Alex Antic (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Young men are entitled to feel let down by the manner in which they're treated in modern Australia—let down by the housing market, let down by the job market and let down by a society that continues to call them toxic.

I'm old enough to remember a time when a young man could expect to work a job, marry, buy a house, raise kids and pay off a mortgage. That was the Australian dream. But in 2025 there are very few reasons for young Australian men to dream of a prosperous future. Economic pressures now leave them feeling they can't be the providers they once would have been. They tell us this is progress, but it feels pretty regressive to me.

On top of that, men are bombarded by messaging telling them that they're poisonous. What do you think being told 'you're toxic' all the time is doing to these young men? Has anyone actually stopped to think about what marginalising men is doing to their futures? We've got to start thinking about this. We've got to start reviving the Australian dream and ceasing with lecturing, giving young Australian men a fair go to build a future that they can actually be proud of.