In Australia, the federal parliament lacks people of colour representatives. Data on the cultural diversity of the 46th parliament is scarce, but a 2018 report from the Australian Human Rights Commission found just 4.1 per cent of parliamentarians had a non-European background.

This episode's guest, Mannie Kaur Verma, is a lawyer and human rights advocate and she is a member of the Labor party and an active member of EMILY’s list Australia. She is also currently doing research with Deakin University on the topic of viewing Australian politics from the lens of intersectionality.