183 Scott Yung On Running For Parliament Why Hes The Right Person To Represent Bennelong

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Scott Young, welcome to Straight Talk, mate.

Mark, awesome to be here. Thank you for the opportunity.

Liberal candidate for Bennelong. So, mate, you're up against it. The odds are probably

in favor of the current Labor sitting member. You've got the media against you.

Unfortunately, the media's sort of rating

Albanese.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Is he much better in terms of his performance as relative to his counterpart, that's Dutton?

It feels to me like everything's against you in Bennelong. How do you feel?

Look, it's not easy. Every day, I count my blessings as well, and the gratitude to be

the Liberal Party's candidate in Bennelong. In saying that, I mean, I certainly enjoy

being the underdog as well. When you're not the local member, and when you're not the

candidate, you don't have as many resources as them. You don't have the office. You don't

have all the staff that they have as well. But can I just say, it's an honor getting out

there. We have a great group of volunteers that believe in not only Liberal Party values,

but I think values such as equal opportunity and long-term prosperity for Australia. And

we've mobilized a lot of people that I think weren't interested in politics before that

are now and see the genuine opportunity to make a difference.

So, well, just explain to me where Bennelong is. Sorry, just explain the seat of Bennelong.

So, let's give me the northern position axis, where it covers, what it covers off. I know

it covers Ryde, but it also covers traditionally Hunters Hill, which is John Howard's seat.

Where does Bennelong cover today with all the new boundaries?

Well, Bennelong, Mark, starts at the very top around Macquarie Park and Eastwood. It

goes through Ryde, North Ryde, West Ryde, down through Putney in Gladesville. And then

now it extends to, after the redistribution last year, through to Hunters Hill, Woolwich,

Langtove, Greenwich, Riverview, and Chatswood, West St. and Leonard's being some of those

suburbs as part of Bennelong now.

Right. And so, if I could just go back a little bit of time, because you don't need to go

back too far with you because you're only 30, I think.

32, Mark.

32, okay. Well, you're the same age as Jimmy. So, you're a young fella, so you don't have

that many years.

30 years to go back on, but Jung's obviously a Chinese surname.

Yes.

So, what's the deal with your parents? Where do they come from?

Mark, Dad's from Hong Kong, Mum's from Shanghai. Dad came here in the 70s, I think he started

school here in primary school when he was nine or 10 years old. And Mum came here in

the late 80s leaving China. And they're both very grateful that Australia has given so

much to them. Growing up, they worked really, really hard. So, my first home was in Papua,

public housing in one of those tall, grey public tenements in Waterloo. And look, I

just saw them working really hard going to Paddy's Market, Flemington in the early hours

at 6, 7am, setting up a stand there and selling children's education books. So, always witnessed

them working extremely hard, just like your father, Mark. And I saw them build that into

a bookshop and then that into a tuition business as well. That's still running by my older

brother in Hurstville today.

So, you said...

So, your Dad being from Hong Kong and your Mum being from Shanghai, does that mean you

speak both Mandarin and Cantonese?

Look, in the beginning, I only spoke Shanghainese and Cantonese. But over the years, I've decided

to also learn a bit more Mandarin, sort of picked up just naturally as well. So, I speak

Mandarin, Cantonese and Shanghainese.

That's all. You speak the three Chinese, let's call them dialects. And because Cantonese

is what they speak in Hong Kong, and Shanghainese is what they speak in Shanghai.

Yes.

And Mandarin is the broader Chinese, China. China's broader national language, Mandarin.

Yes, basically.

Yes.

And your parents, so you lived in one of those housing commission, what we called

Housos when we were kids. One of those Housos places in Waterloo, the apartments, usually,

the apartments. Your Mum and Dad were working at the market selling books, education books.

Yeah, children's education books.

Why that? Why did they pick education books? Why did they pick education books?

Is that what your Dad did when he was in Hong Kong or something?

Yeah. Look, Dad, I think, knew a guy called Jim Koronius, who was actually a great, I

think, publisher of those, a Koronius series. So, many back then would have done some of

their workbooks. I think he was an incredible hard worker as well. So, I think he took Dad

under his wing a little bit. And Dad, before you know it, he was sort of getting my Dad

to distribute a lot of those books. So, my Dad thought maybe it'd be a decent idea to

go to Paddy's Market, Fleming.

Yeah, Paddy's Market, Flemington to start selling those books. And even when we had

the bookshop set up, I think it was in multiple locations, it moved around a lot. That's why,

as a young child, I think we moved around 11 times. But the bookshop started in Lakemba

and-

Oh my, I was stomping around.

Yeah, I rolled stomping around.

Whereabouts in Lakemba? Near the station? Do you remember? You were probably too young

were you?

I wasn't born yet.

You weren't born, okay.

I wasn't born yet. And then it moved around, Mark, to Kingsgrove, to Bardwell Park, and

eventually to Hurstville. But Dad and Mum worked so hard. So, she would be-

Yeah.

Manning the bookshop throughout the weekday. And then Dad would be driving around to as

far as Orange, driving a truck around to take the books to schools to sell to kids at lunch.

So, he'd be driving sometimes three hours there and three hours back just for that one

hour window during lunch to sell books to children. But I think that's how it all started.

As in like a traveling salesman, so to speak?

Absolutely.

Yeah.

Yes.

So, when you buy the books, that just means you've got to have the books in the back of

your truck, and you've got to go to those places.

Yes, that's right.

And pretty much after what you don't eat if you don't sell.

Absolutely, that's right. I remember going to the markets with my Mum and Dad, I think

as a six, seven, eight-year-old. And I'd always ask my Mum, how much did we make at the end

of the day on a Sunday at Paddy's Market, Flemington? And then if it was 300 bucks,

it was a pretty bad day. But if they say 600, it was always good, and we'd go out for a

family meal at a restaurant afterwards.

How many have you got brothers and sisters?

I'm the middle child. I've got an older brother and a younger brother.

Three boys?

Three boys. Gave Mum a lot of havoc, so.

I can imagine. So, you went to school where? Where did you go to school?

I went to school at Sydney Boys High School.

That's high school. What about primary school?

I went to Kingsgrove Primary Public School, Bexley North Public School, and then eventually

Herschel Public School. So, changed schools around a lot. I used to feel really nervous

changing school every time.

Yeah.

But I think looking back, I think with the benefit of hindsight, it allowed me to build

some of those social skills, which I think, and communication skills as well. And I think

they're so important for our next generation as well.

So, you're born here, you've got a full Aussie accent, you're educated here. When you were

a little kid, especially in primary school, were you sort of socially aware that you were

different to the other kids? In other words, was there much of a cohort of Chinese kids,

children from Chinese parents, in the schools you were at?

