At 20, I joined the Royal Australian Navy as a Marine Technician, seeking a stable job, stable housing and an electrical trade qualification. Like many others, I was lied to… This experience really opened my eyes to the role of the military as an institution of dehumanisation. Ever since leaving the Navy, I have been an anti-war activist and socialist.
Hey, I’m Ryan! I’m running in the 2027 NSW State Election as the NSW Socialists candidate for Wollongong.
I grew up poor, in the South Coast and Goulburn, bouncing from house to house, and living in Public Housing.
At 20, I joined the Royal Australian Navy as a Marine Technician, seeking a stable job, stable housing and an electrical trade qualification. Like many others, I was lied to. The Navy promised civilian-recognised trade qualifications which were never delivered. I was subjected to abuse by my superiors and was left in limbo for years, far from my family.
This experience really opened my eyes to the role of the military as an institution of dehumanisation. Ever since leaving the Navy, I have been an anti-war activist and socialist.
Living in Bomaderry, Shellharbour, Cringila and now Wollongong, I’m a South Coast local. I understand what matters most to those who live and work here, and I know what it’s like to do it tough.
Our Labor Governments couldn’t care less. Paul Scully, the current MP of Wollongong, is planning to sell off public housing in Bellambi to make luxury shopfronts and apartments, exclusively for the rich.
Preparing for war abroad always means waging war on the working class at home.
Over $365 billion is being spent on the AUKUS agreement, plus an extra $53 billion on the military, while they gut the NDIS, leaving our most vulnerable communities to suffer, and claim they have no money to properly fund wage rises, education or healthcare.
Port Kembla has been named as the US nuclear submarine base for the AUKUS subs, a project I strongly oppose. It paints a target on the back of the working class in Wollongong, and puts our communities at risk of nuclear accidents.
I have been leading the Pro-Palestine rallies through the streets of Wollongong, at the Gaza solidarity encampment at UOW, and the march across the Sea Cliff Bridge in December 2025.
If elected, I will use my position to build the fight back we so desperately need, whether that is in our communities, on the streets, or in the workplace. And I will commit to only taking a worker’s wage if elected.
We rise as a class, or fail to rise at all.