I've Joined The Australian Labor Party

For this article, I'm going to talk less about why one should vote for Labor, or join their local Labor branch.

It's an exploration of how myself as a young man in Australia went from the right-wing of politics to now what is considered the centre-left.

My Humble Beginnings

"Men are better than women." — 2019 Denzil.

Being chronically online throughout high school, politically right-wing would influence my outlook on the world.

Some notable names are Steven Crowder, Ben Shapiro, Donald Trump, Pauline Hanson, Mark Latham.

(Large American influence; not good considering I'm Australian)

I would spend hours watching their debates and speeches.

They provide a controversial perspective that was against bureaucracy and government. It was alluring to believe that the people running it were incompetent and idiots.

But, I didn't watch their content for just that.

I had my own personal agenda.

Glued to every word of their conservative rhetoric to help fuel my conquest to defeat any person I engaged in debate at school.

Why would I want to engage in such needless debate?

I liked the attention.

Strip away the political and cultural commentary, I was doing everything to polarise people into giving me that attention of theirs.

But truly, I knew nothing.

I was just regurgitating what was said online to sound intelligent in front of my peers.

By being given this opportunity to to be a person of notoriety at school, I allowed myself to idiolise these influencers for their verbal prowess to became an empty vessel for the conservative/hard-right.

The height of my right-wing phase was wearing a Make America Great Again hat in Grade 10. Loudly being unapologetic for being a Trump supporter.

People were in shock.

Maybe it was the contrast of the MAGA hat being worn by a half-Asian Australian.

But, then in Grade 11-12, I mellowed out.

Maybe it was because Trump lost the 2020 election? I saw that world keeps revolving as government changes hands.

My care for politics turned into apathy.

My new idols were the online gurus like Iman Gadzhi and Andrew Tate. Saying time focussed on politics was a waste of time.

Still influencing me with the remnants of that conservative I inherited,

"The Individual over the Collective."

The Switch

The main person I want to thank for shifting my thoughts and beliefs back to the centre is Jordan Shanks.

Or more famously known as FriendlyJordies.

He's an Australian political commentator and comedian whose YouTube videos helped chip away at my Sky News Murdoch media propaganda.

Living in the Real World

Firstly, graduating from high school.

When your sole job is getting high grades, you find other ways to fill in idle time. And for me, it was watching those online videos of right-wing commentators debate people.

It was only 2025, three years after graduating, when I signed up for Fee-Free TAFE did I start taking notice.

The Labor Party had put forward the program to help up-skill Australians in key industry areas that were projected for job growth, helping develop the nation and removing the cost as a barrier to entry.

And it addresses something the Right tend to harp on about:

Immigration.

This policy also help address immigration with less reliance on importing skilled workers, but focus on up-skilling the current population.

My chosen area was a Diploma of Project Management.

It made me think about how we still need people who build the nation through infrastructure. Housing was the area I was interested in considering we still face this issue of housing supply.

The idea of deriving meaning from my work started to pop its head. Because while I was studying online for my Diploma, I started working at a car dealership as a car salesman.

As much as there was potential to make a shit tonne of money, I just felt I didn't look forward to my job of selling cars to people.

And looking where our country was going, especially with exciting vision of Future Made in Australia and green-tech renewable energy future, I decided to enrol into university.

In the meantime, I now work for a bank under an Enterprise Bargain Agreement that have better pay and working conditions.

My wages are being raised next financial year.

I get to save for retirement with a mandatory nest egg paid by my employer called Superannuation: which helps contribute investment into the economy which helps improve my living standards.

I go to hospital for rhabdomyolysis without paying the bill.

My university tuition is substituted with the Higher Education Loan Program (HELP).

The Labor Party had a direct impact on my life. So, it would be deceitful to say that Government had no effect on my life.

Now, for the exact moment that implanted the idea of joining the Labor Party.

This video came up on my feed.

FriendlyJordies said,

"Go join the Labor Party."

With this all in mind, I was initially hesitant to join.

I wanted to have no loyalty to any one party. Make sure each election that I review each party for what they present to the table.

What would people think of me when they realised I've gone from this ultra-conservative MAGA supporter, to now a member of the centre-left?

But, I took the leap.

I find now it's important to give back to my nation by participating in its politics. Not sit on the sidelines, and make a change.

Because, the connotation of choosing the 'lesser evils' between the two parties is a belief that creates apathy around the real issues that effect people.

I've realised that it naturally creates a more conservative view of government rather than a progressive one.

Change is one of the constants of life. To not realise that government can play a positive influence into people's lives is to fear we remain stagnant with the status quo.

I'm glad I joined.

I will see where this journey takes me.

PS If you live in Townsville and are 14-25 years old, we're trying to start up Young Labor Townsville. We need members. If you are interested, reach out to me on Instagram.