Yeah, 50-50, Mark. Like, I think at Sydney Boys High, it was a selective public school,

so certainly there was a lot of Asian background kids that were there alongside me. But when

I first started off school in Kingsgrove Public School in Bexley North, it was overall very,

very multicultural, had friends from all backgrounds. At the end of the day, you just think you're

an Aussie like everyone else.

Yeah.

But then you start hitting recess and lunch, and when they're taking out their sandwiches,

you're pulling out all the-

Yeah.

... sort of Chinese food, the rice and the bok choy and the little meat pieces. And you're

eating with a spoon, and they're eating with their hands, and you're thinking, oh, it's

a little bit weird, it's a little bit awkward. And you do want to conform, as any young person

might. So, I started bringing Nutella sandwiches every day to school.

Did you say to mom, make me Nutella sandwiches?

Absolutely. I just felt really awkward to be able to take out all the rice, and everyone's

else is just sitting in their seats, having a sandwich.

So, mom certainly helped with that, took on the feedback. She didn't listen to me much

when I was young, but very grateful in the end. That was the answer.

Probably what was happening then, Scott, was they were probably thinking to themselves,

my God, I wouldn't mind having a taste of what he's having. And instead, you went and

turned out the Nutella sandwiches. They're probably, I don't know, from my point of view,

I'd rather be eating what you're eating. Because I had the same sort of thing going through

school. Like, you know, we often ate food from wherever we cooked the night before,

or whatever was cooked in the house the night before. And it could be anything. It could

be from eggplant to all sorts of things. But my friends at my school, because I went

to a school like HEMBA, but a lot of friends at my school actually wanted something what

I was eating. And I actually found it was a bit weird. I thought, why do you want that?

But I was always happy to share it. It's a funny thing when you're growing up in environments

where not everybody's the same, but young kids want to be the same. You just want to

be the same.

Yeah.

So, what did you do?

Like, apart from, you know, getting Nutella sandwiches, did you start to feel as though

that you conformed with things like sport? Did you start to get really interested in,

say, you know, local sports? Maybe Canterbury, Bankstown, when you were at Bexley, Kingsgrove,

that sort of area. What did you do?

Well, Mark, I know you're a big Roosters fan. And I remember coming up to you at Sydney

Uni as a young 18-year-old. And I said, Mark, I know you're a Roosters fan, but I'm a Dragons

fan, but I'm still a big fan of you.

Yeah, so you're a Dragons fan.

Yeah, St. George, a big St. George supporter. Red V's a part of me. But look, as a young

kid, I was always into it.

I was into footy. Everyone was playing touch, whether it was six on six or, you know, 20

on 20. It'd be good fun.

At school, that is, yeah.

Yeah, at school, even as a young kid. And in high school as well, I was a skinny Asian

kid playing for high, Sydney Boys High. And, you know, we'd be smashed by Joey's 120 to

five, our fourth grade, our first grade, sorry, versus their fourth grade. But always loved

the footy, always enjoyed it. And yeah, loved the footy.

So, you're off to Sydney Boys. That's a progressive school. What do they mean by a

selective school?

A selective school, I should say. That meaning you had to get certain grades to get into

that school. You have to win your way into Sydney High, Sydney Boys High. And the Sydney

Boys High is a GPS school. I think it is, I'm pretty sure it is one of the six or seven

GPS schools. So, it's sort of up there, but there's no school fees. It's free if you get

selected. And, you know, there's this sort of war around the Chinese kids. And, you know,

a lot of Chinese kids seem to outperform the other boys. And I want to ask you, do

you think it's because of a cultural thing within your family or within your community

that someone like you are able to get into Sydney Boys High? It's not because you just,

you don't have to be just bright. You have to know your topics. You have to have learned

stuff. What was the culture in your family such that you ended up at Sydney Boys High?

Look, absolutely, Mark. Like, I think, you know, I think, you know, I think, you know,

I think, you know, I think, you know, I think, you know, I think, you know, I think, you know,

the family business turned from a bookshop into a tuition business. So, my dad personally

tutored a lot of the kids. I was one of his students. So, I can't take it.

Perfect. Yeah, that's right. So, I can't take any

credit for, you know, going to Sydney Boys High. In fact, it's so important for the family

marketing that I do get a good result. I become a testimonial for the, you know, small business

that my parents were running. So, and I think at the end of the day, I think if you put

in the effort to know your topics, to study the questions, you can get a good result.

So, I think at the end of the day, I think if you put in the effort to know your topics,

you can get a good result. I know it's a bit sort of a, you know, juxtaposition, but

I think every Australian child actually should have the opportunity to have a quality tutor.

I think, you know, classroom sizes when they're, whether they're between 20 or 30, it's a lot

of, it's a lot of kids. And I think a lot of kids do that, need that one-to-one support

and or just smaller group classes as well. But unfortunately, not every, not every student

gets the opportunity to do that.

Yeah.

So, I think equality of opportunity through education is extremely important. But I think

going back to your question, a lot of Asian background kids, Chinese, Indian, Koreans,

I think their families really value education as well. So, they obviously put their kids

through a lot of additional learning after school, which I think is a good thing. But

going to Sydney Boys High as well and finishing up, I think with the benefit of hindsight,

I think whilst academic education is important.

I think it's so important that we also teach our kids financial literacy, coding, public

speaking, and life skills, life skills like resilience and teamwork. I think if kids learn

how to work with each other more, when they grow up, they know how to work with each other

better.

It's interesting that, you know, like there's a perception, I think, that the Chinese community

can afford the tuition, when in fact, you're saying to me that, you know, your mom and dad

work their, you know, their proverbial off in their businesses, to build their businesses.

It's not like you're sort of, you know, dripping in gold as a kid. There's probably just as

many boys and girls of Asian background, Indian background, et cetera, who do really well

at school and do really well on HSC and get into university from parents who have nothing,

but just decide that they're going to be successful.

That they're going to sacrifice as much as they can in order just to give their kid or

their children, all their children, a really good education. Education, which gives you

opportunity, sits at the top of the tree when it comes to a lot of cultures. What did you

learn from just watching your parents try their best to get their sons into a better

position than they were relative to when they first come into this country?

What did you learn from that?

Yeah, look, what I say in my mom, for example, she'd work so hard at the bookshop and then

it was a tutoring school after hours as well. She'd finish up at 8 p.m., get home by 8.30.

She'd set me some homework for after school, but I remember even before her having dinner,

she'd sit me down and, you know, go through some of the questions I didn't know. And that was

already between 8.30 to 9.30. She'd do that routinely on most days in the week. And I always

appreciate that about her. And I think that's a really good thing. I think that's a really good

thing about my mom looking back now. It was a bit stressful as a kid, but-

Because you're thinking, I want to go out with my mates.

Yeah, that's-

Or I want to get on, I presume you had the phones around at the time, were there mobile phones?

