Hi, I’m Jasmine. I'm a Coburg resident, national convener of Students for Palestine, and the Victorian Socialists candidate in Pentridge ward.
I believe in a world where people come before profit. I've organised school and university strikes for Palestine, stood on picket lines with striking workers and marched for climate justice.
I also work for the State Emergency Services taking calls about floods and storms. I've spent hours on the phone with people living in public housing, caravans, and rentals who are dealing with storm damage that landlords refuse to fix. Working class people deserve better. We need to take on landlords and speculators who treat houses as nothing more than a means to make money. To do that, we need local representatives who are willing to take on the powerful.
The rich control politics. While living standards for the majority decline, the people at the top get richer. They tell us to blame migrants and refugees, but it’s not them who are benefiting from higher rent and food prices. Councils have a responsibility to tackle urgent issues like the housing shortage and cost of living crisis. But we also need representatives who can stand up to the racist scapegoating of politicians and the media. I've helped to organise protests against far-right racist groups that feed off fear, and I've stood with refugees who are fighting for their right to stay in Australia.
If I'm elected in October, I'll fight for working-class people, for Palestine, and for a fairer Merri-Bek.