Stephen Bates (Brisbane, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Young people across this country are doing it tough, and their voices are rarely if ever heard in this place. As a young person—which I still think I can call myself at 31—representing one of the youngest electorates in Australia, the housing and climate crises are hitting us extra hard. I want the voices of young people in my electorate and young people across the country to be heard.

I recently conducted a survey of young people in my own electorate—and a huge thankyou to the nearly 1,000 people from the community who took the time to share their thoughts. What are the top issues? They are: making the super-rich and big corporations pay their fair share; reducing the cost of living, specifically around rent and energy prices; ending the occupation of Palestine; making TAFE and uni fee-free; making mental health care more affordable and more accessible; working towards treaties and First Nations justice; and protecting LGBTIQA+ rights.

Young people are watching our standard of living go backwards. Owning a home is getting further and further out of reach, and not even the bare minimum is being done to address climate change. I feel that the general mood is summed up perfectly by respondents when asked, 'If you could tell the Prime Minister one thing, what would it be?' The answer: 'Listen to us. Don't tell us what we should think. We need help, not words, and do more.'

Millennials and gen Zs are on the brink of outnumbering the older cohorts as the largest voting bloc in this country, and we will remember being ignored by this government.