Selected features: Good Weekend October 22 edition

‘We had nothing to lose, no pride, no ego’: Why these 20-somethings became mayors

Fresh-faced and governing neighbouring Melbourne municipalities, Jasmine Nguyen and Anthony Tran are among the youngest mayors in the country. Does their ascent mark a turning point in local politics? The 20-somethings dearly hope so.

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It’s 5.20pm on a cold June afternoon, and the six-storey Brimbank Community and Civic Centre in Sunshine, in Melbourne’s west, is closing to the public for the day. I walk up the stairs through its silent halls to a large room full of young people, mostly girls aged 13 to 26. Chatty and ethnically diverse, these members of the Brimbank Youth Council are here to meet Jasmine Nguyen, the mayor of Brimbank, who wants to discuss issues related to youth in the area – mental health, employment, leadership roles – with them.

Nguyen bustles in a few minutes later, black robes askew and her big mayoral chain clinking gently. “Oh my gosh, it’s so nice to meet you all!” she exclaims, sitting down at the U-shaped table. “I’m the mayor of Brimbank, but you can call me Jasmine.” The girls giggle, unsure what to make of this small, energetic woman who looks so different from the past mayoral photographs lining the wall.

Nguyen is 25 but looks about 16, and has an intoxicating vibrancy that catches everyone off guard. “Stand up and show us your bling!” a woman at the back calls out. Nguyen duly lifts the gold chain. “It’s real gold, you know!” she says, laughing – 18 carats, in fact. “I’m still waiting to have my initials carved into it.”

She’s about to say something else when she notices the painting of a giant eagle on the window. “Oh my gosh, this is the new Indigenous art that’s just been put up! Wow! It was commissioned by the previous council, but it’s only now been put up. I love it!” (She really does speak in exclamation points.) She turns back around, not missing a beat. “I just want to say how amazing it is that you’re all here, and that I love seeing young people taking such an interest in their community. I want you to know that I support young people, and that I’m always here if you need to ask me anything, if you’d like to come along and see what I do.”

She points to the wall behind her of black and white photographs of previous mayors, a sea of grey hair followed by a single picture of a young Asian woman: Jasmine Nguyen, the 18th mayor of Brimbank. “I want to see many of you up there, too,” she says. “It’s time we got some diversity in leadership.”

Read the full article here.