We asked voters aged 18 to 30 to show us what they wanted the next government to know about them so that it can steer the country in the right direction.
This is what they told us.
Want to have your say? Find out how to submit your own entry.
A strong economy won’t buy us hope for the climate
Erin McKenzie,27,Hornsby,NSW
I’m not too fussed about cost-of-living expenses. I earn good money. But it’s hard to appreciate it against the backdrop of unprecedented climate-related disasters,one after another.
How anyone can justify things like coal today is simply beyond me. I don’t care what percentage of the economy relies on coal exports. Get us off fossil fuels. I can take the hit.
A strong economy won’t buy us hope for the future. There won’t be much of an economy on a planet where we’re constantly running away from extreme weather events. If you truly cared about the nation,you’d address humanity’s immediate need to survive. I have quite a bit of time ahead of me on this earth and if you’re not playing the long game,you’re not getting my vote.
An overhaul of the NDIS
Saskia Heng,18,Balwyn North,Victoria
The next government of Australia desperately needs to overhaul the National Disability Insurance Scheme so that it covers the entire disabled population,rather than just 10 per cent.
The NDIS has also exceeded its budget. This comes at a time when there has been a 400 per cent increase in complaints about NDIS plans to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal,and the National Disability Insurance Agency has spent tens of millions of dollars fighting its clients.
My dad is a quadriplegic,and although he is not an NDIS participant,I have lived experience with a person with a disability. This has helped me become more aware of the struggles that are faced by the more than 4 million people living with a disability in Australia. The next government needs to do better and allocate the funding that is so desperately needed.
Put roofs over heads and abolish greyhound racing
Jamie Arnott,29,Normanhurst,NSW
My wife and I recently bought a house in Normanhurst,adopted our pet dog Alfie (pictured) and have a daughter on the way. We are under no illusion how lucky we are;many of our close friends have no sight of homeownership in Sydney in the near term.
I’d love the next government to work with communities to strengthen pathways to homeownership for young people and provide stronger protections for renters. The basic need of putting roofs over heads should trump investment returns any day.
I also want to see more action taken to stop greyhound racing. Being a newly indoctrinated grey dad,I can tell the last thing Alfie wants is to be treated like anything but a prince. He does love a run,but on his terms and at his speed. There is no long-term social-economic benefit to this industry in Australia and I want to see our government create a pathway to stop it.
COVID mismanagement was worse than the disease
Remy Chadwick,28,Wagga Wagga,NSW (formerly Northcote,Victoria)
I made this video to process the six Victorian lockdowns that I lived under and all the associated destruction that came with Australia’s mismanagement of the pandemic. Over the last two years,I studied music remotely and lost all my work as a teaching artist and marketing manager. I still haven’t recovered any employment.
The quote at the beginning of the video is from Albert Camus in his 1951 essayThe Rebel. This essay talks about the suffering and eventual rebellion that comes when people try to impose their idea of perfection on the world at the expense of unquantifiable values like family or faith. It perfectly reflects my experience of Australia’s governments pursuing a perfect “COVID-zero”,destroying almost everything I held dear in the process.
I want Australia’s next government to know that the way COVID has been collectively handled by the political class has been infinitely worse for our society than the disease.
Show us what’s important to you
If you’re aged 18 to 30,we want to know about you. Most importantly,we want you to tell the next government what it should know about you. What can you show us about your life that Australia’s next government should know?
You might like to:
Send it to us along with an explanation of up to 150 words to accompany your audio or visual file by Wednesday,May 18. For more details on how to send us your work,.