Lou Nicholson: The MP, the Netballer, and the Cappuccino (GUEST CHAT)

This week, Lou Nicholson joins me on “The C-Word with Catharine Redden”.

Lou is the newly elected independent member for Finniss in South Australia, the first woman ever elected to the seat, and in this conversation we talk about politics, public life, community, netball, democracy, aging, country towns, cappuccinos, and what people are quietly carrying right now.

Lou first contested the seat in 2022, lost by a narrow margin, then came back in 2026 and won in one of the more unusual election results in South Australian politics.

But this episode isn’t really about political strategy or party talking points. It’s about people.

We talk about:
• growing up as “strong Viking children”
• why democracy is a “doing word”
• whether women in public life still have to perform niceness
• the emotional weight people are carrying
• public transport, aging, and life on the Fleurieu
• why netball matters more than you’d think
• and what it means to represent a community in real life, not just on paper

This is a warm, thoughtful conversation about modern political life, regional South Australia, and the women who quietly step forward and change things.

Content Note
This podcast gets into bodies, panic attacks, trauma, sexism, mental health, and the occasional emotional sinkhole. Please look after yourself only listen when you feel safe to engage with potentially triggering material. 
Also, I swear.

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Credits
Recorded on the lands of the Ramindjeri and Ngarrindjeri peoples.
Sovereignty never ceded.

Recorded & edited at Ridley Farm Studio by Luke Ridley
https://ridleyfarmstudio.com.au...

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Today's conversation is with Lou Nicholson, the independent member for Finis. It's one of those things that doesn't feel like a big deal anymore, women in Parliament, because we're used to seeing women in politics. But it's worth remembering how recent that actually is. South Australia was incredibly progressive in some ways. Women were granted the right to vote and to stand for Parliament in 1894. And we, I believe, were the second uh place on earth to grant women that right. But it still took until 1959 for women to actually be elected into the South Australian Parliament. So the law changed, but it took a lot longer for society and culture to change. And that change and how fast or slow it happened, all of that sits quietly underneath the conversation that Lou and I had today. Because it it wasn't just a conversation about politics. It it's a conversation about community, about care, about family, and about what it actually means to represent people. Not just on paper, but in real life. And what I found most interesting about our conversation is not how she got elected or the struggles that she went through to get there, but how she thinks about people. So here's my conversation with Lou Nicholson. Hello, hello, and welcome to a brand new episode of The C-Word with Catherine Redden. Today I'm joined by Lou Nicholson, the newly elected member for FINIS. Finness was created in 1991, and until this election in 2026, had only ever been represented by men from the same party. Lou is the first woman and the first independent to be elected to the seat.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

Lou, welcome to the pod.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

Thank you so much. It's a pleasure to be here. We're just going to get straight into it. Great. Lou, you contested finished at the last Death Australian election in 2022 and lost by a really small margin. And then in 2026 you came back and won. And I understand that this time it came down to a very small number of votes as well.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

Yes, in a way. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 2:24

Yep. So that must be a really incredible feeling, which I suppose everybody's everybody's talked about. Tell me what that was like.

SPEAKER_01 2:31

Yeah, thank you. It was, I mean, of course, when you go for something, it's incredible to um have success. So that's been wonderful. But the um the counting of the votes was probably not what I had expected. Um, as you mentioned, in 2022 I ran and the margin was uh really close um in a sort of uh uh two in a in the two-party preferred, but I think I finished third in the primaries in 2022. And I think um having worked really hard over the last four years in between the elections um and kind of I suppose naturally thinking, well, I'm I'm I'm building on a pretty strong base. Um I I hadn't anticipated, I really probably had expected to um finish at least third again. I never really anticipated going backwards. So uh I finished fourth in the primary vote. So that's the number of people who give you number one.

SPEAKER_00 3:33

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 3:34

Um I finished fourth, which I hadn't expected. So it was still when um they start sort of uh excluding the candidate with the lowest number of primary votes, and then it sort of works up and they're um where voters placed their preferences start getting divvied out. So it sort of bumps everyone up. So I was very, very fortunate to kind of be the one that was the recipient of a lot of preferences and just kept getting bumped up, and in the end, um was number one.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

I just want to just pause there for a second, and because we've got quite I've got quite a lot of international listeners about the preferences. It can be confusing, but just know it's how we do it.

