WHILE other teenagers were watching Neighbours or the latest music videos, a 15-year-old Thomas Campbell was tuning into Question Time.
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Parliamentary verbal brawling leaves many viewers bemused but for some unexplained reason it struck a chord with the high school student.
Now 22, Mr Campbell said it was those countless hours in front of the lounge room television that led him to get actively involved in politics.
“My parents said ‘why would you want to watch that?’ but I found it really interesting,” the university student said.
“There’s a lot of theatre when it comes to Parliament. Unfortunately, there’s also a lot of white noise. What attracted me to The Greens was that they were a force in politics in the real world, that they weren’t just focused on the Parliament.”
The son of two teachers, Mr Campbell spent his childhood shifting from one house to the next as his parents moved for work. He reels off a list of the towns he spent his formative years in — from Horsham to Digby, Donald to Rutherglen and a few other places into the bargain.
He graduated from high school five years ago in Melton, worked as a legal secretary then as a youth worker with the Education Department.
“I’d been interested in the power of education for a while but working at getting young people into school and keeping them in school was really engaging work,” Mr Campbell said.
“My contract with the department finished after there were government cutbacks so I decided I wanted to continue to work in the education field. That’s why I looked at becoming a primary teacher.”
Mr Campbell started a primary teaching degree at Deakin University’s Warrnambool campus earlier this year. Although the south-west’s largest city was one of the few Victorian locales he didn’t spend time in as a child, he’s grown to love Warrnambool.
“Whenever I get on the train back to Melbourne, about two hours into the journey I start to realise what I left behind,” he said.
“I’ve made plenty of friends here locally. I’ve worked part-time at Warrnambool Cheese and Butter and Murray Goulburn locally and I catch up (with former colleagues) most Sundays.”
Mr Campbell is one of five candidates running for South West Coast so far, having announced his intention to appear on the ballot paper a few months ago.
Since then, he’s been pounding the footpath and handing out leaflets.
Interaction with the public has proven to be the biggest learning curve for the first-time candidate.
“I wouldn’t call being a candidate easy or hard, but there’s been a few surprises,” Mr Campbell said.
Like the time a few weeks ago when he handed a party flyer to an elderly gentleman on Timor Street.
“He said to me ‘The Greens want to abolish the Australian Defence Force’ and my response was ‘no’ and I explained to him why.
“People get ideas about what we stand for and what we don’t.
“Another thing that’s surprised me is the people my age who aren’t enrolled to vote because they don’t see there’s any point. I’ve been encouraging them to get on the electoral roll.”
Greens Party Warrnam-bool member Jean Christie met Mr Campbell at last year’s Wannon electorate debate hosted at the Lighthouse Theatre. She said she was impressed by his fluid speaking skills and his interest in Greens policy.
“When I heard Tom would be our candidate at the state election, I thought he might be a bit young but he’s shown he can hold his own,” Ms Christie said.
Mr Campbell and Ms Christie agree the likelihood of the Greens winning South West Coast is negligible but they say it’s an opportunity to fly the flag for their cause.
The young candidate met his political idol, former Greens leader Bob Brown, last month and said the veteran environmentalist’s words of encouragement provided a guide to his own political prospects.
“Bob’s a real visionary,” Mr Campbell said.
“I’ve met him twice in the space of a month — once in Geelong and then the other week at Portland.
“He told me that when he first ran for Parliament he only got a few hundred votes, so he just kept trying.”