I think there were mobile phones, but I didn't have one.

You didn't have one, no.

My parents, my mom was a tiger mom. Love her to death, but she's a tiger mom. So look,

I'd always be sort of getting the audit at about 8.30, have you done your homework? Which

questions don't you understand? So mom would always be investing her time, no matter how tired

she was, into ensuring that-

She did her best. And as someone who runs my own education business now, so we do

tutoring and also public speaking for young kids as well. I see a lot of parents come in

and sometimes they don't come from completely financially comfortable positions, but something

that they don't cut back on is their children's education. They're really invested. And that's

why I think every person should have that opportunity. In saying that, I really admire

parents that take time out of their work, whether they run their own business or whether they're

a young professional. They really sit down and they really make that time for their children as

well. And it's not easy. A lot of the parents don't necessarily have an easy relationship with

their kids. I think it's always a challenge to do that, but they always try their best. They sit

down after work to help their children out with literacy and numeracy and even public speaking to

watch their kids rehearse some speeches.

Yes. It seems like your mom, without sort of trying to put you in a situation,

it was relatively speaking uncompromising in relation to what you needed to do in order to

be successful just at school. Whatever you do after, that's up to you to some extent,

but to be successful at school in order to have an opportunity for down the track.

And it looks to me like that uncompromising characteristic may be an important ingredient

for

the future.

Or opportunity to be available to kids. And I wonder if, has any of that rubbed off on you? I

mean, you come across a really nice guy. You're really well presented. And I should declare I've

known this guy for a long, long, long, long, long, long time. In fact, he worked for me.

But as a young man, very young man, probably 12, 10, 12 years ago. I don't know how long ago it

was. It was a long time ago. But one of the things I've noticed about you is, and I'm not here to

give you raps.

Um, but you're uncompromisingly nice, respectful, well-mannered, but at the same time, um, your

content is very good, well-researched or well-rehearsed even. Um, you're very polished.

Do you think that, is that something that you think your mum has sort of instilled upon you,

or is that something you decided to become as a result of watching what your mum tried hard to do?

I think on the well-mannered.

Respectful side, you know, I try to do my best. I think in our sort of Chinese culture,

it's also very important to respect your elders. Um, but I think respect is very,

very important. My mum's very Buddhist. I think, um, it's just important to bring empathy to

everyone, um, whoever they are, uh, in saying that I'm grateful that my mum gave me a lot of grit,

resilience, um, going through those, um, hours of work late at night on the weekend. If I'm not

doing four to six hours of studying, um, you know, I'm in, I'm in, I'm in the shits.

Yeah. So during holiday period too?

Holiday periods, I'd be doing four to six hours, uh, or studying every day. Um, and, um, you know,

that builds a lot of resilience. It builds a lot of concentration. Um, and I think, you know,

I think it's, it's about finding the right balance. So I think children need to be children.

Um, they can have the opportunity and should have the opportunity to play. Um, but at the same time,

I think to have that resilience and to have that grit and to be able to solve problems

and learn how to think, I think is also very, very important.

Learning how to think, meaning what?

Yeah. I think, uh, with a lot of the problem solving questions that I had to go through,

there was a subject called general ability, um, back in the selective schools test, for example.

Um, and they'd ask you questions about which one's the odd one out, um, you know, um, and certain

questions that really sort of strains your thinking. Um, but I always found that looking

back, um, you know, you really have to just concentrate, think about how you think about

things, uh, to solve a problem. And do you think, you're a politician now,

but do you think that you can take any of those things that you've learned from

the efforts that your mother made in relation to your education? If we just zero in on that

and, and also the, any of the things that you observed in or from what your parents,

both parents did in order to get you in a position to do these things that you would

take into politics? Yeah, a hundred percent, Mark. Um, I'm very passionate about education

and I actually think, um,

on top of a quality education at school, parents can make a massive impact. Um, so, you know,

my mom obviously dedicated a lot of time. She familiarized herself as well with some of the

content that I was going through. And our mom, um, doesn't speak English well, she does her best,

but where she can with maths, for example, and some of those, um, puzzle questions that she

could look at with diagrams, um, she'd help, she, she'd do her best to help me. Um, and you know,

what we run in our, um, education business is also now, um,

sharing with parents how to best connect with their kids, how they can play a role with, you know,

their homework and, um, you know, their activities back at home. So I think Australia more broadly,

I think, um, you know, can explore ways where they can help educate the parents to educate

their kids. And I think that makes a big difference because kids go to school, you know,

nine to 3 PM, but outside of that in school holidays as well, I think that's where parents

can make that massive impact. Yeah. And it's a relative impact relative to those people who

aren't doing it because at the end of the day, they're not doing it because they're not doing it.

You know, and one of the things that kills me in this country is that we forget we are,

every one of us competing every single day with everybody else. And I don't mean that in a bad

way, but we are competing. We're competing for share of real estate, for share of voice, for

share of everything, like, and it's, it's a relative game. And a lot of people want to sit

back and complain or want to be the same. Um, and, uh, want us, want us all to be the same.

And some of, and by the way, some of the political parties are about sameness, you know, and to some

extent that sort of verges on socialism.

From my point of view, or even getting closer to communism where we're all the same. Now you're

coming from, your parents come from a country, which is communist country. Um, and, and, and

there are a lot of migrants in this country. In fact, in your, your electorate who have left that

country to come here in order to have a better chance at improving their lot, not, not, they

don't want to be the same. They want the opportunity or they want opportunities from Australia, from

the Australian government.

From the Australian system to make us have a, them have a better life relative to what they would have had back in China. For example, I'm not picking on China in particular, but just for example, how important is that to you and your electorate? How important is that to the people in your electorate?

Well, I think the people in Bennelong, Mark, are aspirational. They want to be able to achieve their goals if they work hard, whether it's putting their children through a quality education, being able to start their own business. And for a lot of young Australians, um, they want to know that what I'm studying now can lead to a better life.

Um, and if they're in university, for example, they're working hard at a cafe, they know that they can save up to buy a home. Um, so I think, um, you know, everyone should have the equal opportunity to get ahead. But I think, um, reward for effort is also equally as important because if you work hard, you deserve to get ahead. That's very, very important. And I think also as well, when we look at it, look at Australia more broadly, I think it's, um, you know, and you're very big on personal development, Mark, and health, um, and all

around that.

Um, but I think for every, for every Australian person, they should be able to reach their potential. And I think you can only reach your potential, um, if you're able to be in an environment where you work, you can grow. It's not about being at home and bludging. Uh, surely, of course, there are a lot of Australians out there who can't help themselves, but, and we need to help them. But, uh, if you have the opportunity to grow, get out there, work hard, um, you know, take work experience if you can't get paid. And I think that is so important.

