Ruth is an experienced politician, working for both the state and local governments. She knows her way around public service, politics, leaderships and community engagement.
As a board member of the Victorian Women's Trust, Ruth is a celebrant of inclusivity and diversity, seeking gender equality and is a passionate advocate for women. She co-founded the Honour a Woman movement in 2017.
Ruth was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for her outstanding community leadership following the 2009 Black Saturday bush fire disaster.
Ruth's Book:
Get Elected
Ruth's Website:
www.ruthmcgowan.com
Verbatim from the transcripts — each quote links to the moment.
“If you stand around complaining and don't do anything to change, then you actually forfeit your right to complain.”
“We all got the same skin, you know, the epidermis is about a couple of millimeters.”
“This is just excuses, right?”
“Because when you're asleep, others will be doing the work and taking over the country in ways that you might agree with. And it'd be it'll be too late when you wake up.”
“Nah, don't vote early, vote often. I just vote once, you know, have a little joke.”
“Wow, look at this democracy. Like, people die for this, right? That's the end of it. People die for this all over the world.”
How can I get an outstanding person recognised with an Order of Australia honour?
Go online to the Order of Australia website and submit a nomination; nominations are anonymous and anyone can nominate someone they believe deserves recognition.
Should I disclose past mistakes to avoid political backlash?
Being transparent and disclosing past mistakes, showing genuine change (e.g. undertaking unconscious bias training), makes the public more forgiving than trying to scrub or hide the history.
How can someone with no obvious passion get involved in politics without running for office?
Find someone running who represents a perspective underrepresented in politics (e.g. a queer woman of colour) and offer practical skills — like making a campaign video — instead of feeling you have to run yourself or donate large sums.
How do I make sure my podcast/media platform isn't just featuring the same type of guest?
Audit your guest list for gender and diversity ratios, actively seek out women and people from diverse backgrounds using resources like the 'Here She Is' directory, and treat getting diverse voices on air as part of your responsibility and privilege as someone with a microphone.
I feel disengaged or like my vote doesn't matter — what should I do?
Take a small action regardless of how overwhelmed you feel: use a tool like ABC's Vote Compass to clarify which party matches your values, talk to people about issues that frustrate them and ask what they're doing about it, donate small amounts to advocacy groups like GetUp, and actually use your vote.
Ruth describes receiving an anonymous nomination notice for her OAM from the Governor-General, bursting into tears, feeling undeserving, then realising accepting it let her be a role model for other women.
Ruth explains she had been vegetarian for 14 years based on scientific evidence about diet and cancer risk, and about a decade ago was diagnosed with lymphoma, after which she overhauled her diet, exercise and meditation and has remained in remission.
Ruth describes being pissed off after seeing 14 men making local decisions in her council chamber, confronting the mayor in the street, and subsequently running and winning a council seat, later helping unseat several male councillors.
Ruth, as chief strategist, describes how her sister Cathy McGowan won the seat of Indi as an independent after the long-serving incumbent appeared to ignore the electorate, supported by a growing army of local volunteers (400, then 600, then 1,700).
Drawn from the episode transcripts.
It's Australia's national honours system, started in 1975 under PM Gough Whitlam, with four medal levels (OAM, AM, AO, and Companion). Anyone can anonymously nominate another person online for outstanding contribution to the community; Ruth McGowan received hers for community service to local government and disability support groups.
From episode 341→Ruth McGowan explains major parties have far more money, existing infrastructure and incumbency advantages, while independents often self-fund (around $70,000) and rely on grassroots fundraising like sausage sizzles and street stalls, plus guerrilla social media campaigns, to compete.
From episode 341→Ruth McGowan advises taking small actions: use tools like ABC's Vote Compass to clarify your views, talk to people about issues they're annoyed about, donate small amounts to advocacy groups like GetUp, and actually vote, since many small actions combined create real political change.
From episode 341→Mentioned on 1 episode Ruthwasn’t on.
Every episode featuring Ruth McGowan on The Daily Talk Show.
