Big Issues

“We’re Not A Joke”: An Interview With The Founder Of The Apparently Real Gen Z Party

by Ky Stewart  13 December 2023
gen z party australia thomas rex dolan climate strike

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As I was scrolling through X (formerly known as Twitter) I came across a post announcing the establishment of a new political party in Australia called the Gen Z Party. 

The party claims that “the Boomers in government have failed us. Australian Gen Zs have united to create the Gen Z Party, with influencers standing for parliament”. 

My first thought was, “No way this is real. Influencers? They need to be kept far away from politics”. I then read through the expected onslaught of comments from people either supporting the party or tearing it to shreds, mostly over the correct pronunciation of ‘Z’. 

Engrossed, I poured over every detail of the video, their social media and their website. From all accounts it seems like the Gen Z Party is very much real. Their website does give me Young Republican vibes, sorry. However, their policies on climate, free university and education, cancellation of student debt, drug decriminalisation, the housing crisis, and First Nations rights align with Gen Z talking points. What stands out to me as a potential red flag is that the party wants influencers who have more than 10,000 followers on TikTok or Instagram to represent them and stand for parliament. 

I’m a politically motivated, queer and First Nations person who, on the surface, would be enticed into aligning with the Gen Z Party. I would run, but I don’t have 10,000 followers. Much like the party, I am incredibly disillusioned by the major parties we have in Australia. But I tend to be distrustful of political parties in general, so I wasn’t sure what to make of this new one. 

For starters, in their tile for First Nations Issues, they’ve changed the design of our flag, replacing the yellow sun with a yellow ‘Z’. That probably wasn’t the best decision. Our flag isn’t to be tampered with. However, it was somewhat refreshing to read the president’s note saying that he doesn’t have the right to speak for First Nations people as he isn’t one. Many politicians don’t even have that level of awareness — which lead us to the white saviour complex we saw on display throughout the referendum. 

The founder and current president, Thomas Rex Dolan, 19, who refers to himself as “state-school educated Victorian”, has been a target of criticism since the party was announced. The youngest Australian to stand for parliament when he ran for the Victorian lower house for the Democratic Labour Party in 2022, Thomas claims he left the party following a disagreement with its executive (his father, who is the president) over the party’s stance on climate change and other policies. Some of those policies are completely contradictory to those of the Gen Z Party, including wanting to “end all ‘acknowledgement of country’ recitations by government employees”, “end unfair sporting competition by transgender athletes”, “end the cultural Marxists personal pronoun war,” and “oppose the racist ‘Voice to Parliament’”. 

Junkee spoke to Gen Z Party founder and president, Thomas, about the party, its policies and if it is in fact, a real political party. 

Ky Stewart, Junkee: So, is this a real party?

Thomas Dolan: Yes, it completely is. We’re not a registered party yet so that means we need 500 members in Victoria, 750 [in] New South Wales, 500 [in] WA but we are going to be a real party. The whole point of the Gen Z Party is to give Gen Zs a voice and we’re real. We launched yesterday. [It’s a] sort of side project for me. I was annoyed with how the current system is, [so I] created a website, ChatGPT is amazing by the way, spent a couple 100 bucks in ad spend, which got it kick started and it’s just really taken off. We’re aiming to register next year in 2024 once we get 500 Gen Zs in each state. 

What did you use ChatGPT for?

A little bit of web design. 

So the whole point is I looked at the summaries of all the Youth Parliaments we have. That’s vaguely democratic but is good insight into what really matters for Gen Zs. So climate change was a huge one, mental health was a big one but the main cause it seemed was really student debt, and everyone had that housing needs to be reformed. 

I didn’t go to uni. I’m 19 and not in uni so I asked my old high school friends, ‘How could a party help you? What really affects you?’ It was that they still lived with their parents, that university should be free as it was under Gough Whitlam. We’re earning money and with super and tax, we just can’t get ahead. People are still living with their parents [and are] priced out of the housing market. The hypocrisy within the current major established parties is just abhorrent and terrible.

I’m a state school educated Aussie. I was part of a union and used to work at a fish and chip shop. but I can’t speak for all Gen Zs. What I can do is create a platform to elevate the voices of Gen Z. For example, someone reached out to me yesterday and asked what are your policies on LGBTQ rights, as the few rights we have are getting stripped away from us and the government’s ignoring pushes to make things better. I’m a straight white man and I can’t really speak on this, so that’s why I asked them what we can do to help protect and advocate for LGBTQ rights. We’re hoping to receive and push out a plan on the platform next week. 

Why did you start the Gen Z Party? 

My father’s vaguely in politics. He joined the DLP, which is this crazy Christian party and he ended up getting to the top and changing it from its hard right Catholic stance into a more progressive, still family-centric political party. He said, ‘Thomas, we need to run paper candidates, can you run?’ I was like ‘I guess, I’m the youngest Australian to run’. But I said [I’d do it] only if we can reform. We have this new world party and you can really make a difference here. But [there was] no change. The constituency is old boomers, this is fucking ridiculous. So I had quite a barney with my dad about that. He said, ‘If you really care that much about this then start your own party.’ So I created the Gen Z Party and we’ve just gone viral. Piers Morgan wants to interview us and Sky News absolutely hates us.

I’ve seen a few comments referring to the party as data harvesting grifters. What’s your response to that? 

I don’t really know what a grift is and it just doesn’t make any sense. It sounds like ‘What do you say to the guy who sent me a picture of a guy with his head being blown off with a shotgun?’ Which I got, by the way. That was my first death threat. That’s kind of weird. Data harvesting? I don’t really know why they would put that out there. Every party, when they register, as per our Constitution, needs to have your name, contact details and address. That’s the same across all states and every party has that. We’re not data harvesting grifts. That’s just weird.

