Six Things Richard Di Natale Desperately Wanted You To Know About Him This Week

When Christine Milne stepped down as leader of the Greens on Wednesday morning people were pretty confused. Unlike February’s epic #Libspill where speculation lasted a full week and provided everyone much-needed intrigue before Game of Thrones fifth season leaked, this one was sprung on us out of nowhere. And, after only a couple of hours to jump on the #bandtwagon or get into #luddmentum, we were soon told the position had not been contested and was awarded to a guy no one had ever heard of before.

Despite the fact Richard Di Natale had actually been in politics for more than a decade, narrowly missed out on becoming Melbourne’s Mayor, and represented Victoria as a senator for the past four years, the new Greens leader soon started suffering a very public existential crisis.

Just a couple of hours after his appointment was announced an SBS headline forthrightly asked “Who Is Richard Di Natale?”. Then — suggesting audiences needed a little more reminder of where they knew that name — the Sydney Morning Herald followed it up with “Who Is The New Greens Leader Richard Di Natale?”. Looking to officially get the scoop on this IRL game of Guess Who, the ABC quickly announced “Richard Di Natale: Son Of Italian Migrants Who Blazed Senate Trail For Greens” with their original headline “Who Is Richard Di Natale?” still branded in the URL.

It’s probably not the reception he was hoping for.

Richard Di Natale Also Wondering Who He Is: http://t.co/Kzaxw5oC8W pic.twitter.com/B3UVKiSPZK

— SBS Comedy (@SBSComedy) May 7, 2015

As a result of all this, the Greens and Di Natale himself have been desperately trying to fix this problem by filling his schedule with countless interviews and Q&As that try to better clarify the amorphous person-shaped blob most people see when they hear his name.

Here’s what we’ve learned so far:

–

He’s The Latest Contender On The Bachelor

As soon as people started asking questions, the Greens promptly published a handy listicle about their newly appointed leader. It’s titled “10 Facts About Richard Di Natale” and it’s entirely likely that all of them are taken verbatim from either his Tinder profile or application for The Bachelor.

Here, we learned that this Senator is also a doctor, he speaks fluent Italian, lives on a farm, is a sports tragic, likes Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, has a passion for photography and loves to surf.

–

He’s A Little Sassy

Possibly taking a cue from the growing fan base of Scotty Ludz, he’s also not afraid to take a swing at the PM. In an interview with The Guardian today, Di Natale unexpectedly named Tone as one of his “political heroes” and was more than a little cheeky about it.

“Tony Abbott [is] a close second because he allows us to really shine,” he said around 0.50. There’s one way of bringing Green policies into close focus and that is to have someone like Tony Abbott, whose more of a villain I suppose, but in some ways he’s a hero to us because he allows us to be able to communicate what we stand for.”

He also let a similar little zinger slide in a Facebook Q&A last night:

–

He’s A Right Old Jokester

As a direct interaction between Di Natale and the public, this Q&A provided more than one insight about the new leader and it’s clear he wanted people to know he had the same wit as his fellow party members. For the most part this seems to have been successful; the following joke about the NBN was the top post on Reddit Australia all day.

He’s here all week, folks. Try the veal.

–

He’s Literally Your Dad

Unfortunately, not everything was as razor sharp. Here he is following up a reference to classic English literature with a gratuitous dick joke.

–

He’s “a 4WD-Loving Sports Fanatic”

This one was for The Daily Tele readers. After being labelled a “centrist”, less radical Greens leader, it seemed Richard Di Natale could be on the lookout for a few mainstream votes. On Wednesday, he told Tom Elliiott on 3AW that his values were “pretty traditional” and his spokespeople soon confirmed to the News Corp press that he now drives a four-wheel drive instead of a hybrid.

Though it was clarified he does this out of “practical necessity” from living on a farm, the Tele seemed pretty happy about the news. “The new leader of the Greens drives a big fuel-guzzling Ford Territory 4WD while his colleagues scoot about town in energy-saving hybrid car,” they wrote. “He [also] played Aussie rules at a high level and will look to push health and economic issues, ­rather than environment plights.”

–

He Actually Has Some Thoughts About Politics

Through all this, there have actually been a few bits of  information about what he does at work.

In the past few years he’s fought hard to secure funds for Medicare-subsidised dental care, fought big tobacco, worked as a doctor in remote Indigenous communities, worked in India fighting the spread of HIV, embarked on a one-man trip to West Africa to investigate Ebola and led Senate inquiries into dying with dignity, medicinal cannabis, gambling promotion in sport, and hospital funding.

Maybe in time this will help us remember him by some other name than “the one who isn’t Adam Bandt”. Maybe.

wow can't believe The Australian mixed up the two completely separate people Richard Di Natale and Adam Bandt! pic.twitter.com/jDVkOmlQ2C

— Cam Smith (@sexenheimer) May 7, 2015

–