Youth Lobbyist Named Millennial Leader
14 November 2013 at 10:29 am
Youth Parliament trailblazer, lobbyist and volunteer Olly Tripodi has been voted the inaugural MOVEMENT’s Millennial Leader.
MOVEMENT, launched by the Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka (M.A.D.E), MTV Australia and Deloitte Digital, is a campaign to highlight the issues that matter to young people and aims to lead social action to improve the future of Australia.
As part of the campaign, MOVEMENT sought a Millennial Leader to become the voice of the generation (born 1983-2003).
Tripodi, 21, won a public vote out of five candidates who were selected from nationwide nominations. He will be “in office” until September 14, 2014 – the UN International Day of Democracy.
Tripodi is a Leading Taskforce Member of Youth Parliament, was a candidate in the most recent Municipal Elections and has volunteered with the YMCA on youth and Indigenous programs, Volunteering Victoria and World Challenge.
“I’m absolutely overwhelmed to be representing and advocating for the beliefs of young people,” Tripodi said.
"I don’t think there has been an opportunity of this magnitude to make real change in Australia in our generation.
“Now is the time for the hard work to prepare myself for the next year. My first step is to listen carefully to what young people are saying.
“There has never been a generation like ours that is so active, so passionate, inspiring and inspired. This MOVEMENT competition is proof of that.”
As the Millennial Leader, Tripodi will receive access to a “Brains Trust” of inspired thinkers and leaders; unique experiences – such as being hosted by the House of Representatives at Australian Parliament House in Canberra – and broad exposure on MTV outlets and through other channels.
“MOVEMENT is about providing a platform for young Australians to tell us what they care about and what they want to do about those issues,” M.A.D.E Director Jane Smith said.
“Olly Tripodi will be a great ambassador for the Millennial Generation. It was a very strong field and I want to congratulate these remarkable young Australians for being involved – with MOVEMENT and their communities.”
The Final Five were Sam Lara of Queensland, Natasha Akib and Jess Miller from NSW and Melburnians Jamie Green and Olly Tripodi. The candidates each ran a multimedia campaign and also answered questions voted up in an OurSay forum in a live-streamed Google Hangout.
"The Millennial Generation accounts for 46 per cent of the 1.2 million Australians who have not enrolled to vote. We are excited to be able to give Olly a platform to connect with this audience and hopefully start empowering and encouraging youth to share their opinions,” MTV Australia and New Zealand Director Simon Bates said.
“Olly ran an amazing campaign to win this competition; utilizing social media to engage his audience and create an exceptional entrance video showing that he was a perfect candidate to win this competition. We're excited to have him on board."
