Labour Party member Fatima Payman opposed the Albanian government’s new age restriction legislation on social media in a bizarre speech to the Senate that heavily used Gen Z jargon.
The 29-year-old independent senator for Western Australia delivered her two-minute statement in Parliament House on Wednesday afternoon. The statement was filled with terms often used by young Australians.
Instead of addressing her fellow senators, all of whom are much older than her, she addressed Generations Z and Alpha directly, whose voices are often not heard in Parliament.
Ms Payman began her speech by mentioning the ‘sigmas of Australia’, which broadly means ‘admirable people’.
“I say this crazy ahh government is capping. Not just now, but for a long time. Some of you may remember them saying ‘there will be no Fanum tax under a government I lead’. They are capaholics, they are also yapaholics.
“They keep harping on about how their cost of living measures are changing the lives of all Australians. Put the fries in the bag, mate.”
Translated into everyday English, she accused the Labour Party of being stupid and of lying constantly about taxes. She talked constantly about the cost of living but failed to address it properly. Ultimately, she told the government to do its job properly.
She continued: ‘They tell us that their main focus is on improving the housing situation in this country. They must have a brain tumor because they watched too much Kai Cenat and forgot that they plan to ban social media for children under 14.
Fatima Payman’s speech was aimed at young Australians (pictured) and was full of Gen Z slang
“If that becomes law, you can forgo skull emojis revolving around Duke Dennis or watching a dub featuring the brothers on Fort.”
Kai Cenat and Duke Dennis are gaming influencers with millions of followers on the livestreaming platform Twitch. ‘Fort’ refers to the very popular game Fortnite. ‘Dub’ means winning a game.
“Forgor” with a skull emoji is another term for “forgotten.”
Senator Payman then said, “Is this Prime Minister serious?”
“Chat” is a term livestreamers use when talking to fans who communicate with them in real time through a text box.
The rest of the speech proceeded in a similar vein and boiled down to a few key points: Mr Albanese is out of touch with reality, the Opposition should not cut the Western Australian Services Tax, the Labor Party is mediocre, the Coalition is uneducated and the Teals are the best option.
Her speech ended with a message to young people: ‘While some of you may not yet be able to vote, I hope that when you do, it will be in a more goatish Australia, for a more charismatic government. Skibidi.’
By that, the senator meant that she hopes the government will eventually be the best ever (acronym: goat), with a cool factor than it has now.
Skibidi doesn’t actually have a real meaning, but it comes from a toilet meme and can be used to describe something really cool.
Fatima Payman was praised for her speech on TikTok, with many saying they finally understood something that was said in parliament
Ms Payman then shared the speech on TikTok, where young people responded en masse to the comments, saying they were relieved to finally understand a parliamentary speech.
“Oh my god, I finally understand someone from parliament,” said one user.
Another wrote: ‘[To be honest] I understand this better than real politics.’
A third person said, “I knew I was cooked when I understood this better than actual political talk.”
Others, however, found the speech uncomfortable.
“Really awful, time to grow up,” said one Instagram user.
“Desperate for attention,” wrote another.
The prime minister announced on Tuesday his plan to introduce legislation to ban children from accessing social media in a bid to protect their emotional and mental wellbeing.
No minimum age has been announced yet, but he has previously supported moves to raise the proposed age limit from 13 to 16, giving teenagers more time to mature without the social pressures that can build in an online environment.