It’s Labor’s purple people meeter
DON’T worry, there’s no hairy situations here.
In fact, it’s the colourful side of politics rarely seen after Labor MP Meaghan Scanlon dyed her hair a bright shade of purple to help raise awareness of blood cancer through World’s Greatest Shave for a Cure.
Last weekend, the Gaven representative encouraged locals to donate to the charity via the My Centre Nerang host group, which eventually raised $6394.
“My brother was quite shocked,” she said of the colour she eventually settled on.
“But I think people just appreciate that you get involved.
“People expect that politicians take themselves seriously, which we do most of the time, but it’s good to have some fun every now and then. I’ve washed my hair multiple times but I still have purple in it.”
The young MP has followed in the footsteps of a handful of local politicians who radically changed their hairstyle – if only for the day and charity.
In 2012, mayoral candidate Eddy Sarroff dyed his hair a bright red colour, while other candidates Peter Young, current mayor Tom Tate, Dean Vegas and Keith Douglas also joined in with colours pink, blue, orange and green.
On Saturday Ms Scanlon was snapped with her purple hair at the new cultural arts precinct, HOTA, enjoying the Tim Minchin concert. The following day, Ms Scanlon’s hair was back to a tamer brown, just in time for Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s announcement that the children’s film, Dora the Explorer, would be shot on the Gold Coast after a standoff between the state and federal governments over increasing the tax offset.
Political expert Dr Paul Williams said he wouldn’t have expected many people to “turn a hair” at Ms Scanlon if she turned up with a purple hair-do for Parliament.
“It’s up to the Speaker ... but you’d be hard pressed to find a Speaker who would say they had to get their hair washed and for them to (then) come back, given it’s for charity,” he said. “I think it would be happily received.”
Dr Williams said it was likely that voters would have found Ms Scanlon’s charitable act favourable rather than controversial as well.
He said such events helped voters connect with their politicians, viewing them as “less stuffy and more human”.
Ms Scanlon said she participated because it was an important cause, adding others were even braver by shaving off their hair.
Gold Coaster Taco Mokohar shaved off the dreadlocks he had been growing for 20 years. He raised more than $40,000.