Key Points
- Fatima Payman used slang terms in a speech addressing young Australians.
- The WA senator also referred to Twitch streamers in her speech.
- She added young people were engaged with politics.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s government was told to just “put the fries in the bag” and accused of being “yapaholics”, in a parliamentary speech delivered in Gen Alpha and Gen Z slang.
Fatima Payman addressed the Senate and called Albanese the “CEO of Ohio” in a two-minute speech littered with terms typically only used by people under the age of 25.
The senator estimates she used at least seven phrases never recorded in the Hansard before, the parliamentary transcripts or records of parliament.
It drew laughter from the Senate, but what did it mean and why use the slang?
A rough translation of the speech that Fatima Payman delivered.
What did Fatima Payman say?
, Payman called the federal government “capaholics”, a term loosely translated as liars, adding they talk a lot more than they act.
She delivered the scathing assessment in language commonly used on TikTok, rather than on the parliamentary floor.
Payman urged the government to stop “yapping”, or talking a lot, and instead “put their fries in the bag lil bro”.
The latter insult is a meme that describes an interaction with someone you once knew at a fast food chain, trying to talk to you or reminisce and you just want them to serve you the food.
But, in the context of the speech, it tells the government to just do its job.
Payman referenced several areas she feels the government is failing in, from the cost of living to the housing crisis.
She summarised it by labelling Albanese the CEO of Ohio, implying he’s doing a bad job.
So what’s behind the speech?
Aged 29, Payman is neither Gen Z or Gen Alpha, but wants to elevate the voices of a demographic whose concerns she feels are being overlooked by the government.
“I think it’s important for us to raise the voices of young people in languages that … they’re familiar with. This is the normal mainstream language that young people communicate with,” she said in a sit-down interview with SBS News.
Parliament’s youngest senator said the government is failing to connect with young voters, who are “disenfranchised by the two major parties”.
“To say that the prime minister feels like he’s the CEO of Ohio just means that sometimes it feels like they’re really disconnected or they’re not bold and brave enough to make those big decisions that especially younger voters, anyone under 35 or 40 years of age, are basically screaming for bolder reform in so many areas,” she said.
Off the back of visiting 12 Western Australian towns in 12 days, Payman said young people were eager to engage with policy matters.
The key issues concerning young voters, according to Payman, included removing indexation on HECS-HELP student loans, housing affordability, job security and doing more in the climate change space.
“Young people are keen to engage with political reform, about learning about how they can get involved in policy making platforms, but we’ve just got to invite them. This place, like it’s the house of the states, it’s the house of the people,” she added.
“So we should be able to talk to our younger generation. There shouldn’t be any discrimination when it comes to younger leaders and voters and citizens.”