SPEAKER_01 4:15

Yeah, yeah. So we've got a preferential voting system. Um, and we won't go into exploring why this is not that part. But essentially, yeah, it's unusual, very unusual to finish fourth with your primary vote and then receive the preferences to get up to number one. Um, and and not what I not not what I had expected. I certainly went in hoping um to be successful. Um, and and I'm so grateful and excited um to be successful. But yeah, it was in quite an unusual way.

SPEAKER_00 4:44

Yeah, that is unusual. So before politics, before campaigning and before parliament, what were you like as a little girl?

SPEAKER_01 4:52

Oh my gosh, as a little girl. Well, mum tells me that I was very sweet. Right. But that's positive. My mother wouldn't say that about me. Um, mum tells me I was a very sweet little girl. I think I was quite um meek. I do remember mum often kind of prompting me and saying, Yeah, you know, you can stand up for yourself when you need to. Um, I'm an identical twin. So as a little girl, you know, we were a pigeon pair, so there was always two of us. Um, and I think my my sister and I are um obviously we look very similar and there are lots of similarities, but we we definitely have a fairly different temperament. Um, so yeah, I think I was always the sort of meeker, milder, milder one.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

Yeah. So that's I didn't know that you were an identical twin. Clearly, I've done my research. So I'm always interested in the women people grow up around because I think that women inherit possibility from other women. And what kind what kinds of women did you grow did you grow up around?

SPEAKER_01 5:57

I grew up around really warm, maternal women um with a healthy sprinkling of wild, charismatic, do it your own way. Crazy auntie. Yeah. Um I probably more uh friends' parents were the were the women in my life that showed me um, you know, that you can be really assertive and you can get angry about things and um you you can be really charismatic. Mum um herself is a really kind, warm, nurturing mum. Um and my nana, um, I grew up in New Zealand, uh, so with my on my with my dad's side of the family. So we didn't grow up um in our early years knowing Mum's side of the family very well. That was later. Uh so my early years were informed by my dad's side of the family, and um they were Norwegian. Okay. So my nana um had a her name was Ingeborg, and she had a strong, you know, strong accent, and she was this beautiful um small Norwegian um woman who was the matriarch of the family, and she was just so adored by everybody. Uh, and she was the soother, you know, she she had four boys um who were all fishermen and her strong husband, and she was just adored by all of them, and she was the she kept ever, you know, she was surrounded by very, very strong men.

SPEAKER_00 7:31

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 7:32

Um, and she was the this beautiful, gentle soother that they all sort of went to and adored. And I suppose um, you know, the the women who have informed my life are really important, but I can equally say that growing up, um probably what's had a huge impact on who I am is are my uncles and my dad and my uncles because they were four, yeah. As I said, four men and they all were strong characters. They had a family um fishing company. They were Norwegian.

SPEAKER_00 8:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:06

Um so our our like a lot of and and that was only we only had one side of the family, so I didn't have a balancing out when my early years it was all dad's family. Yes, they were they were um bangers on the table, you know, like making a point very strong. Yeah, and um I can fully recognise that this is it's funny to say, um I'm just gonna say it.

SPEAKER_00 8:30

Gonna say it.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

So we were raised with um banging on the table and um being told that we are strong Viking children.

SPEAKER_00 8:39

Oh, I love that.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

So it was always you are Viking children, you are, you know, and our Norwegian heritage was really sort of um shared greatly with us. Um, not language, unfortunately, that would have been really nice, but um uh yeah, just a really, really strong um presence of a um just strength, and that's how we were raised, kind of that you're a part of this. And we only had so of all the cousins that we were lots of girls and two boys. So the girls were kind of equally included as you are, you know.

SPEAKER_00 9:12

So there wasn't a separation between no you're a strong Viking boy. No, it's a you're a strong Viking.

