On January 13, 1997, I received an email from Ari Sharp, a Year 9 student at Bialik College in Melbourne. It said:

Dear Malcolm,

My father and I were having a disagreement on Michael Wooldridge’s positions in opposition, under Hewson, Downer and later Howard. For how long was he deputy leader of the Liberals in 1993/94?

Could you please shed any light on this?

Ari Sharp

This was the first of many emails I received from Ari. We struck up a conversation about politics that has continued to the present day. Ari is now a journalist at The Age newspaper in Melbourne.

Ari Sharp

In the 11 years since that email, Ari joined the Australian Democrats and ran for the seat of Kooyong in the 2001 Federal election.

He completed a Commerce degree at the University of Melbourne and became one of the first Australian bloggers.

In 2007, he joined The Age and now works in the Business section of that paper.

Today, after several pleasant hours arguing about politics in Chapel Street, Prahran, Ari agreed to a role reversal in which I interviewed him.

Click the PLAY button to listen to the interview:

Footnote: Just in case you’re wondering, the answer to the Michael Wooldridge question is that he was deputy leader of the Liberal Party under John Hewson from March 23, 1993 until May 23, 1994 when Alexander Downer toppled Hewson. Wooldridge was replaced as deputy by Peter Costello.