Jordon Steele-John (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Times right now are bloody tough. The cost-of-living pressures are unprecedented, inflation is soaring at a rate we have not experienced in decades, and wages are stagnant and unliveable. Health care, education, housing, fuel and basic groceries are all increasingly out of reach for so many in our community. People of my generation have seen opportunities get scarcer and scarcer, life getting harder, and our entire worth determined by how much we can contribute to a capitalist system that does not work for us. And we are now watching in real time as things get worse while people get richer than us and sit back in their mortgage-free houses chastising us for eating avo on toast.

During the election campaign and for my entire time in this place I've heard from so many people in WA who feel increasingly despondent, particularly young people, about what lies ahead of us. The decisions that are made in this place are setting young people up to fail. Young people are paying higher rent on average than ever before. And that is if they can even secure a rental in a ridiculously competitive market with fewer and fewer options for low-income earners every year. Many young people are staying in their family homes for much longer than we would like. Where this is not an option, young people are either relying on cramped, overpriced housing, wondering whether there will be a place for them in six months time with a roof over their head or worrying whether their vindictive landlord will soon kick them out.

Young people are experiencing negative mental health impacts at higher rates than ever before and at higher rates than any other age demographic. When we seek health support, we are so often confronted with a system that doesn't have the capacity to see us in a timely manner or simply costs too much. Young people are being forced to boycott or cut their studies short, because constant fee hikes are creating huge HECS debts that loom over their heads for decades. For most young people living in Australia right now, it is hard not to feel like we are being stretched in every direction.

Where we should have a solution to all of these issues from this government, unfortunately we have a bit of a howling void. However, the Greens have a vision and a plan. Young people have shared with us clearly that they support our vision and plan to create university and TAFE free for all. They want to see higher education funded properly so that it is once again a place that is fun, sets us up for our future and does not saddle us with insurmountable debt.

We have a vision and a plan to solve the mental health crisis and the crisis in healthcare services that exist in our community by bringing mental health fully into the Medicare system, and do this at the same time as we expand free dental coverage to every Australian everywhere in the country. At the same time we are proposing that one million affordable homes are built throughout our community and that rents are capped at affordable rates so that people know that they will be able to afford to keep a roof over their heads for themselves and their family members. These solutions are unashamedly bold and, at the same time, devilishly simple.

When I've knocked on doors, when I've talked to people at unis and TAFEs and in high schools about our vision and plans, they have enthusiastically endorsed them, urged us to come to this place to make change, and asked why the major parties are not on board. Well, we have seen in these first two weeks the commitment to corporate power from the other side, a power we will continue to challenge in this place.