SPEAKER_01 9:18

That's really yeah, you're a strong Viking and part of this family, you're a gents and yeah. It was very so there was a lot of um kind of family um uh belonging. And um, yeah, I suppose I think I think now I can, you know, when you rate when you grow up, it that's just your normal, you don't know any different. But now I can see that's probably not like terribly normal. Um normal, it's not it's not typical, it's probably not typical, it's not the typical. Um a lot of people would have that wonderful experience of having culture and things like that. And I don't know if I'd call this culture it was well no, I think I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 9:58

I mean, I think for me, I grew up in the Maui, and I always knew, like our saying was you've got to be tough to grow up in the Maui. And I grew up with that belief. Oh, and that's the sense of belonging too.

SPEAKER_01 10:09

You grew up in the Maui, you've got to be tough.

SPEAKER_00 10:12

Yeah, well, we just knew that you had to be. We were not, we it was marginalized farming country, not like the glorious flurio. It's glorious here, it is glorious here. So, Lou, what actually pushed you into becoming an independent in public life?

SPEAKER_01 10:30

Uh, for me, being an independent just um was a really positive way of representing a community because it means that you don't have um, you know, sort of a political party infrastructure um around you and which can, I believe, just sort of uh create some barriers to being able to represent your whole community because you've got, you know, a really um significant, kind of strongly identified uh voter base and and perhaps set of priorities. Uh whereas if you're an independent, you can really kind of engage with your whole community wholeheartedly, whether they are in your party, in an opposition party, or not in a party at all. Um, and to me, that's really important because uh it means that um any uh any view or conversation or uh priority or perspective that the community brings to you, you can be really open to hearing it and um and and discussing that with the whole community. And I think um, you know, I certainly had an experience where uh it felt and appeared that um, you know, the priority was to sort of uh focus on one part of the community only that was um aligned with a party perspective and identity. Um and I, yeah, so I really, I really do feel passionately about how independence can represent the community as a whole.

SPEAKER_00 12:04

So I I mean I think Lou, I've had the experience, I was in really interested in politics as a child. In fact, my school report when I was in about grade two talks about how I used to love to discuss politics with my classmates. But I think as I've got older, I've realized that your idea of democracy and how we live our life can be quite different. And so it sounds to me like you're saying as an independent, you've got more bandwidth to help people with different issues that they might be facing.

SPEAKER_01 12:36

Yeah, very much. I you know, I see our parliament in South Australia as this wonderful opportunity to have um in the lower house 47 representatives of 47 distinct geographical locations within our state coming together to debate and have that um incredible challenge of ideas to uh build um the decisions that are going to you know create incredible outcomes for us as a whole. Uh and I think you know, your comment around democracy being quite different to perhaps our experience or the reality in our day-to-day lives. Um, from my perspective, I just think that politics can get in the way of democracy. And, you know, there's no perfect democracy. It is a very fluid thing. We're always working on it. I actually have a little mantra or phrase that I often say to myself that democracy is a doing word. Um, and I think it kind of probably comes from my OT background where I think you, you know, we really have to remember, um, each and every one of us, that democracy relies on participation. It's not abstract, it's not away from us. It is something that we have to do.

SPEAKER_00 13:53

Yeah, I love that democracy as a doing word. Lou, tell me, do people tell MPs things they wouldn't tell almost anyone else?

SPEAKER_01 14:03

Hmm, I think, you know, they certainly share this my experience, and it's a really I'm really grateful for this people um very openly share what um is happening for them and and the depths of um an experience that they've had, they really kind of share it all because that's important. That's important for me to understand their lived experience of an issue so that I can appropriately represent it. Um and I I'm so grateful for that that people are very open to share what's happening for them. Um I certainly hope that I'm not the only one that they get to share that with. It's important that people, you know, are able to have support within their own lives to uh, you know, share and um have uh somebody else kind of carry the load with them because so many people in you know in so many ways have different experiences in the world and and you need support around you. But um yeah, I don't think necessarily that they share things that they wouldn't share with others, and I hope that they share things that they tell me with others too, because sometimes it's a bit heavy.

SPEAKER_00 15:12

So this this is carrying on from that and might be a bit of a big question, but what kinds of things do you think people are quietly carrying right now? And I know it's I know that's a because we are a you know an electorate of 70, I don't know how many. We're all carrying different things, but are there and I also am aware that you've been an MP for a really short time. So, but what what kind of things do you think people are carrying with them?