And so you, you, you, you,

you did the, the, the high school certificate. You went off to university. Where'd you stay at university?

I went to UNSW.

UNSW.

And that's when I first met you, Mark, at the, at the quad, at UNSW.

Yep.

Um, and I came up to you.

The quad being the quadrangle?

The quadrangle.

Yes.

So I came up to you, Mark. I knew you from.

What was I doing out there? Was I doing a talk out there or something? Do you remember?

I think you're an adjunct professor at UNSW, Mark.

Yeah, I am. I am. But was I speaking? Did you hear me speak or something?

I didn't hear you speak. I just saw you from afar. I was about 15 meters away. I was coming out of the quadrangle cafe.

Yeah.

Um, and by then I was already a massive fan of you, um, and, um, a bit of a man crush kind of thing.

Um, and I remember watching a video on you, Mark. Um, it was on YouTube and you were giving a seminar in that video.

And you were talking about confidence building as a young 18, 19 year old where your confidence often fluctuates.

You talked about, um, building confidence by having the right intentions for other people.

So when you think of, um, someone or others beyond yourself, that's when you're confident.

Yeah.

And that's when your confidence grows as well as having that righteous intention. Um, it was one of your videos, Mark.

So I came up to you and I said, oh, Mark, Mark, you know, would I be able to work for you?

And you actually gave me advice that you said, oh, Scott, I think it's better that you actually go work at a big four bank.

You'd learn more. And I said, Mark, you know, um, thank you for your advice.

But one day I'd still love to come back and work for you.

You know, I, I really love the fact that, you know, you're someone who has come from punch bowl, worked so hard, um, build, built wizard home loans, um,

to, and, you know, and you sold it for so much, but it's a testament to your hard work.

Um, and I think so many people out there appreciate your story of hard work and humility as well.

Um, and so I took your advice, went to work at Westpac Bondi beach, um, as a teller, I was terrible at balancing and that probably makes me look bad.

Like I'm bad with money, but I was there for six months and it was actually, then I, um, joined the liberal party and I, um, met a candidate, uh,

called David Coleman, who was on the board of yellow brick road.

Um, and after door knocking about, you know, 2000 homes, I wasn't counting.

Um, I said to David, um, you know, do you know Mark Burris?

He's like, oh yes, I do.

He said, and I said, can you get me a job at, um, yellow brick road?

Um, and so, uh, he called your then CEO up and Matt Lawler, I think.

And, um, I think I was placed in a team and, um, on my first and second day, um, I was tasked to staple, to file and to scan.

I told all my friends, I've got the job.

But yellow brick road, I said, and then, um, but on the third day, I remember my manager telling me that, um, there wasn't a role for me.

And I just said to my manager, well, you know what?

I'd work for free or just work for free nine to five, count me in.

Um, and then they took me on board doing that.

Um, and I was grateful for the work experience.

And before, you know, I was, I wanted to be the world's fastest stapler, filer and scanner for the next eight weeks.

And it was so nice.

Um, you know, um, my manager came up to me afterwards and says, Hey, look, we're actually going to.

Um, pay you for all the work that you've done.

Um, and we're going to have you on board.

And from there, I was so grateful.

I am so grateful to have worked at yellow brick road, uh, for three years and 10 months.

It was one of the greatest.

You worked for Morello, did you, did you work for Andrew, Andrew was there at the time?

Morello is a great guy.

Was he there at the time?

Absolutely.

Um, so he was your head of business development.

So around 2009 or something like this is the period we're talking about.

I think this was 2013.

30.

I, he, he was there for 10 years.

So he started in 2009.

I was just trying to remember that the periods.

Um.

And, and David Coleman, of course, is the member for banks, member for banks, the current

member for banks, actually got a very slim margin to David, very, very slim margin there.

Great.

He's a, uh, a shadow minister for foreign affairs, a great politician, like so dedicated.

He gave away private enterprise, working in private enterprise, and he was a big achiever,

like a very big achiever.

He was at channel nine for a long, long time.

And, um, and, and he just, he's just dedicated his life.

To looking after his constituents, constituency, uh, out of the bank's area completely.

And there must've been a fair bit of, um, inspiration or motivation he got from David.

Yeah.

And I still do Mark.

I think he's, he's someone who's so hardworking.

A piece of advice he gave me when I was a 19 year old door knocking for him is he said,

Scott, I don't know anyone, uh, who's successful that doesn't do a good job a hundred percent of the time.

So I always try to do a good job a hundred percent of the time.

And in fact, um, an incident.

Happened when I was volunteering for him, he asked me to go do something and, um, it, it was meant to only take 10 minutes, but I took 20.

And then he said to me, you know, um, you gotta be efficient.

So I think being efficient, not only just working hard, being efficient, being focused, getting outcomes rather than just putting in the time is extremely important.

Yeah.

And, um, so I forgot about David Coleman and I shouldn't say that because I'm a, I'm a great, I'm a huge fan of David Coleman by the way.

Um, and so you've had some experiences.

David Coleman as well, like, you know, what the hard edge of politics can look like, you know, like, especially trying to get, you know, reelected or in your case, you're trying to get elected, but trying to get reelected and it's, it's sort of down to basics to me, from what I can see, it is about door knocking.

I've been watching your campaign.

Um, it's about being everywhere as much as you possibly can.

As long hours, people want to see you.

They expect it.

Who is Scott Young?

And, um, and that's one of the reasons I got you on the show because people want to know who Scott Young is, you know, you walk around and shake it.

I'm shaking hands with people, but the idea of this show is to be able to show people who individuals are who come on the show and, uh, and people like would like, they want to know your backstory, but you don't get a chance to do that when you're on the huskings trying to, you know, say we'll vote liberal or this is what I stand for.

Or hello, what's your business?

You know, I'm from your local area.

It's hard for you to spend any time with anybody.

Do you think politics is, I don't want to use the word shallow, but it's a little bit, um, ephemeral in that.

You'd never really get an opportunity to convince someone why they should, um, warm to you, as opposed to just being polite and well-mannered and shaking the hand and being prepared to do the work.

Um, they never really know whether or not what Scott Young's values are and, and our values come from how we grow up.

That's right.

Our mom, our dad, the school we went to, um, the university we went to, the influences we had in our life.

And off the back of that.

Yeah.

You know, you get 10 or so values about life.

And you all talked about, you know, people having opportunity.

You were talking about education.

You're talking about hard work.

They're, they're values.

Yeah.

And, and for some reason in this election, we haven't heard about that.

I, you know, I, I know that, you know, the TV stations haven't been getting Scott up there to talk, but their TV stations have been getting up Dutton and they've been getting up Albanese.

They've been getting up, uh, Bant from time to time and, you know, others, you know, uh, you know, Angus Taylor's been up there, et cetera, as has.

