Not only is Crookwell’s Zaza Chevalier the first female, nonwhite, non-English speaking background candidate, she’s also one of the youngest locals to ever stand for federal parliament.

The 19-year-old Sydney Uni student (pictured) is certainly breaking down traditional political barriers in the electorate.

However, it was her youth, idealism and tenacity that ultimately saw her gain pre-selection for her party.

“I am excited that Zaza is running,” campaign supporter Bill Dorman told the Post.

“She’s not another 60-year-old.

She’s a young person who has got another 40 years of political life left in her where she can push issues.

“When she first came forward it was very exciting because of her innocence and her youth but we thought we obviously needed a candidate who was open-minded and willing to learn… The quality that really came through for me was the way she questioned us (about the ins and outs of different policies).

She was very inquisitive.”

Miss Chevalier has had a unique upbringing and her life experiences have seen her overcome a number of challenges, including learning to speak English at the age of 11.

She was born in Indonesia and migrated in 2005, after her mother fell in love with an Australian man.

When she first arrived the language barrier was a posed a lot of difficulties.

“When I first got here I used to just answer ‘yes’ and ‘no’ to everything,” she said.

“Most of the time I had no idea what they were saying but my mum told me just to nod my head and be polite and that’s what I did for a while but then I started getting tutoring outside of class and that really helped to speed up the process.”

Within two months she had learnt basics. Today, you’d never know that English was her second language.

Miss Chevalier is the product of the state education system, studying at both Crookwell Public and Crookwell High.

After finishing school she wanted to study Veterinary Science at Charles Sturt but when she didn’t get in she instead decided to study agricultural science at Sydney Uni as a bridging course with the intention of stepping across.

She had always been an environmentalist but when she started studying agriculture she became interested in issues pertaining to environmental protectionism, including Coal Seam Gas.

When her former teacher/prominent local Green Kevin Watchirs introduced her to the party’s policy platform she became motivated to run. It took her about three weeks to make up her mind.

At first the teen was reluctant to put forth her name for nomination, admitting she found the often bitter tone of parliamentary debate slightly intimidating and that she had never really been the aggressive type.

“But when I talked to my mum and my brothers and pretty much my whole family, they all said they think I should run because I want to make my voice known and this is sort of like a chance to do that rather than being in the background and not saying what I want to say,” she explained.

Until recently, she, like many others of her generation, had little to no interest in federal politics. However, the more she has engaged the more passionate she became.

“For me I always think people have the right to have their say and when I look at this policy about asylum seekers it’s the policy that I am most interested in.

It’s the one that actually got me involved with the Greens,” she said.

“These refugees who are trying to come here aren’t being given a say, they’re just being shipped off to Manus Island.”

Miss Chevalier empathises deeply with asylum seekers and says if she was in their place she would hope to be treated with a little more humanity. And, that is essentially at the heart of the Greens policy on the issue.

The teen also believes that an oversaturation of popular culture has caused the younger generation to become disengaged and apathetic. This is something she hopes to change with her public profile.

“I think the first step for me is to try to make people aware of the Greens and Greens’ policies and kind of make people get involved and think and educate them rather than have them going along in their everyday lives and not paying any attention to these really important things, like I used to,” she explained.

“(Federal politics) affects everybody and not being engaged with it is pretty stupid because these are everyday things and it’s pretty important and I think everyone should be aware of it.

Realistically, it’s our generation that is going to be on the line and we can’t leave it entirely to the older generation to make all of these decisions for us. I think the younger generation should get involved and have their say.”