The Fatima Payman Gen Z slang speech refers to a speech given by the Australian senator in September 2024 full of slang terms used by Generations Z and Alpha. It received mixed reviews from people of all ages and launched discourse about whether the politician reached or repelled young voters.
While some sections of her target audience have praised Payman for reaching out to a voting block more often derided and scolded, others are referring to this incident as the “Australian Senator brainrot speech.” This seems to only be further confusing and angering older folks who don’t know what “brainrot” means.
Who is Senator Fatima Payman?
The young Senator has represented Western Australia since 2022. She was born in 1995 in Kabul, Afghanistan, and immigrated to Perth with her family in 2003. Two years ago, she became the third youngest person elected to the Senate and the first to wear a hijab.
Payman campaigned as part of the Labor Party on policies including diversity, addressing climate change, and improving early childhood education. She split with her party in 2024 on the issue of Palestinian statehood and is now an independent.
Fatima Payman’s Gen Z slang speech, broken down
The crux of Payman’s speech accused the Australian government of doing a lot of talking about the cost of living crisis without taking action, being dishonest about taxes, and failing to properly address the concerns of the younger generations. She also encouraged these populations to vote when they came of age.
In the process, she used a long list of slang terms foreign to the vast majority of people over 30. She called the government “goofy ahh” as well as “capa-holics” and “yap-aholics.“
“I would be taking an L if I did not mention the opps, who want to cut WA’s gyatts and services tax,” she said. “The decision voters will be making in a few months’ time is between a mid government, a dogwater opposition or minor parties and independents that will mog both of them.”
She ended the speech with “Skibidi.”
The full text of Senator Payman’s speech:
To the sigmas of Australia, I say that this goofy ahh government have been capping, not just now but for a long time. A few of you may remember when they said, ‘There’ll be no fanum tax under the government I lead.’
They’re capaholics. They’re also yapaholics. They yap non-stop about how their cost-of-living measures are changing lives for all Australians. Just put the fries in the bag, lil bro.
They tell us that they’re locked in on improving the housing situation in this country. They must have brain rot from watching too much Kai Cenat and forgot about their plans to ban social media for kids under 14.
If that becomes law, you can ‘forgor skull emoji’ all about watching Duke Dennis or catching a dub with the bros on Fort. Chat, is this Prime Minister serious?
Even though he’s the Prime Minister of Australia, sometimes it feels like he’s the CEO of Ohio. I would be taking an L if I did not mention the opps who want to cut WA’s gyatts and services tax.
The decision voters will be making in a few months time will be between a mid government, a dog water opposition or a crossbench that will mog both of them.
Though some of you cannot yet vote, I hope that, when you do, it will be in a more goated Australia for a government with more aura. Skibidi!
Who actually wrote the brainrot speech?
Payman would be categorized by most generational definitions as a very young millennial, two years too old to be a part of Gen Z. It, therefore, comes as no surprise that a significantly younger policy aid, who is a Zoomer, wrote the speech for her.
The writer is Ezra Isma, 21, and he says that he only sometimes uses the terms that filled the speech—and even then, only ironically.
Memes and reactions
This is not the first time a politician has attempted to reach the younger demographic by filling a speech with youthful slang, and this strategy rarely pans out. Older generations tend to be repelled by it after years of complaining about the strange and unfamiliar language, while the target often finds it disingenuous at best.
@vahitran i'm moving to Australia 🦘
♬ original sound – Guy Cooper
Zoomers and Gen Alpha have been referring to Payman’s attempt at this trick as the “Australian Senator brainrot speech.” Brainrot in modern slang refers to any content that has very little to no substance or value, so little that it degrades the mind. This can lead to a negative feedback loop in which the viewer seeks out more worthless content due to this “rotting” of the brain and gets even worse.
The speech quickly fell under the subcategory of brainrot memes, including a TikTok sound, a lot of hate on Reddit, and plenty of cringing on X (formerly Twitter). Certain young TikTokers appear disturbed at the fact that they understood the speech perfectly.
@poholifts Erm what the sigma
♬ original sound – Fatima Payman
@blucynfluffs #bluey #brainrot #fyp ♬ original sound – 6 News Australia
@muzzymane my screentime isnt even that bad
♬ original sound – Fatima Payman
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