SPEAKER_01 15:40

Uh I think people are are carrying um a deep sense of despair and potentially um hopelessness or um around the state of the world, yeah, around um this sort of uh um omni-crisis that continues to roll from one to another, and um you know, having an older population, I think people um naturally think about how the world was when they were um, you know, younger or when they were raising their family, and they look around and see what the world is like now, and they think what's it going to be like in the future, and particularly when we've got um so much happening in the news and and the news is so um constant and um present in our day-to-day life. I I think people are are carrying and and tolerating and bearing quite a um quite a heavy load of um worry. Yeah um I think people, particularly in our community, are um experiencing and and probably you know very quietly um a sense of worry about aging.

SPEAKER_00 16:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:55

Worry about um who's going how am I going to manage um this thing or that thing. Um, you know, in the next five years as I get into, you know, towards my 80s or my 90s. Um what how am I going to get on when I can't drive anymore? Um, you know, I recognize I'm um finding it harder to drive. Um my confidence is lower or um my sight is going and things like that. So how you know I think that's a well I know that's a really deep um concern and things that people um probably worry about a lot without necessarily expressing it.

SPEAKER_00 17:33

Yeah, it's I think in in our community in particular, and again for those listening outside the Fluoro Peninsula, it is an older community. Yes. Um and it's definitely my my parents live in the community as well, and they will not like me saying this, and we debate this term all the time, but they are elderly, mum and dad. And so I say that with great love and affection. Um, but so you know, looking at the services available to them and I think driving is a big one actually. Yeah, I mean, I actually didn't intend for this to be what's going on in the Fleur, but you know, as someone who's lived here for a little while and I caught public transport for a little while around the area, it's uh it's a journey. Yeah. Catching public transport down here. Um, shout out to all the bus drivers. They're absolutely amazing and um really incredible humans. The bus drivers I encountered were kind, really kind. I can't think of another word for killing.

SPEAKER_01 18:41

Yeah, I see them as very helpful, enthusiastic, yeah. Very um, very and and I think that's it's really difficult when we're talking about public transport down here because it's never criticizing the current service, um, the service providers, the drivers, it's you know, we're we're kind of um talking about the the the need for it to, you know, potentially just be uh greater to meet our current needs. But yeah, exactly. There's current drivers and um the services is incredible. For the for the most part, there's yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:12

So speaking of um performing kindness in public, do you think women in public life, and I guess I'm not just meaning um our elected members of parliament, but women in public life in general, do you think um that we still have to perform niceness differently to men?

SPEAKER_01 19:32

Um I it's a good question. I think, you know, there's definitely a sense of um, you know, uh traditional roles for men and women that that persists. That's um that's not controversial. But uh, you know, I think it's up to us, you know, each generation to kind of well, no, it's not up to us, it naturally it is up to us, unfortunately. Each generation has a role in moulding what it is to be a woman or a man.

SPEAKER_00 20:06

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

Um, and that is a constantly evolving um thing, and that's you know, kind of um, social science. Uh so I think, you know, how we're going now, I think um, you know, we know um as women of this generation that the the generations before us have done so much to get us to where we are today. And you don't have to go back in history um very far at all to be able to uh point to really stark contrasts in um what it is to be a woman in this modern world and what it was. So uh remind me of the question again, so that I'm staying.

SPEAKER_00 20:51

The question was do women in public life still have to perform niceness differently than men?

