Australians name housing and cost of living as top concerns — ABC News Australia
In Australia, participants in the ABC Your Say project most often spoke about housing, the cost of living and a loss of trust in political leaders. Over eight weeks, journalists from ABC News Australia spoke with people across the country and received thousands of online responses.
Respondents said it was becoming increasingly difficult for them to pay rent, mortgages, bills and for groceries. Many also said they did not feel heard by those in power and were losing trust in elected representatives. Project participants called on politicians and the media to listen more closely to people's everyday experiences.
Costs exceed means
A 61-year-old Sydney resident, who asked for her real name not to be disclosed, said she works two and sometimes three jobs. After paying rent, she sometimes has 7 Australian dollars left for the next two weeks. The woman said she had never expected to feel such fear and despair over her financial situation at her age.
A resident of a Perth suburb in his early 30s said that he and his wife have several higher education degrees, stable jobs and a combined pre-tax income of about 200,000 Australian dollars. At the same time, he said, the family lives from paycheck to paycheck, and its only debt is a mortgage.
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A mother of three from a Melbourne suburb said that lockdown restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic harmed her husband's small business. The family, in which the woman works in the public sector, has large mortgage payments and is accumulating debt because of bills and grocery expenses.
Housing and connections between people
Housing was one of the main topics in every location where the project operated. People raised issues of housing affordability, rental insecurity, homelessness, moving into smaller homes, as well as the impact of these problems on connections within communities. A Canberra resident noted that the real price of housing is measured not only in money, but also in the time people spend working to cover housing costs.
Among other concerns, participants named digital isolation and the difficulty of accessing services through apps and accounts, access to medical care, the condition of roads and transport, education, domestic violence, crime, climate change and the development of artificial intelligence. At the same time, some interviewees stressed that despite the difficulties, they value life in Australia and see the possibility of change through cooperation between communities, organizations and authorities.
