburn Road, because that’s where all the housing is going.

Also, it is the most expensive road duplication in the state.

222 million dollars or 1.6 kilometres, even though they did 6.6 kilometres of duplication of Plenty Road four years ago for 145 million dollars.

Question from MUSTAFA YILMAZ What do you think? Why does it cost so much in Greenvale?

ANSWER FROM EVAN MULHOLLAND:

We’ve been talking about it, so CFMEU. Were on the front page of the Australian Financial Review multiple days in a row for union shenanigans on the Mickleham Road site.

It’s all about waste and mismanagement.

The government has blown out the big bill, there’s over 130 billion dollars of cost buy outs around the state.

That’s huge and a lot of it on the Mickleham Road project or the Craigieburn Road project where you’ve got a CFMEU workforce.

I’m not saying it’s the workers fault, but the CFMEU bosses, you know, been pushing off indigenous labor high firms up to all sorts of stuff on those sides, which is blowing up costs.

People always tell me when they drive past the Craigieburn Road site or the Mickleham Road site, there’s five workers standing around doing nothing and one worker working.

It’s a fact, you know, it’s indisputable.

ANSWER FROM JOHN PESUTTO:

But these are long-term consequences of neglect.

I would argue because Labor’s been in office virtually the entire time since 1999.

So nearly all of the last quarter century has been labelled nearly all over the country.

And these are the consequences of that.

It doesn’t happen overnight.

And I guess the overriding message would be that the Turkish community Labor takes your vote for granted.

What Evan and I and my colleagues want to do, is give not just the Turkish community but everybody living across the world.

A real choice at the next and genuine representation.

We genuinely think there’s a fairness issue in it.

Other parts of the state, particularly together, rather than everything, yet nothing.