Second to the PM: Rachael Jacobs' big day

"I feel really amazing, hopeful and energised," Dr Jacobs told Inner West Review last week. "It was a really good election for the Greens, but also for progressive politics, and for the climate. It was also a really fantastic result for us in Grayndler - we held the vote and we came second to the new Prime Minister."

This year's election was the third in which the Greens have come second to Labor in Grayndler on a two-party-preferred basis, wresting the runner-up position from the Liberals who polled third in 2022.

"Personally this is one of the best things I have ever done in my life," Dr Jacobs said of the election experience. "This is a very special electorate, and it was a special campaign for me - when my parents arrived here from India in the 1960s, they got in a taxi and went straight to Stanmore where they paid $20 a week in rent." In a tribute to those beginnings, Dr Jacobs cast her vote at Stanmore Public School, where her mum held her first teaching job in Australia.

READ ALSO: As it happened: Albanese's historic victory

Much has been made of Prime Minister Albanese's humble roots as the only child of a single mother who raised him in public housing. There is much to be said too that the woman who polled second to him is the daughter of immigrants.

"My mum, she has said they would never have imagined their daughter would be running for parliament against the person going for the highest office in the land. It is a migrant success story," Dr Jacobs said.

"We had 600 volunteers just on election day, and through the campaign we knocked on 2500 doors. People wanted to be part of the Greens message, but they also wanted to be part of that story of social change - whether it's Albo's public housing story or my story about migrant life, people identify with it and they see that their leaders don't have to come from privilege, and that is the kind of leadership that people are interested in - people from the real world, with real life experience."

That said, Dr Jacobs has never crossed paths with Mr Albanese: "I've never met the man," she said. "We knew he wouldn't be here at all, and so we ran a grassroots on-the-ground campaign, which enabled us to get to as many voters as we possibly could with a local politics message, which I think really resonated with people.

"We might have Albo as a member, but Grayndler has a Green heart."

Dr Jacobs, who previously ran for the Greens in 2013 in the seat of Brisbane (which the Greens nearly 10 years later have won) says it will be up to party members whether she runs for political office again.

Regardless, it is an experience she would highly recommend to others who may consider it. "We need more people involved in the political process, particularly young people and those who come from minority groups - we need to diversify our parliament, and talking about it only does so much.

"It is an incredibly enriching experience. You get back 100 times what you put into it."

Have something to say? Send a letter to the editor at: editor@innerwestreview.com.au

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: