David Pocock, known as much for his rugby career as his environmental activism work and support for LGBTQI+ rights, has announced he will run for one of the two ACT Senate seats in next year's federal election.
The 33-year-old announced the run as an independent on Friday, just over a year since he hung up his playing boots after winning 78 caps for Australia.
Pocock said a shift to politics was "not something I thought I'd be doing" but told SBS News he wanted to be "pushing the national debate on the issues that are really important to all of our futures".
He added: "Climate action is such a huge issue for us here in Australia and, obviously, globally.
"Being at COP26 in Glasgow and seeing just how far behind Australia is and realising that we are not only being left behind in terms of climate and building a better future but economically, we're missing a massive opportunity.
"As Australians, we're seeing the effects, we're seeing the bushfires, we're seeing the floods and we're looking at the future saying: 'We need a Government who's going to be looking after this so that we can actually focus on living our lives'."
The Zimbabwe-born Pocock has been a long-time climate activist, joining in the Leard Blockade in 2014, aimed at disturbing the development of the Whitehaven coal mine at Maules Creek, near Narrabri on the North West Slopes of NSW.
He and his partner Emma chained themselves to a digger, before being arrested along with the rest of the group.
Speaking at the time, he said: "I believe it's time for direct action on climate change, standing together as ordinary Australians to take control of our shared future."
'Kids protesting in the streets'
Pocock said one message he had heard from politicians is people want government out of their lives, but added that he disagreed with this.
"I think what people really want is the Government to actually govern, to be dealing with these issues so that we don't have to have kids protesting in the streets about their futures.
"So that we don't actually have to worry about these things, they're being looked after."
Pocock will advocate for a constitutionally enshrined First Nations voice to Parliament, with his campaign pitch stating he has used his position in the past to "call out inequalities."
After retiring from rugby in 2020, he founded an organisation named FrontRunners with his wife, combining his passion for sport and the need to tackle environmental challenges.
Pocock also was an advocate for marriage equality, with he and Emma deciding not to get legally married until Australia’s laws were changed and same-sex couples can.
The couple married in December 2018, a year after same-sex marriage was legalised following the postal survey showing 61.6 per cent of those who voted approved of the law being changed.
On his decision to run as an independent, he said: "I really don't have any interest in toeing a party line that I don't believe in, I want to be accountable to a community."
"There's this feeling that we're tired of how things have been going where we're fed this highly workshopped messaging that seems to all just be based on trying to win the next election.
"We're facing some big challenges in Australia and we have to be looking beyond that, and we need people who aren't career politicians who are going in there because they want to represent their community and build a better future for us."