Uh, uh, Jim, uh, and Jim Chalmers.

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We'll be scrolling.

We've never, I don't think we at any one stage have heard in a broadcast sense, apart from this show, I think,

but in a broadcast sense, people talk about what their values are.

Where do values sit for you and what are your values, what are some of your values, at least, relative to what voters might be looking for?

Yeah, 100%, Mark.

I mean, just before we talk about values, if it's okay.

Yeah, yeah.

I think politics in Australia, in fact, I think the overall climate can improve.

I think there are so many, as an aspiring representative, I think in our current atmosphere and culture, there is negativity.

The media is constantly watching what you're saying.

And what you're doing, and they could turn it into something that's quite negative, in fact, but at the same time.

And you don't get a chance to defeat it either.

Yeah, because I mean, the media is so big.

That's why they do play such an important role in our democracy.

And in saying that, I mean, for most part, I think politics is positive.

You meet the best people in the community.

But, you know, I've just come from early voting.

And I've got some people and some people who are not.

And some of my opponents, they're volunteers just filming me.

And it's almost like you can't completely share everything.

So that's what I want to bring to politics, to be able to just be myself, put my ideas out there, which is so, so important.

So you're saying like some honesty and openness?

Some honesty and some openness.

And to embrace someone for who they are.

Everyone's got their strengths.

Everyone's got their weaknesses and flaws.

But, you know, this is who I am as a person.

And I think going back to values.

I think what my father showed me was the importance of hard work and grit and resilience.

And I think for mom as well, she taught me the importance of compassion, integrity, and also empathy.

To always be able to put myself in their shoes.

And as a Buddhist as well, you know, one of our sort of core principles is that there is suffering for everyone, no matter who you are.

So it's important to just be able to empathize where their positions are.

And they're largely valuable.

They're values that shape, I think, how I dictate my life.

And I often get asked about a lot of questions as well.

And sometimes if I can't make up my mind about something, I go back to those values.

And I think taking a middle ground is also a very, very good approach.

So what is it like when you're on the road?

So, you know, you're walking through somewhere in your electorate and someone walks up to you and says,

Look, hi, I'm Mike Burris.

I live in Melbourne.

I live in West Ryde.

I live in Ryde.

I live in West Chatswood.

West Chatswood?

Chatswood West.

Chatswood West.

It's part of your electorate.

And I'm a small business owner.

What are the sort of questions they ask you?

What are they looking for?

Or they just want to say hello?

Well, I think one of the first things I ask them, Mark, is, you know, what's important to you?

And I do share with them.

I'm a small fish in a big pond.

I might not be able to get everything done.

But, you know, what can I best advocate?

What can I do for you on?

And, you know, for many people, they don't have any challenges.

They're happy.

But for a lot of people, they are also going through, you know, for example, 30,000 small businesses have closed over the past three years.

In your electorate or across the country?

Across the country.

But when you walk around West Ryde and you walk around certain suburbs, you see businesses closing down as well.

You see the full lease signs popping up for new tenants that they're looking for.

So I think the main thing is to listen and also just show empathy.

People also understand.

And I think people do, that one person can't change everything, but they appreciate your listening.

They know that, you know, you will work your hardest to be able to advocate to what's important to them.

So what are some of the things that they are?

Some are just happy to say hello.

And as you say, they're doing okay.

And they're either rustling liberals or rustling labor or whatever the case may be.

You may not change their position.

But what are some of the?

Other individuals saying in your electorate, like let's say small business owners, what are they sort of indicating to you?

They frustrated with regulatory environments.

They're frustrated with the council.

They're frustrated with interest rates.

What are they?

What's bothering them?

What's bugging them?

Small business owners are doing a tough mark.

You know, first of all, their spending is, the amount of spending they see from their customers is down.

Coffee sales have dropped.

So revenues are down?

Revenues are down.

And on top of that, so many people that want to start.

Their own businesses have to go, have to wait a long time to go through approvals, councils and bodies.

And by the time they open up, their lease free period, if they're lucky, which is three to six months, is already over.

So the part of the period of their lease where they're not paying any rent.

That's right.

Where they're trying to keep, have no expenses, which is a period where you want to get a bit of revenue if you can, because that sort of goes straight into the bank account.

But during that period, they spend most of the time just getting through the hoops.

That's right.

Regulatory hoops.

Yes, absolutely.

So it's not easy for these people.

And on top of that, a lot of them share with me the challenges around hiring, training and retaining.

It takes time to train up a barrister.

It takes time to train up a reception.

And before you know it, after six months, all the effort and time that they've put in, that employee has left now.

So it stops productivity out of the business.

I mean, I think so many Australians right now are talking about the cost of living crisis.

And so many people are talking about having less money to spend.

I think as a country, we also want to focus on how.

We can become more productive, how we can make the most of each individual for them to reach their potential, but to also produce more output.

And I think small businesses, which is a big creator of jobs in our country, can do more to also see that small businesses are empowered so they can hire, train and retain their staff.

It's funny.

We keep talking about the cost of living in Australia, which is extraordinarily high relative to what it was, say, three or four years ago.

But we never.

We never.

We never seem to talk about the cost of running a business, which is also extraordinarily high.

If we look at the cost of running a business today relative to the cost of running a business three years ago, it's through the roof.

Like, it's just through the roof.

But the amount of revenue they're receiving has not gone through the roof.

Yeah.

So, you know, revenue is down, cost of running the business is up.

Now, I know it's not quite as cute a word or a phrase as cost of living that sort of rolls off the tongue as easy for the newspapers to write about it.

But we never seem to see anyone talk about the cost of running a business, rent, staff, staff turnover, staff education, staff retention, super, cost of goods, you know, coming into the business, marketing costs, cost of websites, all the other stuff you've got to pay for.

There's licenses galore.

You're paying licenses everywhere, like, you know, Microsoft license, license for your website, license for your apps, license.

There's licenses everywhere.

Anyway, why is it that Australian, the Australian narrative does, do you think, does not talk about the cost of running business?

What is that?

Look, Mark, I don't know.

And I think Australia can have more potential.

You think we should have more conversations about this?

I think we should have more conversations about this because small business owners aren't just doing it for themselves.

In fact, they create jobs for people who live locally or not.

To take those, to take on those roles, they stimulate competition, which is extremely important.

That's why I love what you do, Mark, with Yellow Brick Road, creating competition for people to seek out the best line, not just directly go to the banks.

But going back to small business, I think we need to have more conversation around it.

We need to be more ambitious in making Australia the small business capital of the world.

How do we have more incentives for people to start businesses?

And how do we have more incentives for small businesses to also grow?

Once they hit certain milestones, for example.

Well, so your leader, Dutton, has recently announced the instant write-off being at $30,000 if the Liberal get elected or the coalition gets elected.