SPEAKER_01 20:56

So I think um specifically answering the question, no, we don't have to. No, we don't have to. Do we? Probably, yeah. But I feel um I feel confident in being able to say no, we don't have to, and that that is um no longer going to be so as prohibitive as it has been in the past to being able to succeed and be accepted in in our society currently. But do we? Yes, absolutely. Um, and I think you know, it comes that's a personal journey. We're all on a personal journey, and um, you know, I came from quite a traditional family, so um I probably am quite, you know, very nice and kind. Um, and that's just part of who I am. It's hard to kind of snap out of how you've been raised and and what your experiences are, but I really love you know my experience of of growing up as a woman. Um, in this love that I want to be a strong Viking. It's certainly not. not how I would describe myself now, but it's sort of this is a kind of yeah part of my I'm gonna describe you forever. It's um it's it's something that I've had and and so many women can talk about incredible um uh women that they've had in their lives yeah who have helped them um come out of their shell a little bit or or evolve a little bit from what uh you know might uh have been an underlying kind of you know girls will be like this and boys will be like that um uh that's has been part of the air we breathe that's been a really natural thing um and yet you kind of have these strong women and you go oh my gosh you know I haven't seen that before uh I could I could speak my mind like that as well or I could I could um yeah I could I could get up and give a very boisterous speech or I can say no um and those experiences and exposure to women like that those kind of this pioneering um leading women who um you know in the past wore trousers you know like these things have such a significant impact and you go oh my gosh well that's broken down um or lessened a barrier for me going well I could do that too so um it is really important that we uh are continuing to um you know push push barriers that are there because it's helping um generations below us and younger women can I also say and just add to that how I have really enjoyed that um there actually hasn't been all that much of a fuss about me being the first woman to represent finis and I to me I think that's kind of progress because it's just so normal that a woman is represented is the sense that I get that um we don't think twice. Of course a woman is represented is representing finis and has been elected. It's um that's really normal now so I really love that and I love that you know what that means for um young women looking at politics and yeah there's no we're sort of moving out and beyond that kind of wow a woman did this yeah I I absolutely agree I think I'm just gonna say it I think as not I think that it's not seen as controversial by men is really important.

SPEAKER_00 24:34

I've uh spoken to quite a few people who voted for you and there are a lot of us out there and I've been pleasantly surprised and this is my own bias but pleasantly surprised by the amount of men that I would consider pretty conservative in their politics who had no hesitation in voting for you. Yeah and I think but I also think it is worth saying and I've actually got some notes here so I'm gonna get the dates right remembering that South Australia actually was um the second place to grant women voting rights and that was in 1894. I also want to say on that point that they didn't grant all women voting rights. It was just white women not Aboriginal women or men at that time but it wasn't until it wasn't until 1959 that the first women were elected to parliament. So that's a 65 year gap between when they were able to and when it did happen. So I suppose um I I love that it's just business as usual for us to appoint anyone of any gender. Yes um I I absolutely love that um but I do think it's worth reflecting on how how we've got here and being I'm just appreciative for it.

SPEAKER_01 26:00

I agree and I you know I think um that's something that South Australia is really proud of that not only did we give women the vote but at the same time we gave women the right to stand.

SPEAKER_00 26:10

Yes and that was different to New Zealand I think who had gave I I'm not sure about this but I think women gave New Zealand gave women the right to vote but not the right to stand.

SPEAKER_01 26:19

It's so interesting in it is yeah I mean just looking up as we're talking about when we did give Indigenous women the right to to vote because I would probably feel like it was in the 70s when it when it became oh in the constitution.

SPEAKER_00 26:34

Yeah yeah what is the difference between being known as Lou from Netball versus Lou the MP oh good question.

