Senator Lundy is interviewed about her background, interest in ICT, Government 2.0, Canberra and a few personal topics such as her passion for sport. Transcript: Laurie Wilson: Hello and welcome to another edition of viewpoint. Kate Lundy has represented the people of the ACT in the senate for well over a decade. Like many Labor party politicians Senator Lundy made her way up through the union ranks, working as a young woman in the building industry. Along the way she developed a fascination for computing and a passion for the power of the internet. While not widely known outside of Canberra Senator Lundy was recently named among the top twenty-five people around the world who are influencing the role of the internet in politics. Opening Sequence LW: Kate Lundy thank you very much for joining us on viewpoint. You’ve been a Senator now for what, thirteen years, when you look back over that time what have been the highlights? Kate Lundy: Well Laurie it won’t surprise you to know that winning the federal election was a highlight. I think being in opposition for so many of those thirteen years was extremely tough. Election after election Labor were out manoeuvred and defeated at the election so come 2007 it was a very exciting time. LW: Yes, unlike most other Senator’s who represent the states you actually a territory, the ACT and your terms of office are actually different to those of the states. In fact you’ve actually been a Senator from day one of when Labor went into opposition way back in 1996. KL: Look you’re absolutely right. A lot of people don’t realise that our term is exactly the same as the house of reps. The four territory Senators, two from the Northern Territory, two from the ACT have essentially a three year term or thereabouts aligned with the house of reps, so we go to election every time and we also start our term the day after the poll in the same way the house of reps members do. LW: Does that make it harder for you? I mean it’s almost like in a sense you’re a member of the lower house except that you’re not in the lower house. KL: Look, to be honest it feels like that because I often say we are the most accountable Senators because we are elected every three years but sort of all jokes aside my electorate is the ACT. It’s two very large lower house seats, the seat of Canberra and the seat of Fraser combined, but the way I do my work, I think is very much like a house of reps member. We do a lot of constituent work, we make sure our office is very accessible and that constituents are welcome to come in and discuss whatever it is they’d like to discuss with me. So it feels a bit like that. LW: Indeed, unlike most other members of parliament, upper house and lower house you actually live where you work. KL: Well in this regard I think I’m one of the lucky ones. I do get to go home every night and that can’t be said for the vast majority of sitting members when they’re here in Canberra. That’s quite a tough life when you think of the separation from family, so in that sense I do think I’m lucky. I live in north Canberra so it’s about ten minutes from parliament house and I think that’s been essential to have a family and to do my work. LW: Looking back, you actually left school at quite a young age and you took an unusual career path for a young woman. You went into the building industry. KL: Yeah, Look I’m very proud of how I got to parliament, it is a bit different. I did leave school as you say when I was sixteen and started work as a labourer. That was pretty unusual at the time and my job was removing asbestos from public buildings, so it was quite tough, we would wear a lot of protective clothing and in fact Laurie, it was that experience that raised my political consciousness. My focus was on occupational health and safety and arguing to make sure that we did abide by the safety standards associated with removing asbestos and it really underpins how I became a political person. LW: You obviously did end up in politics but the path to that, like many other Labor members was through the union movement, and leadership in the union movement, what motivated you to take that path? KL: Look I think it was ultimately about necessity, my parent weren’t particularly political so my eye opening if you like, or my awareness about the relationship between your experience in the workplace and politics came about on the job and it didn’t take very long to work out that someone made the safety standards, someone made the laws that governed who we worked and how we were able to work and so the connection happened pretty early on. We worked to a code of practice, that code of practice was developed by the government, the government made the policy that set the code of practice. So if you wanted to influence the government policy you needed to be engaged and involved in the first instance through my union, which was part of the negotiating partie