I noticed in the last budget that the Albanese government actually got rid of the instant write-off, but they've since then have reintroduced it because obviously it was very unpopular.

But apart from, you know, allowing someone to be able to write off $30,000 or $15,000 or whatever, whichever party you're going for, you know, for buying an item, you know, you have to buy that item in the first place.

You have to have the money to buy the item in the first place.

So it's one thing to have the money.

It's one thing to get the tax deduction, but it's another thing to have the money in the first place.

It's not that easy.

That's right.

What other things could governments be doing for small business owners to encourage them to start up a new business?

Encourage them to keep...

Stay in the business instead of, you know, vacating the business, leaving some vacant premises, losing all their staff, losing all their, you know, their customers.

What other things do you think get...

And what sort of stuff gets discussed with the Liberal Party and the coalition in relation to helping small business owners?

Well, personally, Mark, I think one of the biggest challenges with small businesses is cash flow.

Yeah.

And I think cash flow is very, very important.

So I think for a lot of small businesses...

They often see delays in payments being made from big businesses.

So we want to ensure that, you know, if you're a big business, perhaps there is a length of time for you to pay your bills, to also pay the small business as well.

We should tease that out a little bit, Scott, because what you're saying here is that a small business has to pay his staff member, say, every week or every fortnight.

You have to pay your rent once a month.

But let's say you're selling something to a big business.

You're a small business.

You're providing a service.

So you're selling a product to a big business.

A lot of times the big businesses are so big that they say, yeah, our payment terms, we'll pay you in 90 days.

So you have a gap.

You're paying your costs either weekly or fortnightly or monthly.

Yet your revenue that you've produced a product or service for is not coming in for maybe 90 days, sometimes 120 days.

Yeah.

So therefore, there's a cash flow mismatch for those business owners.

Yes.

What would the government sort of talk about?

Would your government, if you guys got elected as government, would you be considering sort of pushing big businesses to change their payment structures and their payment terms?

Well, Mark, I think our party, the Liberal Party, is the party for small business.

We're the party for reward for hard work and also aspiration.

So in saying that, I mean, my personal views are that we should review it because, like you said, whether it's 90 days or 120 days,

that places a lot of strain on small business owners.

And during tough times, they have to put in their own cash.

They have to leverage off their mortgage.

They have to take out loans just to make ends meet, to make sure that they can keep running their business.

So this is something I would personally definitely advocate for.

You were prosecuted.

And of course, that's really interesting too because you made a point that most of these small business owners actually go and borrow money against the home or go and borrow, get an overdraft.

The problem is at the moment, we've got an extraordinarily high rate of over-draft.

It's like really high interest rates.

It's like really high interest rates.

And we've had them for a long time.

And that's like if most people think, oh, small business owners, aren't they doing well?

Well, most of them just make a living.

They do it because they love it.

They're not all multimillionaires.

And they work seven days a week all the time.

They're all the time.

They don't take holidays.

They're the last person to get paid in the business.

I mean, they pay everyone else.

They're the last person to take any money.

They usually don't take regular money.

They take it in lumpy amounts when it comes in.

Yeah.

But they don't.

They don't take regular amounts.

So therefore, they're having regular stress when there's no money coming in.

You come from a family which was selling books and education tools.

And if the money wasn't coming in, you would probably know about it in the family.

You just talked about it.

300 a day versus 600 on a Sunday.

That makes a huge difference to your family, how the harmony in the family is.

I'm like, on one Sunday night, you might be going home having some eggs on toast.

On the other Sunday night, you might be going out to a nice Chinese restaurant with your

brothers, your two brothers.

That's right.

But that's stressful.

Yeah.

And I'm glad you're raising this sort of stuff because I really get frustrated when I see

nothing in budgets from the prevailing government that even talks about small business owners.

Yeah.

It doesn't even talk about them.

It's not good enough.

No, it's not good enough.

And I'm hoping Dr. Jim Chalmers is listening to this because it's not good enough, Jim.

It's just not good enough.

It's not good enough.

It's not good enough.

You know, small business owners employ 70%.

It's not good enough.

Every single person in this country that's employed.

So small business owners collect the most payroll tax.

Small business, sorry.

Small business collect the most PAYE tax.

In other words, they pay the most wages because they have the most staff.

Therefore, they collect the most tax, which they become tax.

Small business owners become tax collectors for the government.

They collect all the GST for the government.

They've got to submit it to the government.

They've got to do returns, you know, like special returns and tell the government how

much they collected.

That's right.

They're the proverbial tax collector for the government.

Yes.

I just don't know why politicians don't say,

let's do something for the small business owners.

Like, you know, one of the things I often thought about is

why wouldn't a small business owner who collects a certain amount of tax

and employs a certain amount of people and pays a certain amount

of superannuation to make sure that when people retire,

they're not going to be dragging on the government's pocket

with pensions and stuff like that.

Why doesn't the government sort of say, you know what,

there's a reward for that?

And the reward's going to be, you know, your company's income tax rate

if you collect so much taxes is going to be reduced by 1%.

Something.

That's right.

Anything.

And then small business owners have that confidence,

whether it's getting big businesses to pay them in a shorter period

of time or getting that, you know, that tax cut incentive,

it allows them to feel confident and allows them to employ more people,

to invest in more marketing, to invest in more product innovation

and development.

Become more productive.

Become more productive.

That's right.

And I think that would give a lot of small business the confidence

to grow and speak.

You were talking about our treasurer.

I think what's so important for Australia is not only to think

about wealth redistribution, but to think about wealth creation.

I think, you know, there's so many initiatives being rolled out just

to almost say before election time, hey, we want to buy your vote.

We want to buy your vote.

But you know what I think the Australian,

people respect, Mark, the fact that they respect someone

with a long-term vision to think about how do we create more prosperity

for Australia and for everyone, and that includes backing small businesses.

So if the coalition gets in, how important is Bennelong as a seat

for the coalition to win this election?

Mark, Bennelong is the most marginal Labor-held seat in the country.

What does that mean?

Well, it means that, you know, the people of Bennelong play an important role

in choosing who their local member becomes or is, so I think it's very important.

Is it close?

Is it very close between you and, like, in terms of what the polls are saying?

I mean, are we talking about, like, is it just do you need a 1% swing

or do you need a 5%?

What sort of swing do you need to get a Liberal into that seat?

Well, last time we lost the seat by 2,000 votes.

Out of how many?

I think it was about 120 or so thousand voters.

We lost.

We lost by 2,000 votes, but I think the people of Bennelong are intelligent.

We've got young professionals, students, small business owners, seniors.

They know what's best for them.

They know they want strong economic management that not only helps them

alleviate the cost of living for the short term but builds prosperity

for the long term.

The people of Bennelong know that we're hitting $1 trillion worth of debt

for the first time.