SPEAKER_01 26:42

I really love I love my netball um I only went back to netball last year and coming into the election this year I said to a friend oh I don't you know I don't think I'll sign up this year because I just don't know what the year is going to bring and she said Lou if you get elected um you'll need netball more than ever um it's going to be you know just that time for you to um unwind and and she was right um I'm so glad that I did sign up and um when I go I've got a lovely netball team and and I'm um you know I'm just one of the girls and um sometimes I think oh should I I wonder if I should be you know a little bit more professional but I'm not just I'm just one of the girls which is really nice. But you know I I know for uh so many people in um public life who who have the privilege of being elected to to various roles in in all levels of government it is really important to uh maintain those personal connections and spaces where you're not um you're not your role because uh you know every single person who is elected is human um and and it is you know obviously a deep deep privilege but um it can be uh heavy and hard work it's hard work but I you know probably being um no I know not probably being early in it I I hope and expect to love this the whole way through um my elected journey however long that may be I love having conversations in the street in the supermarket at the hairdresser um I genuinely love it I never feel some people say to me oh you must be so sick of talking about politics I say no or you must be so sick of hearing about you know my concerns no I'm not it's I and I think it's part of um you know when I first ran in 2022 I was really kind of like fired up like we've got to um uh make this seat marginal and and um I read an amazing book it's called Kathy Goes to Canberra and she talks about the idea that when people run uh it's often because of because of three reasons you're pissed off you are passionate or you're looking for power um and I was definitely pissed off in 2022 I was really like this is not good enough you know we've got to um our community will be um will really benefit from this seat being a marginal seat and we need good competition um whereas in 2026 um you know that really um developed into passion because I realized that I really love it and as I said earlier in the conversation I never imagined a life in politics and the reason I'm here is because I had the opportunity to to um uh be pulled into this world that I realize I I I actually love and I love it it to the point where you know I've completely pivoted my life towards it. So I love those conversations and I never yeah I'm I'm happy to be um mum you know I've got my three girls and I'm often having conversations while you know trying to pull them into line and answer their questions at the same time and people in our community are so understanding of that and respectful and and happy to say hi to the girls as well and recognize that you know I'm I'm talking to them but I've got my kids with me and or um in my netball dress or um at the hairdresser whatever people are um well we've got a wonderful community and it's really lovely. I think um for me it's ideal that that it's a blend that it's not differentiated but you know I'm on or I'm off I'm happy to be on because I know our community is happy for me to to be the MP and netballer or the MP and mum.

SPEAKER_00 30:34

I I think I think that's amazing that because I that is not certainly not a job I could do. How about you Luke? No Luke says no so I really admire that and I wanted to just reiterate that I've had a family member who was a senator and I can tell you that politicians by and large are hardworking individuals and I may lose half my listenership for saying that but I I believe that you know it is it's a very hard job and I really am very impressed by what you're doing for my community. Thank you. I'm just gonna ask you a couple of quick questions now as we wind down let's wind up and this is my favorite one because you and I visit the same coffee shop and I'm gonna give them a plug uh deGrute coffee in Port Elliot is the best coffee in Australia and legend Luke's raising his fist too shout out to Bernie and Trev and the whole team I can list them all by name but we'll be here for a while what's your coffee order?

SPEAKER_01 31:36

Oh my coffee order is just a cappuccino all right plain milk any milk I I'm happy with um uh plant-based milks um but I'm happy with the dairy milk too um you don't have to be like that on here if you like dairy say dairy do you know well do you know do you know I have um Sam and I were vegetarian for a really long time and we even dipped into vegan and as I mentioned to Luke on the way in here I'm a sucker for babies so there's a baby cow and I you know I slow my car down even even more so I I do have a deep moral conflict around drinking um dairy milk I do I but I I kind of appreciate that yeah I kind of um I live with that I live with that inner turmoil I'm currently not vegan I'm yeah actually funny story we um one of our little girls Lily uh we we raised them vegetarian um but we're very flexible you know if there's meat available absolutely want them to try it um but early on she would have sort of green smoothies and and I felt confident I was getting all the you know um substituting what what what she wasn't getting in meat and then she's you know as kids do they become fussy and she stopped drinking my green smoothies and my spinach this and that um and I was feeding the cat horrible cat food and she leaned over and she said Mum what is that it looks so good okay yeah we we need some meat so we've um we've we've we've become a meat eating family and we have been for a long time now and and um and all in you know not just a little bit we're all in meat eaters and and dairy but um certainly yeah that's a that's a um an ongoing thing for me so yep any milk um but I have to say I'm very prone to a mocker. I'm a sweet tooth so you know if I'm feeling like treating myself I'll just ask for that chocolate in it.

SPEAKER_00 33:30

I can't calm it a mocker like I just it's not something I've ever been out of get my head around oh it's so good I'm I'm a chocolate person so tell me do you have any deeply uncool hobbies?

