The New Governor-General

A few personal observations on Sam Mostyn AO

Sam Mostyn AO has just been announced at Australia's next governor-general. I took this photo of her in March 2023 at Addi Road Community Organisation in Marrickville.

You might notice the t-shirt. Every year Sam has bought one and come along to the Addi Road Writers' Festival that I have been involved in founding and organising with Sheila Ngọc Phạm as an independent alternative to the more mainstream festivals and literary scene.

Every year Sam has continued wearing the t-shirts at public occasions, giving us a free plug before and after the event.

Sam's a total powerhouse and will make a great G-G for the country. I lose count of all the boards she has sat on and is connected to or has outright chaired over the years. She succeeded Julia Gillard recently as Beyond Blue Chair and has a long-term commitment to mental health in the community, as well as working for women's rights, the environment, corporate ethics and engagement, and environmental sustainability.

Down at Addi Road I have had the chance to observe her over the years, being hands-on involved in packing hampers for people caught up in lockdowns during Covid – and afterwards when the floods devastated people's lives. She's kept coming back, helping out with hamper packing again at Christmas for the #HampersofHope campaign.

Of course there has been the bigger stuff too, networking Addi Road with other people and organisations. But she still bobs up at street level things like Wednesday Night Lights and sits for a few hours chatting with people there who are dealing with welfare issues and homelessness and battling to stay on top of the cost-of-living crisis. Not in some big deal way, but just to get a thermometer on how things are going and simply because she's a pretty friendly person.

On a personal level she has always made me feel supported no matter how under the pump I may have felt, speaking to me about my poetry (and sharing it) (particularly one about fatherhood and boys that she loved). I also remember a great rave with her about Albert Camus and The Plague when I was planning a talk on the French author for the Addi Road Writers' Festival.

It's not often you get to say you have a friendly connection with the Governor General. But I may as well make the brag while I can. It's an honour to know her and a pleasure to be able to say she will do good things, full heart and mind on the best for everyone in the community.

Image credit: Sam Mostyn at Addi Road, March 2023 - photo Mark Mordue©️

Note: Since writing this post yesterday Sam Mostyn has already come under attack from all manner of people over her appointment as the next governor-general and perceptions of political bias. My views on her remain as above; my reflections based on her actions as much as her words, let alone whoever she might be seen with at public events. My views on her are likewise personal and completely my own. As noted in what I wrote, Sam has been supportive of me, my writing and projects I have founded like the Addi Road Writers’ Festival (where a cross-section of views and people are always evident, talks done at length and in depth and with elements of debate). I don’t think those personal connections then mean Sam Mostyn is some kind of robot who is 100% on board with every single thing I say or think or curate. Why I need to make such a caveat here is ridiculous; any half-intelligent and tolerant person knows such things to be true in the array of contacts and friends they keep. Sadly, that is not how much of the media and too many ideologues out there choose to read the world.