In our country's history, and that more than ever, it's so important

to think about wealth creation and not only redistribution.

That's an important point.

Two points there.

The first one we're going to touch on is the debt.

You mentioned that your electorate does think about this,

but I often wonder, do people just go, yeah, well, that's the, you know,

there's always going to be government debt.

I can't really manage any of that.

I can't control any of that.

I'm just going to be interested in what I'm doing.

And therefore, the trillion dollars just sort of drops off the conversation.

I mean, media has made a big thing of it, and it should be a big thing.

Like a trillion dollars of debt for this country means there's a percentage

that is allocated to every single person in the country.

You know, if we've got 25 million people here, that means we all owe a fair bit of money.

That's right, exactly.

It's not that hard to work out.

But for some reason, there seems to be, I don't want to say the word apathy.

I think it's probably more confusion amongst voters.

That they think, well, I don't control that.

I can't influence that.

It may or may not affect me.

I don't really know how it's going to affect me, because I know the government's not going

to tap on my shoulder and say, you know, Mark, put up your $200,000 worth or whatever the

number is.

I know that's not going to happen.

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So how do you get that point across?

Like, what do you do about that?

I mean, do you keep talking to people about this issue

or do you just at some stage say,

no, I'm going to try and do something

that's going to help you specifically, Mr. Voter?

Well, I think the first thing

that we need to enrich our democracy on,

so I think what makes our democracy fantastic, Mark,

and again, you know, many countries,

these communist countries don't have this,

is the fact that our democracy is at its best

when there's a high participation rate

and also, you know,

because we want people going out there voting

and casting their votes in the appropriate way.

But at the same time,

when people go to the ballot box when they vote,

they are well-informed.

So I think more than ever,

I think political parties need to ensure

that we keep the Australian people educated,

that it's not only about short-term fixes,

it's about a long-term game,

how it affects people's children and grandchildren as well.

And that's why when I'm going out there,

I'm speaking to voters about the $1 trillion worth of debt

that we're hitting and more than ever,

I mean, you were talking about 25 million,

you know, people paying off that debt.

I mean, that's a lot of our future generations

paying off that debt

because we have an ageing and retiring population as well.

So I think it's important to get the message out there, Mark,

for the long haul as well.

And you said,

the other point you made was

as opposed to just considering redistribution of wealth,

let's think about creating wealth first.

Yes.

And then sure, we should redistribute some of that wealth

because there are some people who just don't do so well.

And unfortunately, they just have a disadvantage

and we don't want to see anyone disadvantaged.

And you come from one of those backgrounds,

so you wouldn't want to see anybody living

in that sort of situation either.

But before you can redistribute,

you need to create.

Yes.

And creation,

creation of wealth is about being productive,

productivity in Australia.

Unfortunately, we have had one of the,

we have one of the lowest productivity growths.

In fact, we go back to negative.

Declines.

We're a decline for many, many years

in measured against all the other OECD countries in the world,

which is ridiculous.

Do you think that's because we've had it too good for too long?

You know, we've got great resources

and, you know, we've been able to rely on our resources boom

over the years.

Do you think that's the reason?

Why?

Why are we being,

why do we,

why are we in a productivity decline?

Why do you think it is?

I think Australia does have it very, very good.

And, you know, I think there was a saying,

good men create good times,

good times create weak men.

And I think it's so important

that we think about how we can actually build for the future.

So when you're comfortable,

when we're comfortable,

I think as a person and as a country,

we don't grow.

And I think growth and comfort don't coexist.

Yeah.

So I think now that we're,

we're hitting $1 trillion worth of debt,

now that families are paying more for their bills,

I think this is a time for our country

to just pause for a moment and think,

where can we go for the future?

How do we boost productivity?

And in fact, in Australia, we talk about,

the other side likes to talk about

made in Australia so much.

But, you know, what's good about Australia,

I think compared to the rest of the world, Mark,

is the fact that we do have a decent minimum wage

compared to the rest of the world.

We want to constantly lift real wages.

In fact, that's,

that hasn't been great over the past 25 years,

is the fact that how do we build certain sectors up,

not only in small business,

but the technology sector, the tech sector,

our edutech, our medtech.

Australians are very intelligent people.

How do we become the technology powerhouse of the world?

And technology obviously increases productivity big time.

It's one of the big factors in terms of increasing productivity

of just about every business.

Because edutech is an interesting one.

What do you mean by edutech?

Well, I think there's so many, Mark,

like innovative ways, running my own education, small business.

I think there could be so much more tech out there

that can help children and families.

You know, we have very standardized testing systems

overall in Australia, but imagine having adaptive testing.

What does that mean?

Which means that we look at each child based on their levels

and they sit through certain questions,

based on their abilities,

so they can improve and learn at their rate.

Relative to themselves.

Relative to themselves.

As opposed to everybody else.

Absolutely.

And I think that actually helps them out.

So if you're a child that's excelling,

you know, you can be doing harder questions

based on the adaptive testing.

But if you're falling behind,

then you can be allocated questions and help

that can help you improve at the rate that you need to as well.

So there's a lot we can embrace with technology.

I think a lot of teachers out there spend

tremendous amounts of time with administration,

with unnecessary admin.

They tell me about it all the time.

But imagine we can help them mark.

Imagine we can help them also quantify some of the things

they're doing without them having to manually do it.

I think that's important.

So it helps teachers out, helps students out,

but it also helps our economy out when it comes

to investing in technology such as EduTech as well.

So if you get voted in as the member

for Bennelong, the Liberal member for Bennelong,

how does the Parliament work?

I mean, does Peter Dutton, no doubt he'll congratulate you.

And even if the Liberal Party don't win overall,

what does that mean for Scott Young?

Does that mean that you have any say in Parliament?

How does it work?

Because, you know, you'll get in, you're the member.

And but let's say Liberal don't win enough seats.

So they don't form government, let's say,

Labor forms government with the Greens.

What can Scott Young do then as the Liberal member

for Bennelong?

Well, first of all if I'm blessed enough to be chosen

by the people of Bennelong Mark, the position never belongs to me.

It belongs to the people and the community that might choose me,

that might put their faith in me.

And it's so important I think and what I dislike

about politics at times is there's a lot of fighting.

And I don't think-

In fighting?

In fighting.

Yeah.

fighting and also fighting in general, the blue side versus the green side versus the red side.

And I think politics, when you go home and you've spoken to hundreds of people every single day,

you go home and you go, why do I do this? And you want to help people. So you go, well,

how do I find common ground to help as many people as possible? So if I am blessed enough

to be chosen by the people of Bennelong, I will think, what's the common ground for Bennelong?

Out of all those thousands of conversations that I've had, how can I best advocate for them?