SPEAKER_01 33:45

Hmm I think they're cool tell me about the coolest hobby you've got like cool hobbies um uh piano yeah sewing um is that it oh I love yeah I'm very I'm very visual person okay I love anything visual so um you know in the future do you know I didn't I identify as a weaver although I'm not but I just inner with the fronds the palm fronds or do you mean like no like a um like a weaving frame and the and the sort of yeah all the textiles aloom yeah so I it's pretty funny I I feel this inner kind of identity as a weaver although I've only ever done it like quick quickly not not to any um great extent so I just feel like that's in my future my great grandmother was a master weaver um and do you have any of her work? I do I do and I just feel like that's in my future but and I just love the the way that you can kind of weave colours together um very I love colour so I feel like I'm a very crafty person which is cool um but I'm not sort of currently doing it very much. Because you have other things on some other things a few other things what's the most country thing you've seen recently uh it was probably earlier in the year around sort of January February um there are really big tractors going up and down Waterport Road and you know it's a busy road there are lots of people commuting um across the south coast and I love that you know our community recognized the um the deep importance um of the work our farmers do and we you know we just give them lots of space to to do their work um and that's just a part of country life.

SPEAKER_00 35:36

I I love that too when when I started house sitting I remember driving across the hay plain and I just felt so at home seeing tractors and harvesters and sorry dad headers and you know sheep crossing and that's something I love about rural life as well is just having that connection to nature is a wanky way of saying it but that connection to not not just nine to five offers it's the land and it's the seasons and it it is it's amazing down here.

SPEAKER_01 36:11

Yeah it's a vibe. You know you do you get to see um what's happening in the paddocks and and on the land through the different seasons and um as I have mentioned and I'm not shy to mention again I just love baby animals so I always notice you know when it's carving season and um yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:30

That's really lovely.

SPEAKER_01 36:32

What gives you hope right now Lou do you know what gives me hope is um some reading that I've been doing and really enjoying on um sort of philosophy and and looking back at kind of historical um documents and literature and what gives me hope is that even hundreds and hundreds of years ago people were worried about um young you know young people and and what the future was going to be for them hundreds of years ago. And then I think okay well we we feel like that today but for the most part we're okay. And there's been so much progress that has made our lives um better and um you know rich and um connected and I think um it kind of gives me a sense of hope that it's natural to worry about the way things are and that's you know um not just a result of the things that are happening today. It was happening hundreds of years ago and we're okay. So in hundreds of years I hope um that people will be still be okay.

SPEAKER_00 37:38

Yeah that's really lovely. Yeah I I think that too I think that I mean I've got a view about the media and um our atten they know that our attention stays longer if we're angry and that um it's not such a hopeful way to end on. But I I'm I don't watch much news anymore because I'm gonna sound like an old person now but I feel like the news has changed as as to what it used to be. And I don't want my days to be full of fear and worry. And I really don't like some news outlets that I believe prey on perhaps older people who've got a bit more time. And those news outlets know that the angrier and more scared you are the more you're going to watch their content. And so my yeah because I'm a hopeful person as well and I feel really privileged to live in this part of Australia in Australia at all and yeah I'm I'm really hopeful. I mean but I'm always relatively hopeful.

SPEAKER_01 38:41

There's lots to be hopeful um and and thankful for and you know I always try and contrast um you know what's happening on my phone or computer screen or in the newspaper to what's happening outside my window. Yes yes and I think gosh it seemed you know you could look at what's happening overseas and it is awful and the experiences that um people are going through but you know um you have to uh balance that out with um what's happening for you because you know we have to get through our days with hope and positivity and recognize what we can do and and make sure that we are doing things that make us feel um uh valued and um that we're contributing to to a wonderful society in in the way that we can but while keeping our own well-being as a priority as well and we are lucky on the Fullerio we've always got good coffee great coffee they really need to sponsor this show great coffee great community great great community yeah so my final question is and it's a big one what would you like women listening to this podcast to know well I I would like women to know that um they can do anything that we have um often a a you know pretty unique experience in this world there is there are parts of being a woman that are unique to being a woman that's just a fact yeah and uh that's what this whole podcast is about listen to other episodes yeah yeah uh and you know that that we um that we have community um that you're not alone um and that uh yeah that that you can do anything that you can be anything and that you're not alone I love that blue Nicholson thank you so much for joining me on the C word thank you so much it's been such a pleasure