When I read vitriol about The Greens not representing the working class and how we’re all latte-sipping elitists, I reflect on the massive sacrifices my working class migrant grandparents made to provide an education to their own children and the bloody hard work my parents undertook to transition from working class to middle class including my Dad being raised in military camps and migrant camps and my Mum needing to learn English on her arrival to Australia from Sicily and bravely discovering what it means to be a modern, progressive woman despite coming from a family with a strong patriarch.

The end result is me, a Greens member, voter and supporter who is the living, breathing result of what I believe all Australians (and people all over the world) should be able to enjoy – a rich education and the opportunity to flourish.

When you trash who I am and how I vote because I am not working class, you trash my family history.

And that’s not cool.

Don’t do that.

Don’t assume who I am or where I come from.