Tell me about yourself.

I’m a social scientist and run a small business. I also founded a community organization that is focused on support for brown, queer people. I’m of Indian heritage, but I’ve spent my whole life in Sydney. My parents came from Singapore and before that, from Delhi.

Do you know who you’re voting for this election?

It would be Labor, the Greens or independents. It would someone on the left. I’m not loyal to a single party. Even the Labor party has moved so much closer to the center than they used to be. It’s hard to stay loyal when they change. I’m basing more on issues and values as opposed to identity.

What do you worry about in the future?

The environment for sure, also the economy. I’m not a believer in capitalism as it exists currently. I’m concerned about sustainability — not sustainability just in terms of environment but socially or health-wise or even work. People are so overworked, we’re under-employed, it’s this constant hustle. How can we go on like this? It feels like we’re transitioning to a space where the systems we’ve set up don’t cater for the realities of today anymore.

Even within the current system we have, there are severe limitations on how much you can actually change. I would love to hear people talk about structural-level change. We need a different value system to go forward. The one we’re using so far cannot take us any further.

Without humans, the economy won’t survive anything. We prioritize the economy over our needs and the needs of our environment. It’s bizarre logic. I’m looking for people who value people, human outcomes and environmental outcomes. We won’t survive without the environment.

What kind of Australia do you want to see?

Someone said to me we’ve been the lucky country which means we haven’t therefore had to be as strategic in some ways because we’ve been so lucky with weather, natural resources and space. I feel like that’s only taken us so far. I would love to see us become a more forward-thinking place. I would like to see us be more aspirational.