Heard the one about the former Wallaby skipper now making his mark in politics?
POCOCK EMBRACING LIFE AS A SENATOR BATTLING RACISM AND CLIMATE CHANGE
IT is 11am in the Parliamentary Office in Sydney and David Pocock’s aides have blocked out an hour from his diary. He has a busy day ahead, including an integrity commission with the Attorney General and a series of briefings. The diplomatic vehicle in the underground carpark — a white BMW with the Australian flag on the bonnet, surrounded by guards — is a sign that the Prime Minister is also in the building.
The Protective Service have double security checks to get inside and Pocock is waiting in his office on the 20th floor. Welcome to the new world of the former Wallaby captain, or Senator Pocock as he is now known.
He has swapped the gold jersey for a crisp white shirt. A few kilos of muscle have dropped off since his retirement in 2020 but he still looks fit enough to last 80 minutes.
‘The parliamentary rugby team have been trying to rope me in,’ he reveals. ‘I might have to go and find a pair of boots!’
A gag about tackling Boris Johnson is laughed off, and he asks about the mood back in the UK as No10 Downing Street is beamed across news briefings around the city. There are bigger issues to discuss but first Pocock reflects on the England series so far and mulls over what Eddie Jones has up his sleeve.
‘This is the first year that I’ve started to enjoy watching rugby again,’ he says. ‘For a couple of years, I couldn’t watch because I’d get annoyed if the commentators were bagging my old team-mates. I know how hard they work. It was too close to home. I watched the first Test on TV and it was good to see the Wallabies win because against England it’s been one-way traffic for a while.’
Aged 34, Pocock’s political career has progressed quickly. He was an activist during his playing days.
In 2014, he was arrested after chaining himself to a digger in protest against a new coalmine. He also publicly declared that he would not marry his partner, Emma, until same-sex marriage was legalised in Australia. There was always a political streak in his blood, but how has he ended up sitting in one of the most powerful seats in the country?
‘Good question! Growing up in Zimbabwe, I saw how much of an impact politics has on every part of our lives. The land reform programme started and we were kicked off our farm. It was pretty unsafe. Very few people would argue that land reform was unnecessary, but the way it was done was farcical. A couple of guys in our district were killed.
‘We were lucky my mum was a qualified teacher and we were able to get into Australia as skilled migrants. I arrived in Brisbane in 2002 as a 14-year-old. In Zimbabwe, politics was the only thing people talked about because everyone was affected by it. I was always interested in it.
‘More recently, I’d been working on an agriculture and conservation project back in Zimbabwe. I had a bit of time on the side in 2020 and just threw myself into it, going out there with my younger brother. I kept getting hassled by people in Canberra, saying: “We think there’s an opportunity for an independent candidate in the senate”. It had never been done before but they thought I was the right person. Initially, I said: “Politics? Nah”, but I did think about it.
‘I love Australia and the opportunities it’s given me. When you love something, you want to make it better. It felt like a long shot but I knew I would regret it if I didn’t do it.’
As Johnson’s image streams across news bulletins throughout the city, I ask if he is conscious about the image problem facing politicians in the current climate.
‘That’s one of the tragedies of politics. People look at it and think: “This is a bunch of people without integrity who don’t have our best interests at heart and don’t make decisions that benefit every-day people”. Certainly here in Australia we’ve seen this movement of independent candidates who aren’t part of a major party. Communities are realising that they don’t need to have someone who has to toe a party line.’
Pocock has been in the headlines this week for supporting the Labor party’s climate targets, ahead of a visit by New Zealand premier Jacinda Ardern. Looking out from the office window, cars are clogging up the Harbour Bridge road in the distance.
A few miles away, evacuation alerts have been put out because of extreme flooding. He believes the effects of climate change are there for all to see and that rugby can play its part in the resistance.
‘The conversation around climate change is a thorny issue in rugby because it potentially upsets administrators who are fielding calls from sponsors.
‘In Australia, over the last five or 10 years, there’s been a huge push by fossil fuel companies to get into sport. They know they’re losing their social licence and, like we saw with tobacco, they see sport as a great way to stay in people’s mind. They present themselves as being part of the culture.
‘Eventually, the public and government said you can’t be advertising tobacco because we know the harm it causes. We’re close approaching that point with the fossil fuel industry. I totally get the pressure that sports are under financially and the need for sponsorship cash but, increasingly, there will be a requirement to be a good corporate citizen.
‘Everyone has to play their part. This is the biggest challenge we’ve ever faced as humans but it’s a an opportunity. It’s looking at the footprint around stadiums, how fans travel, scheduling of games. There’s a lot of work being done and huge economic opportunities for sporting clubs and businesses to save a lot of money.’
The conversation moves on to racism, following Luther Burrell’s shocking revelations about dressingroom ‘banter’ in The Mail on Sunday two weeks ago. Pocock has previously spoken out about rugby’s challenges around sexuality and he welcomes the conversation raised by Burrell.
‘I saw the article. You can’t discount people’s experiences. We have to listen. Moving to Australia as a white Zimbabwean, my experience in sport was completely different to a black Zimbabwean friend who moved over at a similar age. He also loved rugby but he copped so much racism at school and in the rugby team.
‘There was some venom in it from the opposition, but there was also what people refer to as “casual racism” within his own team. It affected him. We’ve got a long way to go.
‘Despite what people say about sports and politics not mixing, it’s got a long history of shining a light on the social issues we face.
‘Athletes are role models for young kids. If somebody brings up concerns about racism, we must deal with it.’