And I think for the people of Bennelong, it's the equal opportunity to get ahead,

whether it's starting their own small business, buying their own home or getting a quality

education. But again, I think that's underpinned by building a stronger economy, not only thinking

about redistribution. Of course, we have to help those that do need the help that are vulnerable,

but we got to think, how do we build a more prosperous Australia for everyone?

And I think also there are so many people that come from different backgrounds, different

cultures. We want one Australia with our Australian values of ensuring that we look

after each other, a quiet sense of patriotism. And I think that's what brings our country together.

So I read an article the other day. I just want to clarify for the sake of this conversation,

you're not a communist, are you? Mark, seriously, I find it an absolute joke.

And I used to get offended by...

Because you're Chinese, they think you're a communist.

Well, I think it's borderline racism. Just because I've got an Asian face,

my parents have come from China and Hong Kong. They call me a communist. And can I just say,

you go to hundreds, if not thousands of events, you meet all sorts of people,

you take all sorts of photos.

And you grew up here and you went to school here.

I was born here, grew up here. I'm a proud Australian. And something that I always say

to our multicultural communities is that,

we're proud of our culture, committed to Australia's future.

That's interesting. A lot of people wouldn't even know this, but the thought of communism

in Hong Kong, especially when your dad was growing up in Hong Kong, is the most ridiculous

thing. Because I've been to Hong Kong many times for work, back when I was in the law firm. And

people from Hong Kong are the most capitalist, business-minded moneymakers,

that I think I'd ever met anywhere in the world. And Shanghai, by the way, if anyone has ever been

to that city, it is mega, mega capitalist. I know it's a communist country, but it's like,

you serious? These dudes are so good at making money and there's not even a skerrick of communism

in them. But I did want to ask you that question because I have heard some people say that about

you because of, you look Chinese and your surname's Yong, Y-U-N-G.

Yeah.

So what? Your first name's Scott, you went to Sydney Boys High, you spent your junior years

in schools around, you know, Lakemba and Kingsgrove and all those other sorts of places.

The bullshit that people throw around during these elections, you're a young man. Have you

got to a point at any stage where you thought, what the hell am I doing this for? Like, I'm

getting barbs left, right and center. I didn't deserve this. I didn't deserve that. All I want

to do is serve my community. I mean, and your community being the whole community. I don't

mean your Chinese community. I'm talking about the Benelon community. Do you ever think to yourself,

why am I doing this?

Mark, you know, some of those comments, and I just want to be open and even, you know,

vulnerable here. It does hurt you at times when people call you all sorts of things,

such as the communist stuff. I'm a proud Australian. I love this country so much. I

feel like I don't, I shouldn't even have to be saying that to justify it. But there are times

where you think, you know, why am I copying all this? There are times where you think, you know,

my mom's probably getting comments as well. But you think at the, but I know that at the end of

the day, that if I am successful, I can advocate for policies that help the Australian people.

I think one policy can change the lives of millions of people. And that's why it's worth it. That's

why it would be an absolute honor to serve. And if I ever get there, Mark, if I'm lucky enough to

be there, and I realize I can't make a difference, then I'm out of there. Then I'm out of there,

because you can also make a difference just like you have done in business with Wizard and

Yellow Brick Road. But I think at the end of the day, you're in this to serve people. You're in

there to find common ground, to advocate things effectively so that people are better off. And

if I realize I can't do that, then I don't think it's worth it. I think policies can be an

extraordinarily frustrating game. You will, if you win, that you get an office or they pay for an

office or something like that. Somehow you get government or give you a compensation because

you don't have an office. Do you welcome people to come knock on your door and visit you? Right

now, you don't. Do you have an office now? Right now, we have a campaign office.

Yeah, but you have to rent a... It's a private sort of thing. But if you become the sitting

member, you get an office. They give you... The government must pay for an office because your

constituencies need to know where to go to visit you. Are you an open door type policy person?

Yeah, 100%. I think it's so important to be able to be accessible. That is very,

very important. And at the end of the day, whoever is elected,

they're the ones who... Tax payers' money is being invested in to their local representative,

whether it's the office, whether it's staff, whether it's the local MP's salary. So you owe

the Australian people, you owe it to your electorate to work your hardest for them.

But I think whilst working hard is one thing, getting results is another. So I think it's

so important to think, how will you get those results? How will I lobby shadow ministers or

ministers or the leader or the... How will I lobby shadow ministers or ministers or the leader or the

prime minister in getting results for my electorate? I think you've got to be relentless

about it. I think you've got to be smart about it. And that's what I would love to bring if I

was ever given the opportunity. And if someone's considering voting for,

in Bennelong, for either Labor, Greens... Do you have a Green member there?

Oh, there is a Greens candidate. Yes. No Teals, but Greens candidate.

No Teals, Greens candidate. A Labor candidate. Have you got an independent outside of the Greens?

There are, I think, a total of eight of us. Eight of you. Eight candidates.

One from the Liberal Party, Labor, Greens, and the rest, I think, are independents.

Independents, right. So if I'm one of the constituents of Bennelong, and I'm considering

who I'm going to vote for, why would I vote for Scott Young?

Well, I think politics, again, is not about fighting each other. It's about finding common

ground to help as many people as possible. My first home was in public housing. I went to

quality public schools my whole life. I think... I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing.

I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing.

I think every Australian, including those in Bennelong, should have the equal opportunity

to get ahead. And I think in politics, you can find common ground. So if we have equality of

opportunity to ensure every Australian child has a quality education, Australians can own their own

home and retire comfortably. And if they can pursue their aspirations and succeed in it, whether it's

a young person's career, I think that is underpinned with a strong economy. And I

think, again, I'd like to be as one of the youngest candidates in the country. I think about

the future, Mark, and I think about how we can actually have long-term policies around the

economy, around education, around small business, where it can help people not only for the short

run, but for the long haul. They're their lofty ideals. And politics is hard to

achieve lofty ideals because even if you're in government, you've got your own party to deal with

and probably other things might get prioritized ahead of you, your lofty goals. So I guess if I'm

a voter, I would say, okay, Scott, that's great. Sounds good. But are you a fighter?

I'm an absolute fighter.

You're going to fight for it?

I will fight for it. I'll fight to the death, Mark, for the people of Bennelong.

Why?

Because it's not easy. I think, again,

in my principles and how I was raised as a Buddhist, I think it's not easy to be human

in general. Everyone has their challenges. And when I talk to many people in Bennelong,

many are going through challenges, but all want their lives to get better. And that's why I'm in

it. At the end of the day, Mark, it's much easier running my own education, small business. You can

control your team, you can control the climate of everything. But what makes it worth it is knowing

that there is a potential.

To advocate for policies that make our community better.

Scott Young, good luck, mate. Thank you.

Thank you, Mark. Thanks for letting me be here.

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