Ever Wondered What It’s Like to Run as a Young Political Candidate? Meet Fatima Payman

Fatima Payman was pulled along many paths before finding herself running as a WA Labor candidate for the Senate.

Her campaign comes after years of community commitment, having worked as an Electorate Officer and volunteered with multiple community and charity organisations, such as Penny Appeal, the Edmund Rice Centre and the WA Police Muslim Community Advisory Board.

The 27-year-old was studying Anthropology and Sociology at university when her father fell ill with Leukaemia. So instead, Fatima pursued his wish for her to study pharmacology to have a more stable financial future.

After he passed, reality struck Fatima and she realised she needed to seize every moment.

So, that’s exactly what she did.

We chatted to Fatima for our April series about her journey as a young person in politics.

How did you find yourself running as a candidate for the Senate?

My boss tapped me on the shoulder and was like, “You wanna run? You’ll be third on the ticket and there’s probably no chance you’ll win.”

I was like, “sure”. There are two Senators currently going into re-election, so I just thought I’d get some experience and then run again properly someday.

I think the party office did not expect I would just skyrocket. They’d never ran a Senate campaign - the public usually don’t even know who the Senate candidates are.

Now I have about 4,600 likes on my Facebook page. I wanted to utilise the space because the community I represent have not seen themselves on a platform like this. The Muslim and migrant communities see my face on flyers and social media, and they're like, “wow, I can relate to her”, and it almost builds this inevitable trust.

What does it take to run a campaign?

Senate campaigns are not a regular thing—I’m an exception, so I wasn’t given much direction except to focus on the three target seats we have.

My team is composed of just my campaign manager and I.

I was advised to run a social media campaign, go door knocking, make phone calls, and wobble boarding. But I wanted to try other things. It just started off with attending a few events, taking photos, posting them, and they picked up traction. 

I also started ‘Fun Fact Friday with Fatima’. My campaign manager and I picked up that people were curious about who I am. They know what the Labor Party is—they wanna know me.

The public generally perceive politicians as untrustworthy and out of reach. And I think the younger generation want to be able to relate to them. Being able to break down those barriers and say, "hey, I'm the same as you, I still love watching Netflix"—is really important.

What does a day in your life look like?

It's so different every day and I think that's the beauty of it. You just don't know how rapidly your day can change and you have to be prepared to say yes and improvise.

I'm also studying my Masters in Public Policy online. So, it's like uni work, union work and my campaign, and then there's sometimes community events that I'm involved in. Having to juggle all that is quite hectic.

Seeing people with this glimmer of hope in their eyes every time you talk to them is just so empowering. It's what gets me going every day.

Why do you think it’s important for young people to run?

Because we will be the leaders of the future and we come up with the innovative, bright ideas.

Times are changing, we're advancing, but like, why are we 56th in the world for NBN? Where are our bright ideas? Where are our young people?

I love it when young people say, “Oh, I'm just not political”. Do you have an opinion on anything? Then you're political. Politics is not what it seems to be on TV or in movies. It's very grassroots action.

I would really recommend young people putting a hand up, whether it's for local council, local government, running as a councillor, volunteering for your MP’s, attending events, and just being inquisitive.

One of my mentors would always tell me: If you don't put your hand up, somebody who's less competent will.

Do you see yourself doing this as a long-term career?

I think this is my calling.

Now that I've discovered it, I don't ever want to get rid of this feeling. I can be working seven days a week and never feel like it's work because I enjoy what I do.

I want to continue to show the broad Australian communities that you can look different like me, and still contribute to the betterment of our society and our nation. There's just so much beauty in our diversity and strength in our unity.

I think there's a bright future ahead because of the energy of our youth, and the tenacity and drive that they carry is very empowering.

Make sure to read our explainer on voting, and why your vote as a young person really does count. Stay tuned for more content on Student Edge before the federal election.