Will you be running yourself?

Oh god no. I’m not representative of Gen Z. I’m an executive assistant and not the best public speaker. But one thing I can do really well is create websites, run social media, and budget and spend. My whole job is just to manage the running of the party. People want to hear what influencers have to say so I’m not running in the next election. I want to support other people as they stand up for what they believe in and fight for what they think is true and right and needs to be done.

Speaking of influencers, why have you decided that is the best way to represent the party?

Oh, it’s a logical demographic. Influencers share their perspective with the world, right? And people like to hear their perspectives. So you have Gen Z influencers with 10,000, 100,000, a million followers. Gen Z is already in the public sphere, they know how to speak, they’re relatively informed about things that are going on, despite what Sky News says. You don’t have to be a Gen Z influencer to stand for parliament, but we’re encouraging influencers by and large to stand for parliament. That’s a great way for them to fight for what they believe in, to get their name out there and to truly have an impact on Australia with things that really matter to them.

Do you think that certain influencers could potentially misrepresent us if they’re not as politically aware or motivated as other younger people who don’t have 10,000 followers?

Okay, what do you think the prime occupation of ministers of parliament are before they enter politics? They’re lawyers. What’s the average age of MPs when they first enter parliament? Is it 20? No, it’s 44. The current politicians just aren’t representative [of Gen Z]. So what if Gen Z influencers start accepting money from lobby groups like BP like the Liberals do? Well they’re influencers so they have a following and they’ll be cancelled for it. Gen Z influencers, more than lawyers or former bankers, are motivated by self-interest and actually representing their demographic. 

Something that does concern me is that on the website it says that influencers can be from any political persuasion from either the left or right. Do you think that’s really going to work?

I do actually. The left and right dichotomy doesn’t really apply to Gen Z on the core issues that affect us. Really, we want to be able to rent or eventually buy our own homes. We don’t want to be burdened by debt. These are the core issues that matter for all Gen Zs. The influencers across the political spectrum will represent those issues. This set up will actually be more representative because influencers are listening to and acutely aware of the views of their followings.

My concern comes from the fact that, say for instance, I joined the party and I’m politically motivated and I’m Indigenous and I’m queer. There are some people that I know who are Gen Z who don’t think that queer people should have rights. How do you then reconcile with the fact that two people in the party can fight over such fundamental issues?

The way the party is structured, it’s not left to right wing. There are clusters of political identities. I personally, fully support LGBT and Aboriginal rights. I want Gen Z to be a platform for those who believe in a fair, inclusive and equitable Australia. Let’s say for example, a hard right wing influencer like Milo Yiannopoulos comes to the forefront. The way the Constitution is structured is we’d be able to keep them out and not give them a chance to have a seat. There’s still that final say, which is held by the party president, which, for now, is me. So there’d be an element of forbearance, as there is in any other political party, except this way it’s more transparent and more representative.

I want to talk about some of the policies and bigger picture issues. What are your views on rent and housing as it currently stands? What does the Gen Z Party want to change? 

Currently all the legislation is structured to support the Boomers and the Gen Xs. During Turnbull’s government, this was the year I have the data from, the average number of homes MPs owned was 2.3. Politicians as they are now have a vested interest in keeping property prices high because that’s where all their wealth is tied up. They want to keep rental legislation landlord friendly because they are landlords themselves. 

What we need is for the rent price to go down. Property prices need to drop significantly or average wealth needs to increase significantly for Gen Zs. The most concrete thing we can do is strengthen rental legislation, have a strong pro-tenants watchdog to end no-fault eviction, start the legislation to create proper arbitration where tenants can hold abusive landlords accountable. 

What about climate change?

We’re doing everything we can to stop climate change. We think renewables are the future. Australia is a petrostate [and] we have to accept that. Our economy has been made from taking iron ore, uranium, and coal out of the ground and selling it. But the climate is affecting all of us and it’s bigger than just our economy. We need energy abundance if we are to grow as a country and pull ourselves out of this terrible recession we’re currently in. 

The solution is, as advised from COP28, nuclear. We should start focussing on converting coal mines to power plants. Climate change is a huge problem that needs to be addressed. The Gen Z Party, when we get to power, will be supporting the Greens on this. We’re aligned with them on their policies. I think they’re doing great things for the climate. 

How do you think the party can better address the cost of living crisis that we are currently in?

Cancel student debt. That’s one thing you can do [straight away]. How much do you think Albanese paid for his university degree? 

Zero dollars.

Are you happy with that? Why are we in this situation? It’s because we don’t have representation in Parliament. The best thing we can do right now to help Gen Zs and Millennials with the cost of living crisis is to cancel student debts. The next best thing we can do so we can get a foothold in the economy is to severely cut, and then push towards zero, the amount of tax those under 25 have to pay. There was an article earlier today that said that 40 percent of Gen Zs are spending Christmas alone because they can’t afford it and half are using high-interest credit cards. It’s terrible, right? The economy is screwed. 

The conversation that even the announcement of a Gen Z Party created was intense. Do you think that Gen Z is still taken for granted and being listened to? Also, so many people are saying the party is a gimmick for conservatives to make fun of Gen Z. What do you think of that?

We’re not a joke. We’re young, that’s fine, but we have every right to compete in elections. That’s our constitutional right. There was a Youth Parliament survey where one in five young Australians feel disenfranchised and unrepresented by the current political process. We need to fight for our say in Parliament. 

To those who underestimate the Gen Z Party, I’d say, watch out. We’re here, we have the support and we’re coming for parliament. 

Interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Ky is a proud Kamilaroi and Dharug person and writer at Junkee. Follow them on Instagram or on X.

Image credit: Getty